Detection: Windows Cisco Secure Endpoint Related Service Stopped

Updated Date: 2024-12-09 ID: df74f45f-01c8-4fd6-bcb8-f6a9ea58307a Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the suspicious termination of known services commonly targeted by ransomware before file encryption. It leverages Windows System Event Logs (EventCode 7036) to identify when critical services such as Volume Shadow Copy, backup, and antivirus services are stopped. This activity is significant because ransomware often disables these services to avoid errors and ensure successful file encryption. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could lead to widespread data encryption, rendering files inaccessible and potentially causing significant operational disruption and data loss.

1`wineventlog_system` `normalized_service_binary_field` 
2| rename param1 as display_name 
3| rename param2 as status 
4| search EventCode=7036 display_name IN ("Cisco AMP Orbital", "*Cisco Secure Endpoint*", "*Cisco Security Connector Monitoring*", "CiscoSAM", "CiscoAMPHeurDriver", "CiscoAMPELAMDriver", "CiscoAMPCEFWDriver", "ImmunetNetworkMonitorDriver", "ImmunetProtectDriver", "ImmunetSelfProtectDriver") status IN ("stopped", "arrêté") 
5| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by EventCode display_name normalized_service_name status dest 
6| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
7| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
8| `windows_cisco_secure_endpoint_related_service_stopped_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Windows Event Log System 7036 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:System'

Macros Used

Name Value
normalized_service_binary_field `EventCode=7036
windows_cisco_secure_endpoint_related_service_stopped_filter search *
windows_cisco_secure_endpoint_related_service_stopped_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
T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact
Actions on Objectives
DE.AE
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 Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the 7036 EventCode ScManager in System audit Logs from your endpoints.

Known False Positives

Administrator or troubleshooting activities may trigger this alert. Investigate the process performing this action to determine if its a legitimate activity.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Cisco Secure Endpoint Service $display_name$ stopped on $dest$

Risk Object Risk Object Type Risk Score Threat Objects
dest system 60 display_name

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: 1