Elastic Security Detection Rules

Persistence via Scheduled Job Creation

Last updated 9 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 5 years ago on 2021-03-15

About

A job can be used to schedule programs or scripts to be executed at a specified date and time. Adversaries may abuse task scheduling functionality to facilitate initial or recurring execution of malicious code.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Scheduled Task/Job (T1053)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Legitimate scheduled jobs may be created during installation of new software.
License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.file-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*endgame-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*logs-m365_defender.event-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

windows(external, opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(external, opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type != "deletion" and
  file.path : "?:\\Windows\\Tasks\\*" and file.extension : "job" and
  not (
    (
      process.executable : "?:\\Program Files\\CCleaner\\CCleaner64.exe" and
      file.path : "?:\\Windows\\Tasks\\CCleanerCrashReporting.job"
    ) or
    (
      process.executable : (
        "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\ManageEngine\\UEMS_Agent\\bin\\dcagentregister.exe",
        "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\DesktopCentral_Agent\\bin\\dcagentregister.exe"
      ) and
      file.path : "?:\\Windows\\Tasks\\DCAgentUpdater.job"
    )
  )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Persistence via Scheduled Job Creation in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).