Analytics Alerts

Browse the Cortex analytics alert reference.

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7 alerts match the current filters. tactic: TA0040 ✕ technique: T1496 ✕

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  • A Possible crypto miner was detected on a host Medium

    The host produced traffic consistent with the crypto mining.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    N/A (single event)
    Deduplication:
    1 Day
    ATT&CK tactics: Impact (TA0040)
    ATT&CK techniques: Resource Hijacking (T1496)
    Required data: Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs XDR Agent
    Attacker's goals: Abuse resources to mine crypto coins.
    Investigative actions: Check the host for crypto mining client software. Look for differences in the resource consumption from this host. Examine the client's network traffic for suspicious domains affiliated with mining or mining pools.
  • Abnormal Allocation of compute resources in multiple regions Informational Cloud 4 variations

    An identity allocated an unusual compute resource pool, suspected as mining activity.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    30 Minutes
    Deduplication:
    5 Days
    ATT&CK tactics: Impact (TA0040) Initial Access (TA0001)
    ATT&CK techniques: Resource Hijacking (T1496) Valid Accounts (T1078)
    Required data: AWS Audit Log Gcp Audit Log
    Attacker's goals: Leverage cloud compute resources to generate virtual currency.
    Investigative actions: Verify that the identity creating the resources is legitimate. Check for unusual behavior from this identity, including potential compromise (e.g., exposed access keys or service accounts).

    Variations

    Abnormal Unusual allocation of compute resources in multiple regions

    High overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual compute resource pool, suspected as mining activity. overridden

    Abnormal Suspicious allocation of compute resources in multiple regions

    High overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual compute resource pool, suspected as mining activity. overridden

    Abnormal Allocation of compute resources in a high number of regions

    High overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual compute resource pool, suspected as mining activity. overridden

    Abnormal Allocation of compute resources in multiple regions by an unusual identity

    Low overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual compute resource pool, suspected as mining activity. overridden

  • Allocation of multiple cloud compute resources Informational Cloud 5 variations

    An identity allocated multiple compute resources.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    1 Hour
    Deduplication:
    5 Days
    ATT&CK tactics: Impact (TA0040) Initial Access (TA0001)
    ATT&CK techniques: Resource Hijacking (T1496) Valid Accounts (T1078)
    Required data: AWS Audit Log Azure Audit Log Gcp Audit Log
    Attacker's goals: Leverage cloud compute resources to earn virtual currency.
    Investigative actions: Check the identity created resources and its legitimacy. Look for any unusual behavior originated from the suspected identity, and check if they're compromised, e.g. Access key, service account, etc.

    Variations

    Unusual allocation of multiple cloud compute resources

    High overridden

    An identity allocated multiple compute resources.This activity is highly unusual, such volume of compute allocation was not seen across all the projects during the past 30 days. overridden

    Unusual allocation of multiple cloud compute resources

    Medium overridden

    An identity allocated multiple compute resources.This activity is highly unusual, such volume of compute allocation was not seen at in this project during the past 30 days. overridden

    Unusual allocation of multiple cloud compute resources

    Medium overridden

    An identity allocated multiple compute resources.The allocated instances contains GPU accelerators, such pattern is related to a crypto mining activity. overridden

    Allocation of multiple cloud compute resources with accelerator gear

    Low overridden

    An identity allocated multiple compute resources.his activity is unusual for this identity in past 30 days. overridden

    Unusual allocation attempt of multiple cloud compute resources

    Low overridden

    An identity attempted to allocate multiple compute resources.This activity is highly unusual, such volume of compute allocation was not seen at in this project during the past 30 days. overridden

  • An internal Cloud resource performed port scan on external networks Medium Cloud

    An internal cloud resource attempted to connect to the same destination port of multiple external IP addresses.This may be a result of the cloud resource being hijacked by an attacker.Attackers perform port scans on a specific destination port for reconnaissance purposes, to detect known vulnerable services that accept connections in the specific port, and perform targeted attacks against them.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    1 Hour
    Deduplication:
    5 Days
    ATT&CK tactics: Discovery (TA0007) Impact (TA0040)
    ATT&CK techniques: Network Service Discovery (T1046) Resource Hijacking (T1496) Cloud Service Discovery (T1526)
    Required data: AWS Flow Log AWS OCSF Flow Logs Azure Flow Log Gcp Flow Log XDR Agent
    Attacker's goals: Detect vulnerable services, which listen on known ports and are opened to the Internet.
    Investigative actions: Check if similar activity was performed on additional cloud resources. Check if similar activity was performed against additional ports and external ip addresses from the same cloud resource. Check which process triggered the port scanning activity and for what purpose.
  • Potential denial of wallet abusing AI services Low Cloud 1 variation

    An ML model experienced a sudden spike in requests in a short time.MITRE ATLAS Techniques: AML.T0029 - Denial of ML Service, AML.T0034 - Cost Harvesting.OWASP Top 10 LLM Technique: LLM10 - Unbounded Consumption.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    10 Minutes
    Deduplication:
    5 Days
    ATT&CK tactics: Impact (TA0040)
    ATT&CK techniques: Endpoint Denial of Service: Application Exhaustion Flood (T1499.003) Resource Hijacking (T1496)
    Required data: AWS Audit Log Azure Audit Log Gcp Audit Log
    Detector tags: Cloud AI Infrastructure Analytics
    Attacker's goals: Disrupting or shutting down an ML service.
    Investigative actions: Investigate the impact on the ML service.

    Variations

    Possible denial of wallet abusing AI services

    Medium overridden

    An ML model experienced a sudden spike in requests in a short time.MITRE ATLAS Techniques: AML.T0029 - Denial of ML Service, AML.T0034 - Cost Harvesting.OWASP Top 10 LLM Technique: LLM10 - Unbounded Consumption. overridden

  • Spam Bot Traffic Low 2 variations

    The endpoint connected to an excessive number of external SMTP servers.A spambot may be trying to send spam email using multiple SMTP servers.Spambots can cause your domain to be blacklisted, and can contain other malicious functionality. The same mechanism can also be used for exfiltration. Some VPN clients can also tunnel data over SMTP.Note: This detection model looks for SMTP connections to external servers, but the volume of traffic is not considered. A count is performed based on the number of domains being contacted, as well as the number of unresolved IP addresses.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    3 Days
    Deduplication:
    3 Days
    ATT&CK tactics: Impact (TA0040)
    ATT&CK techniques: Resource Hijacking (T1496)
    Required data: Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs XDR Agent Third-Party Firewalls
    Attacker's goals: The attacker uses the host as an SMTP client to send mails and hide their real origin.
    Investigative actions: Verify that the source is not an SMTP server. If Cortex XDR Analytics has failed to identify the process as a valid SMTP server, this alert will be a false positive. Verify that IP addresses are actually not being resolved by the non-SMTP process. If the process is performing DNS resolution with a DNS service outside your network, it is possible (depending on your network topology) that Cortex XDR Analytics will not observe that traffic. Because SMTP services typically use numerous IP addresses, this situation could cause a process to exceed a limit when it would otherwise fail to do so. If the SMTP connection activity turns out to be the result of malicious file activity, search on the Triage page for other endpoints infected with the file.

    Variations

    Spam Bot Traffic

    Informational overridden

    The endpoint connected to an excessive number of external SMTP servers.A spambot may be trying to send spam email using multiple SMTP servers.Spambots can cause your domain to be blacklisted, and can contain other malicious functionality. The same mechanism can also be used for exfiltration. Some VPN clients can also tunnel data over SMTP.Note: This detection model looks for SMTP connections to external servers, but the volume of traffic is not considered. A count is performed based on the number of domains being contacted, as well as the number of unresolved IP addresses. overridden

    Failed Spam Bot Traffic

    Informational overridden

    The endpoint connected to an excessive number of external SMTP servers.A spambot may be trying to send spam email using multiple SMTP servers.Spambots can cause your domain to be blacklisted, and can contain other malicious functionality. The same mechanism can also be used for exfiltration. Some VPN clients can also tunnel data over SMTP.Note: This detection model looks for SMTP connections to external servers, but the volume of traffic is not considered. A count is performed based on the number of domains being contacted, as well as the number of unresolved IP addresses. overridden

  • Suspicious heavy allocation of compute resources - possible mining activity Medium Cloud 3 variations

    An identity allocated an unusual heavy compute resource, suspected as mining activity.Heavy machines normally have a high amount of CPU cores or attached with GPU, which are targeted by adversaries to mine Cryptocurrency.

    Activation:
    14 Days
    Training:
    30 Days
    Test:
    N/A (single event)
    Deduplication:
    5 Days
    ATT&CK tactics: Impact (TA0040) Initial Access (TA0001)
    ATT&CK techniques: Resource Hijacking (T1496) Valid Accounts (T1078)
    Required data: AWS Audit Log Azure Audit Log Gcp Audit Log
    Attacker's goals: Leverage cloud compute resources to earn virtual currency.
    Investigative actions: Check the identity created resources and its legitimacy. Look for any unusual behavior originated from the suspected identity, and check if they're compromised, e.g. access key, service account, etc.

    Variations

    Suspicious heavy allocation of compute resources - possible mining activity

    Low overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual heavy compute resource, suspected as mining activity.Heavy machines normally have a high amount of CPU cores or attached with GPU, which are targeted by adversaries to mine Cryptocurrency. overridden

    Suspicious heavy allocation of compute resources - possible mining activity

    High overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual heavy compute resource, suspected as mining activity.Heavy machines normally have a high amount of CPU cores or attached with GPU, which are targeted by adversaries to mine Cryptocurrency. overridden

    Suspicious heavy allocation of compute resources - possible mining activity

    Medium overridden

    An identity allocated an unusual heavy compute resource, suspected as mining activity.Heavy machines normally have a high amount of CPU cores or attached with GPU, which are targeted by adversaries to mine Cryptocurrency. overridden