# T1140 - Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

## SOC Recommendation
Investigate Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information activity in the context of Stealth: confirm scope, affected host/identity, and whether it matches expected administrative behaviour before deciding this is benign.

## D3FEND Mappings
| D3FEND Technique | Relationship | Practical SOC Action |
|---|---|---|
| Application Exception Monitoring | Detect | Monitor for Application Exception Monitoring indicators relevant to this technique. |
| File Encryption | Harden | Apply File Encryption to reduce this technique's viability before an incident occurs. |
| File Eviction | Evict | Use File Eviction to remove the adversary's foothold once this technique is confirmed. |
| System Call Filtering | Isolate | Apply System Call Filtering to contain the blast radius once this technique is observed. |

## Investigation Steps
1. Review Defender for Endpoint / Defender XDR alerts and timeline for the affected host or identity.
2. Check Sentinel analytics rules and incidents correlated with this technique.
3. Review Entra ID sign-in and audit logs if the technique involves an identity or cloud resource.

## Evidence to Collect
- Host or resource affected
- Account or identity involved
- Timestamp of the activity
- Related process, file, or network artifact
- Any preceding or follow-on alerts

## Response Actions
| Action | Risk | Automation Safe | Approval Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contain the affected host or account | Medium | No | Yes |
| Collect and preserve evidence | Low | Yes | No |

## KQL
```kql
imProcessCreate
| where CommandLine contains "TVqQAAMAAAAEAAA"
| where isnotempty(Process)
| summarize StartTime = min(TimeGenerated), EndTime = max(TimeGenerated), count() by Dvc, ActorUsername, Process, CommandLine, ActingProcessName, EventVendor, EventProduct
| extend AccountName = tostring(split(ActorUsername, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(ActorUsername, @'\')[0])
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Dvc, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Dvc, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Dvc, DomainIndex + 1), Dvc)
| project-away DomainIndex
```
```kql
let threatCategory="Powershell";
let knownUserAgentsIndicators = materialize(externaldata(UserAgent:string, Category:string)
    [ @"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel/master/Sample%20Data/Feeds/UnusualUserAgents.csv"]
        with(format="csv", ignoreFirstRecord=True));
let knownUserAgents=toscalar(knownUserAgentsIndicators | where Category==threatCategory | where isnotempty(UserAgent) | summarize make_list(UserAgent));
let customUserAgents=toscalar(_GetWatchlist("UnusualUserAgents") | where SearchKey==threatCategory | extend UserAgent=column_ifexists("UserAgent","") | where isnotempty(UserAgent) | summarize make_list(UserAgent));
let fullUAList = array_concat(knownUserAgents,customUserAgents);
_Im_WebSession(httpuseragent_has_any=fullUAList)
| project SrcIpAddr, Url, TimeGenerated, HttpUserAgent, SrcUsername
| extend AccountName = tostring(split(SrcUsername, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(SrcUsername, "@")[1])
```
```kql
DynatraceSecurityProblems
| where VulnerabilityType == "CODE_LEVEL" and DAVISRiskLevel == "CRITICAL" and Muted == false
| summarize  arg_max(LastUpdatedTimeStamp, *) by SecurityProblemId
```

## Escalation Criteria
- Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information activity observed on a privileged account or critical system.
- Activity follows or precedes other suspicious behaviour in the same investigation.
- Automated triage cannot confidently rule out malicious intent.

## False Positive Considerations
- Legitimate administrative or maintenance activity matching this pattern.
- Approved security testing or red team exercise.
- Known benign software producing similar telemetry.

Generated by SOC Response Atlas by Basyrix.