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Description

The following analytic detects the termination of specific processes by the Industroyer2 malware. It leverages Sysmon EventCode 5 to identify when processes like "PServiceControl.exe" and "PService_PPD.exe" are killed. This activity is significant as it targets processes related to energy facility networks, indicating a potential attack on critical infrastructure. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to disruption of essential services, loss of control over energy systems, and significant operational impact. Immediate investigation is required to determine the cause and mitigate any potential threats.

  • Type: Anomaly

  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud

  • Last Updated: 2024-05-16
  • Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
  • ID: d8bea5ca-9d4a-4249-8b56-64a619109835

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1489 Service Stop Impact
Kill Chain Phase
  • Actions On Objectives
NIST
  • DE.AE
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


1
2
3
4
5



`sysmon` EventCode=5 process_name IN ("PServiceControl.exe", "PService_PPD.exe") 
| stats min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by process_name process process_path process_guid process_id EventCode dest user_id 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `windows_processes_killed_by_industroyer2_malware_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: windows_processes_killed_by_industroyer2_malware_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Required fields

List of fields required to use this analytic.

  • _time
  • Processes.dest
  • Processes.user
  • Processes.parent_process_name
  • Processes.parent_process
  • Processes.original_file_name
  • Processes.process_name
  • Processes.process
  • Processes.process_id
  • Processes.parent_process_path
  • Processes.process_path
  • Processes.parent_process_id
  • Processes.process_guid

How To Implement

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting Windows Security Event Logs with 4698 EventCode enabled. The Windows TA is also required.

Known False Positives

False positives are possible if legitimate applications are allowed to terminate this process during testing or updates. Filter as needed based on paths that are used legitimately.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
36.0 60 60 process was terminated $process_name$ in $dest$

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

Reference

Test Dataset

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 | version: 2