Skill

detecting-malicious-scheduled-tasks-with-sysmon

From asi

Detects malicious scheduled task creation/modification using Sysmon Event IDs 1 (schtasks.exe), 11 (task XML), and Windows Security 4698/4702. Correlates suspicious parents, paths, and encoded commands for persistence/lateral movement.

Powershell

security

npx claudepluginhub plurigrid/asi --plugin asi

Tool Access

This skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.

Preview

Adversaries abuse Windows Task Scheduler (schtasks.exe, at.exe) for persistence (T1053.005)

SKILL.md

Similar Skills

detecting-malicious-scheduled-tasks-with-sysmon

5.9k

Detects malicious scheduled tasks using Sysmon Events 1/11 and Windows Security 4698/4702. Correlates suspicious processes, paths, and commands for persistence and lateral movement hunting.

3 files

cybersecurity-skills

detecting-malicious-scheduled-tasks-with-sysmon

Detects malicious Windows scheduled tasks using Sysmon events ID 1/11 and security events 4698/4702. Links to suspicious parent processes, public paths, and encoded commands for persistence/lateral movement hunting (T1053.005).

3 files

cybersecurity-skills-zh

hunting-for-suspicious-scheduled-tasks

Hunts for adversary persistence via Windows scheduled tasks (T1053.005) by analyzing Event ID 4698/4699, suspicious properties, triggers, and execution patterns in Sysmon/Splunk logs.

asi

Stats

Parent Repo Stars16

Parent Repo Forks5

Last CommitApr 4, 2026

Actions

View Source View Plugin View on GitHub View README

Help us improve

Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.

Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks with Sysmon

Overview

Adversaries abuse Windows Task Scheduler (schtasks.exe, at.exe) for persistence (T1053.005) and lateral movement. Sysmon Event ID 1 captures schtasks.exe process creation with full command-line arguments, while Event ID 11 captures task XML files written to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks. Windows Security Event 4698 logs task registration details. This skill covers building detection rules that correlate these events to identify malicious scheduled tasks created from suspicious paths, with encoded payloads, or targeting remote systems.

When to Use

When investigating security incidents that require detecting malicious scheduled tasks with sysmon

When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain

When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type

When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques

Prerequisites

Sysmon installed with a detection-focused configuration (e.g., SwiftOnSecurity or Olaf Hartong)

Windows Event Log forwarding to SIEM (Splunk, Elastic, or Sentinel)

PowerShell ScriptBlock Logging enabled (Event 4104)

Steps

Configure Sysmon to log Event IDs 1, 11, 12, 13 with task-related filters

Build detection rules for schtasks.exe /create with suspicious arguments

Correlate Event 4698 (task registered) with Sysmon Event 1 (process create)

Hunt for tasks executing from public directories or with encoded commands

Alert on remote task creation (schtasks /s) for lateral movement detection

Expected Output

[CRITICAL] Suspicious Scheduled Task Detected Task: \Microsoft\Windows\UpdateCheck Command: powershell.exe -enc SQBuAHYAbwBrAGUALQBXAGUAYgBSAGU... Created By: DOMAIN\compromised_user Parent Process: cmd.exe (PID 4532) Source: \\192.168.1.50 (remote creation) MITRE: T1053.005 - Scheduled Task/Job