Detection: Clop Ransomware Known Service Name

Updated Date: 2024-09-30 ID: 07e08a12-870c-11eb-b5f9-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies the creation of a service with a known name used by CLOP ransomware for persistence and high-privilege code execution. It detects this activity by monitoring Windows Event Logs (EventCode 7045) for specific service names ("SecurityCenterIBM", "WinCheckDRVs"). This activity is significant because the creation of such services is a common tactic used by ransomware to maintain control over infected systems. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to execute code with elevated privileges, maintain persistence, and potentially disrupt or encrypt critical data.

Search

1`wineventlog_system` EventCode=7045 ServiceName IN ("SecurityCenterIBM", "WinCheckDRVs") 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by Computer EventCode ServiceName StartType ServiceType 
3| rename Computer as dest 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `clop_ransomware_known_service_name_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Windows Event Log System 7045	Windows	`'xmlwineventlog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:System'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
clop_ransomware_known_service_name_filter	`search *`

clop_ransomware_known_service_name_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1543	Create or Modify System Process	Persistence

KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON

KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION

NistCategory.DE_CM

Cis18Value.CIS_10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Notable	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the Service name, Service File Name Service Start type, and Service Type from your endpoints.

Known False Positives

unknown

Associated Analytic Story

Clop Ransomware

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message	Risk Score	Impact	Confidence
An instance of a known Clop Ransomware Service Name detected on $dest$	100	100	100

The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:System`	`XmlWinEventLog`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:System`	`XmlWinEventLog`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 4