Synopsis
Activation Period |
14 Days |
Training Period |
30 Days |
Test Period |
N/A (single event) |
Deduplication Period |
1 Day |
Required Data |
- Requires one of the following data sources:
- Palo Alto Networks Platform Logs
OR - XDR Agent
OR - Third-Party Firewalls
|
Detection Modules |
|
Detector Tags |
NDR C2 Detection |
ATT&CK Tactic |
Command and Control (TA0011) |
ATT&CK Technique |
Non-Application Layer Protocol (T1095) |
Severity |
Informational |
Description
Abnormal communications were seen from an internal entity to a rare external domain. This could be a case of beaconing to a C2 Server.
Attacker's Goals
Communicate with malicious code running on your network enabling further access to the endpoint and network, performing software updates on the endpoint, or for taking inventory of infected machines.
Investigative actions
- Identify if the external domain belongs to a reputable organization or an asset used in a public cloud.
- Identify if the source of the traffic is malware. If the source of the traffic is a malicious file, Cortex XDR Analytics also raises a malware alert for the file on the endpoint. Malware may contact legitimate domain names, therefore check for unusual apps used, or unusual ports or volumes accessed.
- View all related traffic generated by the suspicious process to understand the purpose.
- Look for other endpoints on your network that are also contacting the suspicious domain name.
- Examine file-system operations performed by the process that initiated the traffic and look for potential artifacts on infected endpoints.
Variations
Abnormal Recurring Communications to a Rare Domain With a Port Commonly Used by Attack Platforms
Synopsis
Description
Abnormal communications were seen from an internal entity to a rare external domain. This could be a case of beaconing to a C2 Server.
Attacker's Goals
Communicate with malicious code running on your network enabling further access to the endpoint and network, performing software updates on the endpoint, or for taking inventory of infected machines.
Investigative actions
- Identify if the external domain belongs to a reputable organization or an asset used in a public cloud.
- Identify if the source of the traffic is malware. If the source of the traffic is a malicious file, Cortex XDR Analytics also raises a malware alert for the file on the endpoint. Malware may contact legitimate domain names, therefore check for unusual apps used, or unusual ports or volumes accessed.
- View all related traffic generated by the suspicious process to understand the purpose.
- Look for other endpoints on your network that are also contacting the suspicious domain name.
- Examine file-system operations performed by the process that initiated the traffic and look for potential artifacts on infected endpoints.
Abnormal Recurring Communications to a Rare Domain With an Abnormal Domain Suffix
Synopsis
Description
Abnormal communications were seen from an internal entity to a rare external domain. This could be a case of beaconing to a C2 Server.
Attacker's Goals
Communicate with malicious code running on your network enabling further access to the endpoint and network, performing software updates on the endpoint, or for taking inventory of infected machines.
Investigative actions
- Identify if the external domain belongs to a reputable organization or an asset used in a public cloud.
- Identify if the source of the traffic is malware. If the source of the traffic is a malicious file, Cortex XDR Analytics also raises a malware alert for the file on the endpoint. Malware may contact legitimate domain names, therefore check for unusual apps used, or unusual ports or volumes accessed.
- View all related traffic generated by the suspicious process to understand the purpose.
- Look for other endpoints on your network that are also contacting the suspicious domain name.
- Examine file-system operations performed by the process that initiated the traffic and look for potential artifacts on infected endpoints.
Abnormal Recurring Communications to a Rare Domain With a Less Common Port
Synopsis
Description
Abnormal communications were seen from an internal entity to a rare external domain. This could be a case of beaconing to a C2 Server.
Attacker's Goals
Communicate with malicious code running on your network enabling further access to the endpoint and network, performing software updates on the endpoint, or for taking inventory of infected machines.
Investigative actions
- Identify if the external domain belongs to a reputable organization or an asset used in a public cloud.
- Identify if the source of the traffic is malware. If the source of the traffic is a malicious file, Cortex XDR Analytics also raises a malware alert for the file on the endpoint. Malware may contact legitimate domain names, therefore check for unusual apps used, or unusual ports or volumes accessed.
- View all related traffic generated by the suspicious process to understand the purpose.
- Look for other endpoints on your network that are also contacting the suspicious domain name.
- Examine file-system operations performed by the process that initiated the traffic and look for potential artifacts on infected endpoints.