Spike in Network Traffic To a Country
A machine learning job detected an unusually large spike in network activity to one destination country in the network logs. This could be due to unusually large amounts of reconnaissance or enumeration traffic. Data…
Description
A machine learning job detected an unusually large spike in network activity to one destination country in the network logs. This could be due to unusually large amounts of reconnaissance or enumeration traffic. Data exfiltration activity may also produce such a surge in traffic to a destination country that does not normally appear in network traffic or business workflows. 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
- ContainersESXiIaaSLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuitePRESaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 5 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.
Known benign triggers
- Business workflows that occur very occasionally, and involve an unusual surge in network traffic to one destination country, can trigger this alert. A new business workflow or a surge in business activity in a particular country may trigger this alert. Business travelers who roam to many countries for brief periods may trigger this alert if they engage in volumetric network activity.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/prebuilt-ml-jobs.html | 103 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- c7db5533-ca2a-41f6-a8b0-ee98abe0f573
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Network Packet CaptureDomain: EndpointDomain: NetworkResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Machine LearningRule Type: MLUse Case: Threat Detection
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 2