Analytics BIOC Informational
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Uncommon recurring rare external host access

A process has established recurring connections to an uncommon external host.

Module:
Platform Analytics
Data source:
XDR Agent
ATT&CK tactics: Command and Control (TA0011) Exfiltration (TA0010)
ATT&CK techniques: Application Layer Protocol (T1071) Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) Remote Access Tools (T1219)
Detector tags: Abnormal Communication Analytics
Attacker's goals:

Communicate with malware running on your network to control malware activities, perform software updates on the malware, or to take inventory of infected machines. Additionally, establish command and control channels for remote malware control, conduct discovery activities to gather information about the target environment, or exfiltrate sensitive data from compromised systems.

Investigative actions:

Identify the process contacting the remote host and determine whether the traffic is malicious. Look for other endpoints on your network that are also periodically contacting the same external host. Inspect the domain or URL for malicious indicators or its presence in threat intelligence feeds and reputation lists.

Test period:
N/A (single event)
Deduplication:
14 Days
6 variations:
  • Uncommon recurring rare external host access by an automated penetration testing tool High (parent: Informational)
  • Uncommon recurring rare external host access to a dynamic DNS domain Low (parent: Informational)
  • Uncommon recurring rare external host access initiated by a cron job Low (parent: Informational) Adds Scheduled Task/Job: Cron (T1053.003) Scheduled Transfer (T1029)
  • Uncommon recurring rare external host access with a rare top-level domain Low (parent: Informational)
  • Uncommon recurring rare external host access using an exfiltration tool Low (parent: Informational)
  • Uncommon recurring rare external host access with a sensitive file in actor or causality command line Low (parent: Informational) Adds Steal Application Access Token (T1528) System Owner/User Discovery (T1033) OS Credential Dumping (T1003)