Detection rules › Panther

Proofpoint Virus Detected

Status
Experimental
Severity
high
Group by
quarantineFolder, sender
Log types
Proofpoint.Event
Tags
Proofpoint, Email Security, Virus, Malware, Phishing, Initial Access:Phishing, Execution:User Execution
Reference
https://www.proofpoint.com/sites/default/files/2020-05/pfpt-uk-ds-email-protection.pdf
Source
github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

This rule alerts when Proofpoint detects a virus in an email that cannot be disinfected. It triggers when emails are quarantined to the Virus folder or have the notcleaned quarantine rule applied.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Initial AccessT1566 Phishing
ExecutionT1204 User Execution

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: proofpoint_virus_detected.py
RuleID: "Proofpoint.VirusDetected"
DisplayName: "Proofpoint Virus Detected"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - Proofpoint.Event
Status: Experimental
Tags:
  - Proofpoint
  - Email Security
  - Virus
  - Malware
  - Phishing
  - Initial Access:Phishing
  - Execution:User Execution
Severity: High
Description: >
  This rule alerts when Proofpoint detects a virus in an email that cannot
  be disinfected. It triggers when emails are quarantined to the Virus folder
  or have the notcleaned quarantine rule applied.
Runbook: |
  1. Confirm the email was quarantined and immediately verify endpoint protection status on recipient systems
  2. Block the sender domain/IP within 15 minutes and search for similar emails from the last 7 days
  3. Escalate to IR team within 30 minutes if virus delivery to endpoints is confirmed
Reference: https://www.proofpoint.com/sites/default/files/2020-05/pfpt-uk-ds-email-protection.pdf
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0001:T1566 # Initial Access: Phishing
    - TA0002:T1204 # Execution: User Execution
Tests:
  - Name: Virus Quarantine Folder
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T12:30:00Z"
      sender: "infected@example.com"
      senderIP: "192.0.2.50"
      fromAddress:
        - "infected@example.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "employee@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "employee@company.com"
      subject: "Document for Review"
      malwareScore: 100
      phishScore: 0
      spamScore: 0
      impostorScore: 0
      quarantineFolder: "Virus"
      quarantineRule: "notcleaned"
      messageID: "<virus123@example.com>"
      messageSize: 150000
      modulesRun:
        - av
        - spam
      threatsInfoMap:
        - threatType: "attachment"
          classification: "malware"
          threatStatus: "active"
          threat: "document.doc"
          threatID: "abc123def456"
  - Name: Not Cleaned Quarantine Rule
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T14:00:00Z"
      sender: "virus@malware.net"
      senderIP: "198.51.100.100"
      fromAddress:
        - "virus@malware.net"
      toAddresses:
        - "user@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "user@company.com"
      subject: "Important Update"
      malwareScore: 85
      phishScore: 5
      spamScore: 10
      impostorScore: 0
      quarantineFolder: "Virus"
      quarantineRule: "notcleaned"
      messageID: "<virus789@malware.net>"
      threatsInfoMap:
        - threatType: "attachment"
          classification: "malware"
          threatStatus: "active"
          threat: "update.exe"
  - Name: High Malware Score Without Quarantine - No Alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T14:30:00Z"
      sender: "highscore@malware.net"
      senderIP: "192.0.2.99"
      fromAddress:
        - "highscore@malware.net"
      toAddresses:
        - "user@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "user@company.com"
      subject: "Suspicious Attachment"
      malwareScore: 98
      phishScore: 10
      spamScore: 20
      impostorScore: 0
      messageID: "<highscore98@malware.net>"
      threatsInfoMap:
        - threatType: "attachment"
          classification: "malware"
          threatStatus: "active"
          threat: "suspicious.exe"
  - Name: Clean Email - No Alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T15:00:00Z"
      sender: "colleague@company.com"
      senderIP: "203.0.113.10"
      fromAddress:
        - "colleague@company.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "user@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "user@company.com"
      subject: "Weekly Report"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 0
      spamScore: 0
      impostorScore: 0
      messageID: "<clean123@company.com>"
  - Name: Different Quarantine Type - No Alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T16:00:00Z"
      sender: "phisher@example.com"
      senderIP: "198.51.100.200"
      fromAddress:
        - "phisher@example.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "victim@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "victim@company.com"
      subject: "Verify Your Account"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 95
      spamScore: 10
      impostorScore: 0
      quarantineFolder: "Phish"
      quarantineRule: "phish"
      messageID: "<phish456@example.com>"

Detection logic

Condition

quarantineRule eq "notcleaned" or quarantineFolder eq "Virus"

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
quarantineFoldereq
  • Virus
quarantineRuleeq
  • notcleaned

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

FieldSource
sender
senderIP
recipientsrecipient
subject
messageID
quarantineFolder
quarantineRule
malwareScore
phishScore