# T1569 - System Services

## SOC Recommendation
Investigate System Services activity in the context of Execution: 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Network Traffic Analysis | Detect | Monitor for Network Traffic Analysis indicators relevant to this technique. |

## 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stop and delete the malicious service: sc stop <name> then | Low | No | Yes |
| Delete or quarantine the service binary | Low | No | Yes |
| If PsExec: investigate the origin host — it is the attacker' | Low | No | Yes |
| Check for additional services created in the same time windo | Low | Yes | No |

## KQL
```kql
let SuspiciousServiceNames = dynamic([
    "PSEXESVC",
    "PAExec",
    "RemComSvc",
    "WinExeSvc"
]);
DeviceProcessEvents
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(5m)
| where FileName in~ ("services.exe", "sc.exe")
| where ProcessCommandLine has_any (SuspiciousServiceNames) or InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_any (SuspiciousServiceNames)
| project
    TimeGenerated,
    DeviceName,
    DeviceId,
    AccountName,
    FileName,
    ProcessCommandLine,
    InitiatingProcessFileName,
    InitiatingProcessCommandLine,
    InitiatingProcessAccountName,
    InitiatingProcessRemoteSessionDeviceName
| extend timestamp = TimeGenerated,
         HostCustomEntity = DeviceName,
         AccountCustomEntity = AccountName
| order by TimeGenerated desc
```
```kql
let files1 = dynamic(["C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\lsa.exe", "C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\pa.exe", "C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\pc.exe", "C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\Rar.exe"]);
let files2 = dynamic(["svchost.exe","wdmsvc.exe"]);
let FileHash1 = dynamic(["43109fbe8b752f7a9076eaafa417d9ae5c6e827cd5374b866672263fdebd5ec3", "ab50d8d707b97712178a92bbac74ccc2a5699eb41c17aa77f713ff3e568dcedb", "010e32be0f86545e116a8bc3381a8428933eb8789f32c261c81fd5e7857d4a77",     "56cd102b9fc7f3523dad01d632525ff673259dbc9a091be0feff333c931574f7"]);
let FileHash2 = dynamic(["2a1044e9e6e87a032f80c6d9ea6ae61bbbb053c0a21b186ecb3b812b49eb03b7", "9ab7e99ed84f94a7b6409b87e56dc6e1143b05034a5e4455e8c555dbbcd0d2dd", "18a072ccfab239e140d8f682e2874e8ff19d94311fc8bb9564043d3e0deda54b"]);
imProcessCreate
| where ((Process has_any (files1)) and (ActingProcessSHA256 has_any (FileHash1))) or ((Process has_any (files2)) and (ActingProcessSHA256 has_any (FileHash2)))
// Increase risk score if recent alerts for the host
| join kind=leftouter (
  SecurityAlert
  | where ProviderName =~ "MDATP"
  | extend ThreatName = tostring(parse_json(ExtendedProperties).ThreatName)
  | mv-expand todynamic(Entities)
  | extend DvcId = tostring(parse_json(Entities).MdatpDeviceId)
  | where isnotempty(DvcId)
  // Higher risk score are for Defender alerts related to threat actor
  | extend AlertRiskScore = iif(ThreatName has_any ("Backdoor:MSIL/ShellClient.A", "Backdoor:MSIL/ShellClient.A!dll", "Trojan:MSIL/Mimikatz.BA!MTB"), 1.0, 0.5)
  | project DvcId, AlertRiskScore) 
  on DvcId
| extend AlertRiskScore = iif(isempty(AlertRiskScore), 0.0, AlertRiskScore)
| 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 files1 = dynamic(["C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\lsa.exe", "C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\pa.exe", "C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\pc.exe", "C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\Rar.exe"]);
let files2 = dynamic(["svchost.exe","wdmsvc.exe"]);
let FileHash1 = dynamic(["43109fbe8b752f7a9076eaafa417d9ae5c6e827cd5374b866672263fdebd5ec3", "ab50d8d707b97712178a92bbac74ccc2a5699eb41c17aa77f713ff3e568dcedb", "010e32be0f86545e116a8bc3381a8428933eb8789f32c261c81fd5e7857d4a77",         "56cd102b9fc7f3523dad01d632525ff673259dbc9a091be0feff333c931574f7"]);
let FileHash2 = dynamic(["2a1044e9e6e87a032f80c6d9ea6ae61bbbb053c0a21b186ecb3b812b49eb03b7", "9ab7e99ed84f94a7b6409b87e56dc6e1143b05034a5e4455e8c555dbbcd0d2dd", "18a072ccfab239e140d8f682e2874e8ff19d94311fc8bb9564043d3e0deda54b"]);
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ( FolderPath has_any (files1) and SHA256 has_any (FileHash1)) or (FolderPath has_any (files2) and SHA256 has_any (FileHash2))
| extend DvcId = DeviceId
| join kind=leftouter (SecurityAlert
| where ProviderName =~ "MDATP"
| extend ThreatName = tostring(parse_json(ExtendedProperties).ThreatName)
| mv-expand todynamic(Entities)
| extend DvcId = tostring(parse_json(Entities).MdatpDeviceId)
| where isnotempty(DvcId)
// Higher risk score are for Defender alerts related to threat actor
| extend AlertRiskScore = iif(ThreatName has_any ("Backdoor:MSIL/ShellClient.A", "Backdoor:MSIL/ShellClient.A!dll", "Trojan:MSIL/Mimikatz.BA!MTB"), 1.0, 0.5)
| project DvcId, AlertRiskScore) on DvcId
| extend AlertRiskScore = iif(isempty(AlertRiskScore), 0.0, AlertRiskScore)
| extend InitiatingProcessAccount = strcat(InitiatingProcessAccountDomain, "\\", InitiatingProcessAccountName)
| extend HostName = tostring(split(DeviceName, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(DeviceName, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(DeviceName, DomainIndex + 1), DeviceName)
| extend timestamp = TimeGenerated
```

## Escalation Criteria
- System Services 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.