Detection: Account Discovery With Net App

REMOVED DETECTION

This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.

Reason: This analytic was a TTP that focused on unrelated things and called account discovery. Since there were other detection that overlapped with it. I choose to deprecate it, and replace it with an updated version of 339805ce-ac30-11eb-b87d-acde48001122 / Windows Excessive Usage Of Net App.

Removed in version: 5.2.0

Replacement: Windows Excessive Usage Of Net App

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: 339805ce-ac30-11eb-b87d-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk, TheLawsOfChaos, Github Community Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic has been deprecated in favour of the more generic "45e52536-ae42-11eb-b5c6-acde48001122". The following analytic detects potential account discovery activities using the 'net' command, commonly employed by malware like Trickbot for reconnaissance. It leverages Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) data, focusing on specific command-line patterns and process relationships. This activity is significant as it often precedes further malicious actions, such as lateral movement or privilege escalation. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain valuable information about user accounts, enabling them to escalate privileges or move laterally within the network, posing a significant security risk.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` values(Processes.process) as process values(Processes.parent_process) as parent_process values(Processes.process_id) as process_id count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_net` AND (Processes.process="* user *" OR  Processes.process="*config*" OR Processes.process="*view /all*") by  Processes.process_name Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name 
3| where count >=4 
4| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
6| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
7| `account_discovery_with_net_app_filter`

Data Source

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

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_summariesonly	`summariesonly=`summariesonly_config `allow_old_summaries=`oldsummaries_config `fillnull_value=`fillnull_config``
account_discovery_with_net_app_filter	``

account_discovery_with_net_app_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1087.002	Domain Account	Discovery

Default Configuration

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

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`N/A`
Earliest Time	`N/A`
Latest Time	`N/A`
Schedule Window	`N/A`
Creates Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

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

Admin or power user may used this series of command.

Associated Analytic Story

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

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: 9