Analytics Story: Emotet Malware DHS Report TA18-201A

Date: 2024-09-24 ID: bb9f5ed2-916e-4364-bb6d-91c310efcf52 Author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

Detect rarely used executables, specific registry paths that may confer malware survivability and persistence, instances where cmd.exe is used to launch script interpreters, and other indicators that the Emotet financial malware has compromised your environment.

Why it matters

The trojan downloader known as Emotet first surfaced in 2014, when it was discovered targeting the banking industry to steal credentials. However, according to a joint technical alert (TA) issued by three government agencies (https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA18-201A), Emotet has evolved far beyond those beginnings to become what a ThreatPost article called a threat-delivery service(see https://threatpost.com/emotet-malware-evolves-beyond-banking-to-threat-delivery-service/134342/). For example, in early 2018, Emotet was found to be using its loader function to spread the Quakbot and Ransomware variants. According to the TA, the the malware continues to be among the most costly and destructive malware affecting the private and public sectors. Researchers have linked it to the threat group Mealybug, which has also been on the security communitys radar since 2014. The searches in this Analytic Story will help you find executables that are rarely used in your environment, specific registry paths that malware often uses to ensure survivability and persistence, instances where cmd.exe is used to launch script interpreters, and other indicators that Emotet or other malware has compromised your environment.

Detections

Name ▲▼	Technique ▲▼	Type ▲▼
Email Attachments With Lots Of Spaces	None	Anomaly
Suspicious Email Attachment Extensions	Spearphishing Attachment, Phishing	Anomaly
Prohibited Software On Endpoint	None	Hunting
Detect Use of cmd exe to Launch Script Interpreters	Command and Scripting Interpreter, Windows Command Shell	TTP
Detection of tools built by NirSoft	Software Deployment Tools	TTP
Registry Keys Used For Persistence	Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder, Boot or Logon Autostart Execution	TTP
SMB Traffic Spike	SMB/Windows Admin Shares, Remote Services	Anomaly
SMB Traffic Spike - MLTK	SMB/Windows Admin Shares, Remote Services	Anomaly

Data Sources

Name ▲▼	Platform ▲▼	Sourcetype ▲▼	Source ▲▼
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2	N/A	`crowdstrike:events:sensor`	`crowdstrike`
Sysmon EventID 1	Windows	`xmlwineventlog`	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`
Sysmon EventID 12	Windows	`xmlwineventlog`	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`
Sysmon EventID 13	Windows	`xmlwineventlog`	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`
Windows Event Log Security 4688	Windows	`xmlwineventlog`	`XmlWinEventLog:Security`

References

Source: GitHub | Version: 2