Suspicious MS Outlook Child Process

Last updated 2 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 5 years ago on 2020-02-18

About

Identifies suspicious child processes of Microsoft Outlook. These child processes are often associated with spear phishing activity.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Initial AccessTactic: Defense EvasionTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: SysmonLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Initial Access (TA0001)(opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

system(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  process.parent.name : "outlook.exe" and
  process.name : ("Microsoft.Workflow.Compiler.exe", "arp.exe", "atbroker.exe", "bginfo.exe", "bitsadmin.exe",
                  "cdb.exe", "certutil.exe", "cmd.exe", "cmstp.exe", "cscript.exe", "csi.exe", "dnx.exe", "dsget.exe",
                  "dsquery.exe", "forfiles.exe", "fsi.exe", "ftp.exe", "gpresult.exe", "hostname.exe", "ieexec.exe",
                  "iexpress.exe", "installutil.exe", "ipconfig.exe", "mshta.exe", "msxsl.exe", "nbtstat.exe", "net.exe",
                  "net1.exe", "netsh.exe", "netstat.exe", "nltest.exe", "odbcconf.exe", "ping.exe", "powershell.exe",
                  "pwsh.exe", "qprocess.exe", "quser.exe", "qwinsta.exe", "rcsi.exe", "reg.exe", "regasm.exe",
                  "regsvcs.exe", "regsvr32.exe", "sc.exe", "schtasks.exe", "systeminfo.exe", "tasklist.exe",
                  "tracert.exe", "whoami.exe", "wmic.exe", "wscript.exe", "xwizard.exe")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Suspicious MS Outlook Child Process 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(opens in a new tab or window).