Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol T1048
Tactic: Exfiltration
Adversaries may steal data by exfiltrating it over a different protocol than that of the existing command and control channel. The data may also be sent to an alternate network location from the main command and control server.
Events covered
15 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Sysmon | Event ID 3 | Network connection |
| Sysmon | Event ID 11 | FileCreate |
| Sysmon | Event ID 22 | DNSEvent (DNS query) |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4697 | A service was installed in the system. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 5156 | The Windows Filtering Platform has permitted a connection. |
| Defender-DeviceProcessEvents | any | Process activity (any) |
| ESF | exec | Process Execution (Notify) |
| Linux-Auditd | Event ID 1309 | EXECVE |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4103 | Payload Context: ContextInfo User Data: UserData. |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104 | Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
| PowerShell | Event ID 800 | Event ID 800 |
| Service-Control-Manager | Event ID 7045 | A service was installed in the system. |
| Sysmon-for-Linux | Event ID 1 | Process Create |
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 118 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.
Fields filtered most (134 distinct)
The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.
Top indicator values (640 distinct)
Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.
Exclusions (127 distinct)
Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.
Rules under this technique
Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.
Sigma 24 rules
- BITS payload downloaded via commandline
- BITS payload downloaded via PowerShell
- Copy From Or To Admin Share Or Sysvol Folder
- Data Exfiltration with Wget
- Data Export From MSSQL Table Via BCP.EXE
- DNS Exfiltration and Tunneling Tools Execution
- DNS TOR Proxies
- File with high volume downloaded via BITS
- FTP Connection Open Attempt Via Winscp CLI
- Potential Data Exfiltration Over SMTP Via Send-MailMessage Cmdlet
- Powershell DNSExfiltration
- PowerShell ICMP Exfiltration
- PUA - Restic Backup Tool Execution
- Python WebServer Execution - Linux
- Suspicious DNS Query with B64 Encoded String
- Suspicious Outbound SMTP Connections
- Suspicious Redirection to Local Admin Share
- Suspicious WebDav Client Execution Via Rundll32.EXE
- Tap Driver Installation
- Tap Driver Installation - Security
- Tap Installer Execution
- WebDav Client Execution Via Rundll32.EXE
- WebDav Put Request
- Winscp Execution From Non Standard Folder
Elastic 17 rules
- File Transfer or Listener Established via Netcat
- File Transfer Utility Launched from Unusual Parent
- Netcat File Transfer or Listener Detected via Defend for Containers
- Network Activity Detected via cat
- Network Traffic to Rare Destination Country
- Potential Data Exfiltration Through Curl
- Potential Data Exfiltration Through Wget
- Potential Data Exfiltration via Rclone
- Potential Database Dumping Activity
- Rare SMB Connection to the Internet
- SMB (Windows File Sharing) Activity to the Internet
- SMTP on Port 26/TCP
- Spike in host-based traffic
- Spike in Network Traffic To a Country
- Unusual DNS Activity
- Unusual Windows Network Activity
- Windows Registry File Creation in SMB Share
Splunk 33 rules
- BITSadmin Execution (PowerShell)
- BITSadmin Execution (Sysmon)
- BITSadmin Execution (Windows Event Log)
- Cisco ASA - Device File Copy to Remote Location
- Cisco Secure Firewall - Potential Data Exfiltration
- DNS Exfiltration Using Nslookup App
- DNS Query Length With High Standard Deviation
- Excessive Usage of NSLOOKUP App
- Exfiltration via curl.exe - Windows (PowerShell)
- Exfiltration via curl.exe - Windows (Sysmon)
- Exfiltration via curl.exe - Windows (Windows Event Log)
- Gsuite Outbound Email With Attachment To External Domain
- Multiple Archive Files Http Post Traffic
- O365 DLP Rule Triggered
- Ollama Possible Model Exfiltration Data Leakage
- Plain HTTP POST Exfiltrated Data
- Potential CVE-2023-23397 (EDR)
- Potential CVE-2023-23397 (Sysmon)
- Potential CVE-2023-23397 (Windows Event Log)
- Prohibited Network Traffic Allowed
- Protocol or Port Mismatch
- PuTTY Secure Copy Client Execution (PowerShell)
- PuTTY Secure Copy Client Execution (Sysmon)
- PuTTY Secure Copy Client Execution (Windows Event Log)
- Rclone Execution (PowerShell)
- Rclone Execution (Sysmon)
- Rclone Execution (Windows Event Log)
- Windows FTP Exfiltration (PowerShell)
- Windows FTP Exfiltration (Sysmon)
- Windows FTP Exfiltration (Windows Event Log)
- Windows Rundll32 WebDAV Request
- Windows Rundll32 WebDav With Network Connection
- WinSCP Execution (Windows Event Log)
Kusto 37 rules
- Apache - Put suspicious file
- Bitsadmin Activity
- Box - File containing sensitive data
- Cisco WSA - Suspected protocol abuse
- Dataverse - Export activity from terminated or notified employee
- Dataverse - Suspicious use of TDS endpoint
- Dataverse - User bulk retrieval outside normal activity
- Dev-0270 Malicious Powershell usage
- Digital Guardian - Bulk exfiltration to external domain
- Digital Guardian - Exfiltration to external domain
- Digital Guardian - Exfiltration to online fileshare
- Digital Guardian - Exfiltration to private email
- Digital Guardian - Exfiltration using DNS protocol
- Digital Guardian - Incident with not blocked action
- Digital Guardian - Multiple incidents from user
- Digital Guardian - Possible SMTP protocol abuse
- Digital Guardian - Sensitive data transfer over insecure channel
- Digital Guardian - Unexpected protocol
- DNS events related to ToR proxies
- DNS events related to ToR proxies (ASIM DNS Schema)
- Filewall - Blocked emails
- Filewall - Blocked files
- Netskope - Large Outbound Data Transfer / Sensitive Upload (DLP)
- Netskope - Repeated or Critical Policy Violations
- Netskope - Suspicious Network Context (Unusual IPs/Geo/Ports)
- Oracle - Put suspicious file
- Pathlock TDnR - OData Application Log Events
- Pathlock TDnR - Outbound SAP SMTP Email
- Pathlock TDnR - Outgoing Spool Print Job Events
- Pathlock TDnR - SAP Download Observer Events
- Pathlock TDnR - SAP Read Access Logging Data
- Pathlock TDnR - SE16N Direct Table Change Documents
- SlackAudit - Public link created for file which can contain sensitive information.
- SonicWall - Allowed SSH, Telnet, and RDP Connections
- Trend Micro CAS - DLP violation
- Ubiquiti - Unusual FTP connection to external server
- Unauthorized user access across AWS and Azure
YARA-L 4 rules
- Hunt for Non-Anonymous Office 365 file downloads
- O365 OneDrive Anonymous File Accessed
- O365 OneDrive Anonymous File Downloaded
- O365 OneDrive Anonymous Link Accessed