Detect Web Service in Elastic Security
Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external web service as a means for relaying data to/from a compromised system. Popular websites and cloud services such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Pastebin, GitHub, and Discord may act as C2 channels due to the high likelihood that hosts within a network already communicate with them. This provides cover in expected noise and takes advantage of SSL/TLS encryption offered by these providers. Use of web services also protects back-end C2 infrastructure from discovery through malware binary analysis while enabling operational resiliency through dynamic infrastructure changes.
MITRE ATT&CK
- Tactic
- Command and Control
- Technique
- T1102 Web Service
- Canonical reference
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1102/
Elastic Detection Query
network where event.category == "network" and network.direction == "egress" and
destination.domain != null and
destination.domain : (
"*pastebin.com", "*paste.ee", "*ghostbin.co",
"*api.github.com", "*raw.githubusercontent.com", "*gist.github.com",
"*graph.microsoft.com", "*onedrive.live.com", "*api.onedrive.com",
"*googleapis.com", "*drive.google.com", "*storage.googleapis.com",
"*api.dropboxapi.com", "*content.dropboxapi.com",
"*discord.com", "*discordapp.com", "*cdn.discordapp.com",
"*api.telegram.org", "*slack.com", "*api.slack.com",
"*firebaseio.com", "*firebase.googleapis.com",
"*api.notion.so", "*gitee.com", "*top4top.io"
) and
not process.name in~ (
"chrome.exe", "firefox.exe", "msedge.exe", "iexplore.exe",
"safari.exe", "opera.exe", "brave.exe",
"OneDriveSetup.exe", "OneDrive.exe", "googledrivesync.exe",
"dropbox.exe", "slack.exe", "teams.exe", "discord.exe"
) and
(
process.name in~ (
"powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "cscript.exe",
"mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe", "certutil.exe",
"bitsadmin.exe", "curl.exe", "wget.exe"
) or
process.name in~ (
"python.exe", "python3.exe", "ruby.exe", "perl.exe", "node.exe"
) or
process.parent.name in~ (
"winword.exe", "excel.exe", "powerpnt.exe", "outlook.exe",
"acrobat.exe", "acrord32.exe"
)
)Detects non-browser, non-sync-client processes making outbound network connections to web services commonly abused as C2 channels (T1102). Matches on suspicious system utilities, scripting engines, or Office-spawned processes contacting pastebin, GitHub raw content, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Discord, Telegram, Slack, Firebase, Notion, Gitee, or top4top.io. Uses ECS network event fields populated by Elastic Agent Endpoint or Winlogbeat with Sysmon.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Legitimate automation scripts using PowerShell or Python that interact with GitHub APIs or Google Drive as part of CI/CD pipelines or DevOps workflows on developer workstations.
- Security tools such as EDR agents, vulnerability scanners, or SIEM forwarders that connect to cloud telemetry endpoints including googleapis.com or Firebase.
- Custom in-house tooling using curl.exe or wget.exe that legitimately downloads configuration or updates from GitHub raw content or cloud storage buckets.
Other platforms for T1102
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 5 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1PowerShell Dead Drop Resolver via Pastebin
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=powershell.exe, CommandLine containing 'Net.WebClient' and 'pastebin.com'. Sysmon Event ID 3: Network Connection to pastebin.com on port 443. Sysmon Event ID 22: DNS query for pastebin.com. PowerShell ScriptBlock Log Event ID 4104 with the full command.
- Test 2Simulated OneDrive C2 Channel via Microsoft Graph API
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=powershell.exe, CommandLine containing 'Invoke-RestMethod' and 'graph.microsoft.com'. Sysmon Event ID 3: Network Connection to graph.microsoft.com on port 443. Sysmon Event ID 22: DNS query for graph.microsoft.com.
- Test 3Curl-based GitHub Raw Content Retrieval (Linux/macOS)
Expected signal: Syslog/auditd: execve syscall for curl with arguments containing raw.githubusercontent.com. Network connection to 185.199.x.x (GitHub CDN) on port 443. Linux audit log: SYSCALL record with comm=curl, SOCKADDR with dest IP. File creation at /tmp/df00tech-test-payload.txt.
- Test 4Discord Webhook C2 Simulation
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=powershell.exe, CommandLine containing 'discord.com' and 'Invoke-RestMethod'. Sysmon Event ID 3: Network Connection to discord.com port 443. Sysmon Event ID 22: DNS query for discord.com. The request will fail with HTTP 401/404 but the network telemetry will still be generated.
- Test 5Python-based Telegram Bot API C2 Simulation
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=python.exe, CommandLine containing 'api.telegram.org'. Sysmon Event ID 3: Network Connection to api.telegram.org port 443. Sysmon Event ID 22: DNS query for api.telegram.org. The request will return HTTP 401 (invalid token) but network telemetry is generated.
References (10)
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1102/
- https://www.broadcom.com/support/security-center/protection-bulletin/birdyclient-malware-leverages-microsoft-graph-api-for-c-c-communication
- https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-research/evasivepanda-apt-group-uses-update-channels-of-legitimate-applications-for-cyberespionage/
- https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/threat-intelligence/daggerfly-apt-actor-macos
- https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/latrodectus-cybercrime-affiliate-activity/
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2021/05/28/breaking-down-nobelium-latest-early-stage-toolset/
- https://www.cybereason.com/blog/molerats-in-the-cloud-new-malware-arsenal-abuses-cloud-platforms-in-middle-east-espionage-campaign
- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/08/rocke-champion-of-monero-miners.html
- https://hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/a00127091enw.pdf
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1102/T1102.md
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