malware
DarkWatchman is a lightweight JavaScript-based remote access tool (RAT) that avoids file operations; it was first observed in November 2021.[1]
Enterprise ATT&CK only. Any Mobile or ICS rows on the same ATT&CK page are not carried.
DarkWatchman can collect files from a compromised host.2
DarkWatchman reports window names along with keylogger information to provide application context.3
DarkWatchman can query the Registry to determine if it has already been installed on the system.4
DarkWatchman has used the csc.exe tool to compile a C# executable.5
DarkWatchman has used Base64 to encode PowerShell commands.6
DarkWatchman can store configuration strings, keylogger, and output of components in the Registry.7
Reach is how much of ATT&CK this malware touches. Coverage is how well defended each thing it does is, as a median per technique rather than a total — a total would just restate the reach. Each figure is ranked against all 825 ATT&CK software entries only where that population actually spreads. Where most of the population shares one value, a percentile would rank the tie instead of the entity, so the raw value is shown and no rank is claimed.
95th percentile · 95% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many Enterprise techniques or fewer.
98th percentile · 98% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many tactics spanned or fewer.
61% of the population shares a single value across only 22 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
85% of the population shares a single value across only 8 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
49th percentile · 51% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have more detection rules per technique.
1165 distinct rules cover the 34 techniques recorded for this malware. 789 Sigma · 376 Splunk.
| Select | Title | Description | Category | Status | Event | OS | Product | MITRE ATT&CK | CVEs | Severity | Author | Created | Updated | ID | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Detects file access requests to files ending with either the ".hive"/".reg" extension, usually associated with Windows Registry backups. | Hunting | test | file_access | windows | - | - | low | frack113 | 2023-09-15 | 2024-07-29 | 337a31c6-46c4-46be-886a-260d7aa78cac | ||||
Detect set Notification_Suppress to 1 to disable the Windows security center notification | Generic | test | registry_set | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | frack113 | 2022-08-19 | 2023-08-17 | 0c93308a-3f1b-40a9-b649-57ea1a1c1d63 | ||||
Detect set DisallowRun to 1 to prevent user running specific computer program | Generic | test | registry_set | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | frack113 | 2022-08-19 | 2023-08-17 | 275641a5-a492-45e2-a817-7c81e9d9d3e9 | ||||
Detects suspicious local connections via a named pipe to the AD FS configuration database (Windows Internal Database). (...) | Generic | test | pipe_created | windows | Sysmon | - | medium | Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g | 2021-10-08 | 2023-11-30 | 1ea13e8c-03ea-409b-877d-ce5c3d2c1cb3 | ||||
Detects the deletion of the "Zone.Identifier" ADS. (...) | Hunting | test | file_delete | windows | Sysmon | - | low | frack113 | 2023-09-04 | — | 7eac0a16-5832-4e81-865f-0268a6d19e4b | ||||
Detects the deletion of the "Zone.Identifier" ADS by an uncommon process. (...) | Generic | test | file_delete | windows | Sysmon | - | medium | Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) | 2023-09-04 | 2025-07-04 | 3109530e-ab47-4cc6-a953-cac5ebcc93ae | ||||
Detects javaw.exe in AppData folder as used by Adwind / JRAT | Emerging | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Tom Ueltschi, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community | 2017-11-10 | 2022-10-09 | 1fac1481-2dbc-48b2-9096-753c49b4ec71 | ||||
Detects javaw.exe in AppData folder as used by Adwind / JRAT | Generic | test | file_event | windows | Sysmon | - | high | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Tom Ueltschi, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community | 2017-11-10 | 2022-12-02 | 0bcfabcb-7929-47f4-93d6-b33fb67d34d1 | ||||
Detects the deletion of all backups or system state backups via "wbadmin.exe". (...) | Generic | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) | 2021-12-13 | 2024-05-10 | 639c9081-f482-47d3-a0bd-ddee3d4ecd76 | ||||
Detect enable rdp feature to allow specific user to rdp connect on the targeted machine | Generic | test | registry_set | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | frack113 | 2022-08-19 | 2023-08-17 | 37b437cf-3fc5-4c8e-9c94-1d7c9aff842b | ||||
Detects alternate PowerShell hosts potentially bypassing detections looking for powershell.exe | Generic | test | ps_module | windows | PowerShell | - | medium | Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g | 2019-08-11 | 2025-10-17 | 64e8e417-c19a-475a-8d19-98ea705394cc | ||||
Detects alternate PowerShell hosts potentially bypassing detections looking for powershell.exe | Generic | test | pipe_created | windows | Sysmon | - | medium | Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g, Tim Shelton | 2019-09-12 | 2025-10-07 | 58cb02d5-78ce-4692-b3e1-dce850aae41a | ||||
Detects loading of Amsi.dll by uncommon processes | Hunting | test | image_load | windows | Sysmon | - | low | frack113 | 2023-03-12 | 2026-06-29 | facd1549-e416-48e0-b8c4-41d7215eedc8 | ||||
Detects the removal or uninstallation of an application via "Wmic.EXE". | Generic | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | frack113 | 2022-01-28 | 2024-07-02 | b53317a0-8acf-4fd1-8de8-a5401e776b96 | ||||
Detects an attempt to terminate a process via "wmic" with the "call terminate" flag. (...) | Generic | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) | 2023-09-11 | — | 49d9671b-0a0a-4c09-8280-d215bfd30662 | ||||
Detects when AppLocker "Audit only" enforcement mode reports that an Application, DLL, Script, MSI, or Packaged-App would have been blocked if AppLocker "Enforce rules" enforcement mode was enabled. | Generic | experimental | - | windows | AppLocker | - | medium | heyyanu | 2026-03-26 | — | 557e3bd3-7f21-495d-8d50-7c8bdfb8041c | ||||
Detects when AppLocker prevents the execution of an Application, DLL, Script, MSI, or Packaged-App from running. | Generic | test | - | windows | AppLocker | - | medium | Pushkarev Dmitry | 2020-06-28 | 2025-12-03 | 401e5d00-b944-11ea-8f9a-00163ecd60ae | ||||
Detects suspicious user agent strings used in APT malware in proxy logs | Generic | test | proxy | - | - | - | high | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Markus Neis | 2019-11-12 | 2024-02-15 | 6ec820f2-e963-4801-9127-d8b2dce4d31b | ||||
Detects suspicious user agent string of APT40 Dropbox tool | Emerging | test | proxy | - | - | - | high | Thomas Patzke | 2019-11-12 | 2023-05-18 | 5ba715b6-71b7-44fd-8245-f66893e81b3d | ||||
The .SettingContent-ms file type was introduced in Windows 10 and allows a user to create "shortcuts" to various Windows 10 setting pages. (...) | Generic | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | Sreeman | 2020-03-13 | 2022-04-14 | 24de4f3b-804c-4165-b442-5a06a2302c7e | ||||
Splunk | The following analytic detects when AWS S3 bucket versioning is suspended by a user. (...) | Anomaly | stable | cloud_audit | - | AWS CloudTrail · AWS | - | medium | Patrick Bareiss, Splunk | 2022-10-04 | 2026-05-13 | f32598bb-fa5f-4afd-8ab3-0263cc28efbc | |||
Adversaries may enumerate browser bookmarks to learn more about compromised hosts. (...) | Generic | test | ps_script | windows | PowerShell | - | low | frack113 | 2021-12-13 | 2022-12-25 | e0565f5d-d420-4e02-8a68-ac00d864f9cf | ||||
Detects automated lateral movement by Turla group | Unsupported | unsupported | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | Markus Neis | 2017-11-07 | 2023-02-24 | 75925535-ca97-4e0a-a850-00b5c00779dc | ||||
Splunk | The following analytic detects when AWS S3 bucket versioning is suspended by a user. (...) | Anomaly | stable | cloud_audit | - | AWS CloudTrail · AWS | - | medium | Bhavin Patel, Splunk | 2023-05-01 | 2026-05-13 | 657902a9-987d-4879-a1b2-e7a65512824b | |||
Detects changes to the EC2 instance startup script. (...) | Generic | test | cloud_audit | - | AWS CloudTrail · AWS | - | high | faloker | 2020-02-12 | 2022-06-07 | 1ab3c5ed-5baf-417b-bb6b-78ca33f6c3df | ||||
An attempt to export an AWS EC2 instance has been detected. (...) | Generic | test | cloud_audit | - | AWS CloudTrail · AWS | - | low | Diogo Braz | 2020-04-16 | 2022-10-05 | 54b9a76a-3c71-4673-b4b3-2edb4566ea7b | ||||
Detects when S3 bucket versioning is disabled. (...) | Generic | test | cloud_audit | - | AWS CloudTrail · AWS | - | medium | Sean Johnstone | Unit 42 | 2023-10-28 | — | a136ac98-b2bc-4189-a14d-f0d0388e57a7 | ||||
Detects the specific Windows execution chain and process tree associated with the Axios NPM supply chain compromise. (...) | Emerging | experimental | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) | 2026-04-01 | — | f6c27ecc-d890-4452-80e6-2e274a10e097 | ||||
Detects DNS queries for the malicious C2 domain associated with the plain-crypto-js/Axios npm package supply chain compromise. (...) | Emerging | experimental | dns | - | - | - | high | Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) | 2026-04-01 | — | 73e5d24f-493f-4092-bd2f-c72cabda40ee | ||||
This detection uses Windows security events to detect suspicious access attempts to the registry key of Azure AD Health monitoring agent. (...) | Generic | test | - | windows | WinEventLog Security | - | medium | Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research), MSTIC | 2021-08-26 | 2022-10-09 | ff151c33-45fa-475d-af4f-c2f93571f4fe | ||||
This detection uses Windows security events to detect suspicious access attempts to the registry key values and sub-keys of Azure AD Health service agents (e.g AD FS). (...) | Generic | test | - | windows | WinEventLog Security | - | medium | Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research), MSTIC | 2021-08-26 | 2022-10-09 | 1d2ab8ac-1a01-423b-9c39-001510eae8e8 | ||||
Detects backup catalog deletions | Generic | test | - | windows | WinEventLog Application | - | medium | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Tom U. @c_APT_ure (collection) | 2017-05-12 | 2022-12-25 | 9703792d-fd9a-456d-a672-ff92efe4806a | ||||
Detects deletion of files with extensions often used for backup files. (...) | Generic | test | file_delete | windows | Sysmon | - | medium | frack113 | 2022-01-02 | 2023-02-15 | 06125661-3814-4e03-bfa2-1e4411c60ac3 | ||||
focuses on trivial artifacts observed in variants of prevalent offensive ps1 payloads, including
Cob (...) | Generic | test | ps_module | windows | PowerShell | - | critical | ok @securonix invrep_de, oscd.community | 2020-10-09 | 2022-12-25 | 8d31a8ce-46b5-4dd6-bdc3-680931f1db86 | ||||
Detects usage of the "FromBase64String" function in the commandline which is used to decode a base64 (...) | Generic | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) | 2020-01-29 | 2023-01-26 | e32d4572-9826-4738-b651-95fa63747e8a | ||||
Splunk | The following analytic detects the execution of a suspicious `bcdedit` command that reconfigures a host from safe mode back to normal boot. (...) | Generic | stable | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security · CrowdStrike | - | medium | Teoderick Contreras, Splunk | 2021-09-07 | 2026-05-13 | dc7a8004-0f18-11ec-8c54-acde48001122 | |||
Splunk | The following analytic detects modifications to the Windows error recovery boot configurations using bcdedit.exe with flags such as "recoveryenabled" and "no". (...) | Generic | stable | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security · CrowdStrike | - | medium | Michael Haag, Splunk | 2021-01-11 | 2026-10-02 | 809b31d2-5462-11eb-ae93-0242ac130002 | |||
Detects user data export activity. | Generic | test | cloud_audit | - | Bitbucket Audit · Bitbucket | - | medium | Muhammad Faisal (@faisalusuf) | 2024-02-25 | — | 5259cbf2-0a75-48bf-b57a-c54d6fabaef3 | ||||
Detects user permission data export attempt. | Generic | test | cloud_audit | - | Bitbucket Audit · Bitbucket | - | medium | Muhammad Faisal (@faisalusuf) | 2024-02-25 | — | 87cc6698-3e07-4ba2-9b43-a85a73e151e2 | ||||
Detects Bitsadmin connections to IP addresses instead of FQDN names | Generic | test | proxy | - | - | - | high | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) | 2022-06-10 | 2022-08-24 | 8ccd35a2-1c7c-468b-b568-ac6cdf80eec3 | ||||
Detects Bitsadmin connections to domains with uncommon TLDs | Generic | test | proxy | - | - | - | high | Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Tim Shelton | 2019-03-07 | 2026-09-30 | 9eb68894-7476-4cd6-8752-23b51f5883a7 | ||||
Detects specific windows registry modifications made by BlackByte ransomware variants. (...) | Emerging | test | registry_set | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | frack113 | 2022-01-24 | 2025-10-21 | 83314318-052a-4c90-a1ad-660ece38d276 | ||||
Detects default file names outputted by the BloodHound collection tool SharpHound | Generic | test | file_event | windows | Sysmon | - | high | C.J. May | 2022-08-09 | 2026-02-19 | 02773bed-83bf-469f-b7ff-e676e7d78bab | ||||
Attempts to detect system changes made by Blue Mockingbird | Emerging | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | Trent Liffick (@tliffick) | 2020-05-14 | 2022-10-09 | c3198a27-23a0-4c2c-af19-e5328d49680e | ||||
Attempts to detect system changes made by Blue Mockingbird | Emerging | test | registry_set | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | Trent Liffick (@tliffick) | 2020-05-14 | 2023-08-17 | 92b0b372-a939-44ed-a11b-5136cf680e27 | ||||
Detects the use of the bcdedit command to tamper with the boot configuration data. (...) | Generic | stable | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | high | E.M. Anhaus (originally from Atomic Blue Detections, Endgame), oscd.community | 2019-10-24 | 2023-02-15 | 1444443e-6757-43e4-9ea4-c8fc705f79a2 | ||||
Detects powershell execution with that make use of to the bxor (Bitwise XOR). (...) | Hunting | test | ps_classic_start | windows | PowerShell | - | low | Teymur Kheirkhabarov, Harish Segar | 2020-06-29 | 2024-12-11 | 812837bb-b17f-45e9-8bd0-0ec35d2e3bd6 | ||||
Detects usage of "getcap" binary. (...) | Generic | test | process_creation | linux | Sysmon | - | low | Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) | 2022-12-28 | 2026-01-24 | d8d97d51-122d-4cdd-9e2f-01b4b4933530 | ||||
Detects calls to cmdlets that are used to export certificates from the local certificate store. (...) | Generic | test | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security | - | medium | Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) | 2023-05-18 | — | 9e716b33-63b2-46da-86a4-bd3c3b9b5dfb | ||||
Splunk | The following analytic detects the use of CertUtil.exe with the 'decode' argument, which may indicate an attempt to decode a previously encoded file, potentially containing malicious payloads. (...) | Generic | stable | process_creation | windows | Sysmon · WinEventLog Security · CrowdStrike | - | medium | Michael Haag, Splunk | 2021-03-25 | 2026-10-02 | bfe94226-8c10-11eb-a4b3-acde48001122 |
42nd percentile · 58% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have more atomic tests per technique.
54% of the population shares a single value across only 11 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
57th percentile · 57% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many mitigations per technique or fewer.
5 of 8 axes carry an honest rank on this page. Coverage medians are taken across this malware’s 34 Enterprise techniques.
Technique Campaign use over its cumulative rule count.