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Clearing Windows Event Logs

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Identifies attempts to clear Windows event log stores. This is often done by attackers in an attempt to evade detection or destroy forensic evidence on a system.

Rule indices:

  • winlogbeat-*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-6m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum signals per execution: 100

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Windows

Rule version: 1

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Rule query

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event.action:"Process Create (rule: ProcessCreate)" and
(process.name:"wevtutil.exe" and process.args:"cl") or
(process.name:"powershell.exe" and process.args:"Clear-EventLog")

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM