Cobalt Strike Command and Control Beacon
editCobalt Strike Command and Control Beacon
editCobalt Strike is a threat emulation platform commonly modified and used by adversaries to conduct network attack and exploitation campaigns. This rule detects a network activity algorithm leveraged by Cobalt Strike implant beacons for command and control.
Rule type: query
Rule indices:
- auditbeat-*
- filebeat-*
- packetbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
Severity: high
Risk score: 73
Runs every: 5 minutes
Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Network
- Threat Detection
- Command and Control
- Host
Version: 6 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.10.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.14.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Potential false positives
editThis rule should be tailored to either exclude systems, as sources or destinations, in which this behavior is expected.
Investigation guide
edit## Threat intel This activity has been observed in FIN7 campaigns.
Rule query
editevent.category:(network OR network_traffic) AND type:(tls OR http) AND
network.transport:tcp AND
destination.domain:/[a-z]{3}.stage.[0-9]{8}\..*/
Threat mapping
editFramework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Command and Control
- ID: TA0011
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/
-
Technique:
- Name: Application Layer Protocol
- ID: T1071
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1071/
Rule version history
edit- Version 6 (7.14.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
event.category:(network OR network_traffic) AND type:(tls OR http) AND network.transport:tcp AND destination.domain:/[a-z]{3}.stage.[0-9]{8}\..*/
-
- Version 5 (7.13.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 4 (7.12.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.11.2 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 2 (7.11.0 release)
-
- Formatting only