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Network Traffic to Rare Destination Country

A machine learning job detected a rare destination country name in the network logs. This can be due to initial access, persistence, command-and-control, or exfiltration activity. For example, when a user clicks on a…

Description

A machine learning job detected a rare destination country name in the network logs. This can be due to initial access, persistence, command-and-control, or exfiltration activity. For example, when a user clicks on a link in a phishing email or opens a malicious document, a request may be sent to download and run a payload from a server in a country which does not normally appear in network traffic or business work-flows. Malware instances and persistence mechanisms may communicate with command-and-control (C2) infrastructure in their country of origin, which may be an unusual destination country for the source 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
ContainersESXiIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 6 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.

Known benign triggers

  • Business workflows that occur very occasionally, and involve a business relationship with an organization in a country that does not routinely appear in network events, can trigger this alert. A new business workflow with an organization in a country with which no workflows previously existed may trigger this alert - although the model will learn that the new destination country is no longer anomalous as the activity becomes ongoing. Business travelers who roam to many countries for brief periods may trigger this alert.

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