Analytics BIOC Medium

Uncommon SetWindowsHookEx API invocation of a possible keylogger

A process installed a Windows desktop hook by calling the SetWindowsHookEx API function with an unpopular module. This behavior is commonly seen in keyloggers.

Module:
Platform Analytics
Data source:
XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)
ATT&CK tactics: Credential Access (TA0006) Collection (TA0009)
ATT&CK techniques: Input Capture: Keylogging (T1056.001)
Attacker's goals:

Attackers can monitor keyboard events as another way for credential gathering or to collect more user data over time for espionage purposes.

Investigative actions:

Check if the process has a user interface (a visible window). Check if the process has an option to set or modify keyboard hot-keys. Check if the process is part of a remote control tool. Check if the process is a known user application that was updated recently. Check if the process is built with AutoHotkey and is known to the user.* If the process is a scripting engine or a hosting executable, check the actor process command line. Investigate the endpoint if the process writes files to disk.

Test period:
N/A (single event)
Deduplication:
1 Day