Detection: Windows DiskCryptor Usage

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of DiskCryptor, identified by the process names "dcrypt.exe" or "dcinst.exe". This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and original file names. DiskCryptor is significant because adversaries use it to manually encrypt disks during an operation, potentially leading to data inaccessibility. If confirmed malicious, this activity could result in complete disk encryption, causing data loss and operational disruption. Immediate investigation is required to mitigate potential ransomware attacks.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where (Processes.process_name="dcrypt.exe" OR Processes.original_file_name=dcinst.exe) by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `windows_diskcryptor_usage_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2	N/A	'crowdstrike:events:sensor'	'crowdstrike'
Sysmon EventID 1	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'
Windows Event Log Security 4688	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Security'

Macros Used

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Implementation

The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the Processes node of the Endpoint data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.

Known False Positives

It is possible false positives may be present based on the internal name dcinst.exe, filter as needed. It may be worthy to alert on the service name.

Associated Analytic Story

• Ransomware

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://thedfirreport.com/2021/11/15/exchange-exploit-leads-to-domain-wide-ransomware/

• https://github.com/DavidXanatos/DiskCryptor

Detection Testing

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 4