Winscp Execution From Non Standard Folder

Status: experimental
Severity: medium
Log source: category process_creation, product windows
Author: frack113
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the execution of Winscp from an a non standard folder. This could indicate the execution of Winscp portable.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Exfiltration	`T1048` Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 1: Process creation

Rule body

title: Winscp Execution From Non Standard Folder
id: 7674f8ef-7141-4cf0-a311-ee359264c64c
status: experimental
description: Detects the execution of Winscp from an a non standard folder. This could indicate the execution of Winscp portable.
references:
    - https://blogs.blackberry.com/en/2024/07/akira-ransomware-targets-the-latam-airline-industry
author: frack113
date: 2025-10-12
tags:
    - attack.exfiltration
    - attack.t1048
    - detection.threat-hunting
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        - Image|endswith: '\WinSCP.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'winscp.exe'
    filter_main_location:
        Image|startswith: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    - Image|endswith: '\WinSCP.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'winscp.exe'

Stage 2: `not filter_main_location`

filter_main_location:
    Image|startswith: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\'

Exclusions

The rule actively suppresses these predicates.

Field	Kind	Excluded values	Search
`Image`	starts_with	`C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\`	`excludes:Image` `field:"Image" value:"C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\"`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`Image`	ends_with	`\WinSCP.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2)	`field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\WinSCP.exe"`
`OriginalFileName`	eq	`winscp.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2)	`field:"OriginalFileName" kind:eq value:"winscp.exe"`