Sigma rule: PUA - Restic Backup Tool Execution

Rule

Title

PUA - Restic Backup Tool Execution

Status

experimental

Level

high

Author

Nounou Mbeiri, Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)

Date

2025-10-17

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_pua_restic.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of the Restic backup tool, which can be used for data exfiltration.
Threat actors may leverage Restic to back up and exfiltrate sensitive data to remote storage locations, including cloud services.
If not legitimately used in the enterprise environment, its presence may indicate malicious activity.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_specific:
    - CommandLine|contains|all:
          - '--password-file'
          - 'init'
          - ' -r '
    - CommandLine|contains|all:
          - '--use-fs-snapshot'
          - 'backup'
          - ' -r '
selection_restic:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'sftp:'
        - 'rest:http'
        - 's3:s3.'
        - 's3.http'
        - 'azure:'
        - ' gs:'
        - 'rclone:'
        - 'swift:'
        - ' b2:'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ' init '
        - ' -r '
condition: 1 of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate use of Restic for backup purposes within the organization.

Tags

• attack.exfiltration
• attack.t1048
• attack.t1567.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1048
• T1567.002

References

• https://thedfirreport.com/2024/09/30/nitrogen-campaign-drops-sliver-and-ends-with-blackcat-ransomware/#exfiltration
• https://restic.net/
• https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/stable/030_preparing_a_new_repo.html

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_pua_restic.yml