Sigma rule: Network Connection Initiated From Process Located In Potentially Suspicious Or Uncommon Location

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-227fa2fa47f0, updated 2026-03-29T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Network Connection Initiated From Process Located In Potentially Suspicious Or Uncommon Location
Status: test
Level: high
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date: 2017-03-19
Modified: 2026-03-29
File: rules/windows/network_connection/net_connection_win_susp_initiated_uncommon_or_suspicious_locations.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a network connection initiated by programs or processes running from suspicious or uncommon files system locations.

Log source

product: windows
category: network_connection

Detection

selection:
    Initiated: 'true'
    Image|contains:
        - ':\$Recycle.bin'
        - ':\Perflogs\'
        - ':\Temp\'
        - ':\Users\Default\'
        - ':\Users\Public\'
        - ':\Windows\Fonts\'
        - ':\Windows\IME\'
        - ':\Windows\System32\Tasks\'
        - ':\Windows\Tasks\'
        - '\config\systemprofile\'
        - '\Contacts\'
        - '\Favorites\'
        - '\Favourites\'
        - '\Music\'
        - '\Pictures\'
        - '\Videos\'
        - '\Windows\addins\'
filter_main_domains:
    # Note: We exclude these domains to avoid duplicate filtering from e0f8ab85-0ac9-423b-a73a-81b3c7b1aa97
    DestinationHostname|endswith:
        - '.githubusercontent.com'       # Includes both gists and github repositories / Michael Haag (idea)
        - '0x0.st'
        - 'anonfiles.com'
        - 'bashupload.com'
        - 'cdn.discordapp.com'
        - 'chunk.io'
        - 'ddns.net'
        - 'dl.dropboxusercontent.com'
        - 'ghostbin.co'
        - 'github.com'
        - 'glitch.me'
        - 'gofile.io'
        - 'hastebin.com'
        - 'mediafire.com'
        - 'mega.co.nz'
        - 'mega.nz'
        - 'onrender.com'
        - 'pages.dev'
        - 'paste.ee'
        - 'pastebin.com'
        - 'pastebin.pl'
        - 'pastetext.net'
        - 'portmap.io'  # https://pro.twitter.com/JaromirHorejsi/status/1795001037746761892/photo/2
        - 'privatlab.com'
        - 'privatlab.net'
        - 'send.exploit.in'
        - 'sendspace.com'
        - 'storage.googleapis.com'
        - 'storjshare.io'
        - 'supabase.co'
        - 'temp.sh'
        - 'transfer.sh'
        - 'trycloudflare.com'
        - 'ufile.io'
        - 'w3spaces.com'
        - 'workers.dev'
        - 'x0.at'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Unknown

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1105

Related rules

References

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17pSTDNpa0sf6pHeRhusvWG6rThciE8CsXTSlDUAZDyo

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/network_connection/net_connection_win_susp_initiated_uncommon_or_suspicious_locations.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Network Connection Initiated From Process Located In Potentially Suspicious Or Uncommon Location" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/network_connection/net_connection_win_susp_initiated_uncommon_or_suspicious_locations.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Network Connection Initiated From Process Located In Potentially Suspicious Or Uncommon Location",
entity page, dataset version ref-227fa2fa47f0, updated 2026-03-29T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/7b434893-c57d-4f41-908d-6a17bf1ae98f (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 7b434893-c57d-4f41-908d-6a17bf1ae98f, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.