IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Protocol Activity to the Internet
This rule detects events that use common ports for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to the Internet. IRC is a common protocol that can be used for chat and file transfers. This protocol is also a good candidate for remote…
Description
This rule detects events that use common ports for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to the Internet. IRC is a common protocol that can be used for chat and file transfers. This protocol is also a good candidate for remote control of malware and data transfers to and from a network.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
Sunturai publishes a detection's own text where the licence it arrived under has been reviewed and permits it, and Elastic License 2.0 has not. The query as its source wrote it, its canonical form and the hash that pins this revision are in the workspace record.
Detection requirements
- Platform
- ESXiIaaSLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- IRC activity may be normal behavior for developers and engineers but is unusual for non-engineering end users. IRC activity involving an unusual source or destination may be more suspicious. IRC activity involving a production server is often suspicious. Because these ports are in the ephemeral range, this rule may false under certain conditions, such as when a NAT-ed web server replies to a client which has used a port in the range by coincidence. In this case, these servers can be excluded. Some legacy applications may use these ports, but this is very uncommon and usually only appears in local traffic using private IPs, which does not match this rule's conditions.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
No references are available for this detection.
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- c6474c34-4953-447a-903e-9fcb7b6661aa
- Tagged by the source as
- Command and ControlElasticHostNetworkThreat Detection
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Aug 27, 2026
- Version
- 1