A scheduled task was created

Last updated 6 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 3 years ago on 2022-08-29

About

Indicates the creation of a scheduled task using Windows event logs. Adversaries can use these to establish persistence, move laterally, and/or escalate privileges.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceData Source: Windows Security Event LogsLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

False Positive Examples
Legitimate scheduled tasks may be created during installation of new software.
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
logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

system(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
iam where event.action == "scheduled-task-created" and

 /* excluding tasks created by the computer account */
 not user.name : "*$" and

 /* TaskContent is not parsed, exclude by full taskname noisy ones */
 not winlog.event_data.TaskName : (
              "\\CreateExplorerShellUnelevatedTask",
              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HPDeviceCheck",
              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HP Support Assistant\\WarrantyChecker",
              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HP Support Assistant\\WarrantyChecker_backup",
              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HP Web Products Detection",
              "\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\Updates\\BackgroundDownload",
              "\\OneDrive Standalone Update Task-S-1-5-21*",
              "\\OneDrive Standalone Update Task-S-1-12-1-*"
 )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect A scheduled task was created 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).