Threat Hunting with Sysmon

 🥊Threat Hunting with Sysmon

As Cyber Threats continue to evolve, it is vital to have tools and strategies in place to detect and respond to malicious activity on our systems. One such tool is Sysmon, a system monitoring tool that can help detect and identify suspicious behaviour.

Below we will explore how Sysmon can be used to detect common tactics used by attackers, such as Mimikatz, Pass-The-Hash, and Privilege Escalation.

Detecting Mimikatz

Mimikatz is a tool that attackers often use to extract sensitive information from a system, such as passwords and encryption keys. Sysmon can be used to detect the use of Mimikatz on a system by monitoring for certain indicators of its activity. For example, Sysmon can be configured to alert when Mimikatz attempts to inject itself into a running process or when it accesses certain sensitive data in the system’s memory.

Detecting Pass The Hash

Pass the hash is a technique that attackers use to authenticate to a system using the password hash of a user account rather than the actual password. Sysmon can help detect pass-the-hash attacks by monitoring for unusual network activity and the use of unauthorised credentials. Sysmon can be configured to alert when a network connection is made using a different user account than the one that was used for logging into the system.

Detecting Privilege Escalation

Privilege escalation is the act of a user or program gaining access to resources or privileges that are not normally available to them. Sysmon can be used to detect privilege escalation by monitoring for changes in user privileges and the execution of programs with elevated privileges. For example, Sysmon can be configured to alert when a user account is added to the local administrator’s group or when a program is run with administrative privileges.

Sysmon is a powerful tool that can be used to monitor and log system activity, helping to detect and respond to malicious activity on systems. By configuring Sysmon to alert on indicators of common attack tactics, such as those discussed above, we can improve our ability to defend against Cyber Threats. However, it is important to note that Sysmon is just one part of a comprehensive security strategy and should be used in conjunction with other security measures to protect against Cyber Threats effectively.

GitHub maintains a variety of repositories with different use cases for Sysmon, so you can try it now if you haven’t already.

Happy Threat Hunting!