Use this skill when:
Do not use for Linux/macOS endpoint analysis or network-only investigations.
WinEventLog:Security, WinEventLog:System, XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational)Brute Force Detection (EventCode 4625 — Failed Logon):
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4625
| stats count, dc(TargetUserName) AS unique_users, values(TargetUserName) AS targeted_users
by src_ip, Logon_Type, Status
| where count > 20
| eval attack_type = case(
Logon_Type=3, "Network Brute Force",
Logon_Type=10, "RDP Brute Force",
Logon_Type=2, "Interactive Brute Force",
1=1, "Other"
)
| eval status_meaning = case(
Status="0xc000006d", "Bad Username or Password",
Status="0xc000006a", "Incorrect Password (valid user)",
Status="0xc0000234", "Account Locked Out",
Status="0xc0000072", "Account Disabled",
1=1, Status
)
| sort - count
| table src_ip, attack_type, status_meaning, count, unique_users, targeted_users
Password Spray Detection:
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4625 Logon_Type=3
| bin _time span=10m
| stats dc(TargetUserName) AS unique_users, count AS total_attempts,
values(TargetUserName) AS users_targeted by src_ip, _time
| where unique_users > 10 AND total_attempts < unique_users * 3
| eval spray_confidence = if(unique_users > 25, "HIGH", "MEDIUM")
Successful Logon After Failures (Compromise Indicator):
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security"
(EventCode=4625 OR EventCode=4624) src_ip!="127.0.0.1"
| sort _time
| stats earliest(_time) AS first_seen, latest(_time) AS last_seen,
sum(eval(if(EventCode=4625,1,0))) AS failures,
sum(eval(if(EventCode=4624,1,0))) AS successes
by src_ip, TargetUserName, ComputerName
| where failures > 10 AND successes > 0
| eval time_to_success = round((last_seen - first_seen)/60, 1)
| sort - failures
New Admin Account Created (T1136.001):
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4720
| join TargetUserName type=left [
search index=wineventlog EventCode=4732 TargetUserName="Administrators"
| rename MemberName AS TargetUserName
]
| table _time, SubjectUserName, TargetUserName, ComputerName
| eval alert = "New account created and added to Administrators group"
Special Privileges Assigned (EventCode 4672):
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4672
SubjectUserName!="SYSTEM" SubjectUserName!="LOCAL SERVICE" SubjectUserName!="NETWORK SERVICE"
| stats count, values(PrivilegeList) AS privileges by SubjectUserName, ComputerName
| where count > 0
| search privileges IN ("SeDebugPrivilege", "SeTcbPrivilege", "SeBackupPrivilege",
"SeRestorePrivilege", "SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege")
Token Manipulation Detection (T1134):
index=sysmon EventCode=10 TargetImage="*\\lsass.exe"
GrantedAccess IN ("0x1010", "0x1038", "0x1fffff", "0x40")
| stats count by SourceImage, SourceUser, Computer, GrantedAccess
| where NOT match(SourceImage, "(svchost|csrss|wininit|MsMpEng|CrowdStrike)")
| sort - count
Scheduled Task Creation (T1053.005):
index=wineventlog (sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4698)
OR (sourcetype="XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" EventCode=1
Image="*\\schtasks.exe")
| eval task_info = coalesce(TaskContent, CommandLine)
| search task_info="*powershell*" OR task_info="*cmd*" OR task_info="*http*" OR task_info="*\\Temp\\*"
| table _time, Computer, SubjectUserName, TaskName, task_info
Registry Run Key Modification (T1547.001):
index=sysmon EventCode=13
TargetObject IN (
"*\\CurrentVersion\\Run\\*",
"*\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnce\\*",
"*\\CurrentVersion\\RunServices\\*",
"*\\Explorer\\Shell Folders\\*"
)
| stats count by Computer, Image, TargetObject, Details
| where NOT match(Image, "(explorer\.exe|msiexec\.exe|setup\.exe)")
| sort - count
WMI Event Subscription (T1546.003):
index=sysmon EventCode=20 OR EventCode=21
| stats count by Computer, Operation, Consumer, EventNamespace
| where count > 0
Remote Service Exploitation (T1021.002 — SMB/Windows Admin Shares):
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4624 Logon_Type=3
| stats dc(ComputerName) AS unique_destinations, values(ComputerName) AS targets
by src_ip, TargetUserName
| where unique_destinations > 3
| sort - unique_destinations
| table src_ip, TargetUserName, unique_destinations, targets
PsExec Detection (T1021.002):
index=sysmon EventCode=1
(Image="*\\psexec.exe" OR Image="*\\psexesvc.exe"
OR ParentImage="*\\psexesvc.exe"
OR OriginalFileName="psexec.c")
| table _time, Computer, User, ParentImage, Image, CommandLine
RDP Lateral Movement (T1021.001):
index=wineventlog sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode=4624 Logon_Type=10
| stats count, dc(ComputerName) AS rdp_targets, values(ComputerName) AS destinations
by src_ip, TargetUserName
| where rdp_targets > 2
| sort - rdp_targets
Create comprehensive timeline for a compromised host:
(index=wineventlog OR index=sysmon) Computer="WORKSTATION-042"
earliest="2024-03-14T00:00:00" latest="2024-03-16T00:00:00"
| eval event_description = case(
EventCode=4624, "Logon: ".TargetUserName." (Type ".Logon_Type.")",
EventCode=4625, "Failed Logon: ".TargetUserName,
EventCode=4688 OR (sourcetype="XmlWinEventLog:*Sysmon*" AND EventCode=1),
"Process: ".Image." CMD: ".CommandLine,
EventCode=4698, "Scheduled Task: ".TaskName,
EventCode=3, "Network: ".DestinationIp.":".DestinationPort,
EventCode=11, "File Created: ".TargetFilename,
EventCode=13, "Registry: ".TargetObject,
1=1, "Event ".EventCode
)
| sort _time
| table _time, EventCode, event_description, User, src_ip
Build reference lookups for Windows Event ID context:
| inputlookup windows_eventcode_lookup.csv
| table EventCode, Description, ATT_CK_Technique, Severity
If lookup doesn't exist, create it:
EventCode,Description,ATT_CK_Technique,Severity
4624,Successful Logon,T1078,Informational
4625,Failed Logon,T1110,Low
4648,Explicit Credential Logon,T1078,Medium
4672,Special Privileges Assigned,T1134,Medium
4688,New Process Created,T1059,Informational
4698,Scheduled Task Created,T1053.005,Medium
4720,User Account Created,T1136.001,High
4732,Member Added to Security Group,T1098,High
4768,Kerberos TGT Requested,T1558,Informational
4769,Kerberos Service Ticket,T1558.003,Low
4771,Kerberos Pre-Auth Failed,T1110,Low
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| EventCode 4624 | Successful logon event — Logon_Type 2 (interactive), 3 (network), 10 (RDP), 7 (unlock) |
| EventCode 4625 | Failed logon event — Status code indicates failure reason (bad password, account locked, disabled) |
| Sysmon EventCode 1 | Process creation with full command line, parent process, and hash information |
| Sysmon EventCode 3 | Network connection initiated by a process — source/dest IP, port, and process context |
| Logon Type 3 | Network logon (SMB, WMI, PowerShell Remoting) — key indicator of lateral movement |
| Logon Type 10 | Remote interactive logon via RDP/Terminal Services |
WINDOWS EVENT LOG ANALYSIS — HOST: WORKSTATION-042
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Period: 2024-03-14 to 2024-03-15
Events: 12,847 total (Security: 9,231 | Sysmon: 3,616)
Authentication Summary:
Successful Logons (4624): 487 (Type 3: 312, Type 10: 45, Type 2: 130)
Failed Logons (4625): 847 (from 192.168.1.105 — BRUTE FORCE)
Explicit Creds (4648): 12
Suspicious Findings:
[HIGH] 847 failed logons followed by success at 14:35 from 192.168.1.105
[HIGH] New user "backdoor_admin" created (4720) at 14:38
[HIGH] User added to Administrators group (4732) at 14:38
[MEDIUM] schtasks.exe creating persistence task at 14:42
[MEDIUM] PowerShell encoded command execution at 14:45
ATT&CK Mapping:
T1110.001 — Password Guessing (847 failed logons)
T1136.001 — Local Account Creation (backdoor_admin)
T1053.005 — Scheduled Task (persistence)
T1059.001 — PowerShell (encoded execution)