LoFP LoFP / some legitimate users may run putty for remote administration or secure file transfers. filter alerts to exclude approved administrative activities.

Techniques

Sample rules

Windows PuTTY Suite Utility Execution

Description

This analytic detects the execution of programs associated with the PuTTY SSH client suite, including putty.exe, pscp.exe, plink.exe, psftp.exe, and puttygen.exe. This activity is significant because these tools can be used to establish unauthorized remote connections, transfer files, or execute commands on remote systems. If identified in an unusual context, such as non-administrative accounts or unexpected systems, it may indicate attempts to bypass security controls, perform lateral movement, or exfiltrate data, which could lead to further network compromise.

Detection logic


| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
  count min(_time) as firstTime
        max(_time) as lastTime

from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where

(
    Processes.process_name IN (
        "putty.exe",
        "pscp.exe",
        "plink.exe",
        "psftp.exe",
        "puttygen.exe"
    )
    OR
    Processes.original_file_name IN (
        "PuTTY",
        "PSCP",
        "Plink",
        "PSFTP",
        "PuTTYgen"
    )
)

by Processes.process Processes.vendor_product Processes.user_id
   Processes.process_hash Processes.parent_process_name
   Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.action Processes.dest
   Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_path
   Processes.process_integrity_level Processes.original_file_name
   Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_path
   Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id
   Processes.process_guid Processes.process_id
   Processes.user Processes.process_name


| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

| `windows_putty_suite_utility_execution_filter`