Sigma rule: Certificate Private Key Acquired

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-05f4ef7d4f73, updated 2023-05-13T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Certificate Private Key Acquired
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Zach Mathis
Date
2023-05-13
File
rules/windows/builtin/capi2/win_capi2_acquire_certificate_private_key.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects when an application acquires a certificate private key

Log source

product
windows
service
capi2
definition
Requirements: The CAPI2 Operational log needs to be enabled

Detection

selection:
    EventID: 70 # Acquire Certificate Private Key
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate application requesting certificate exports will trigger this. Apply additional filters as needed

Tags

  • attack.credential-access
  • attack.t1649

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

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/builtin/capi2/win_capi2_acquire_certificate_private_key.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Certificate Private Key Acquired" by Zach Mathis (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/capi2/win_capi2_acquire_certificate_private_key.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: Certificate Private Key Acquired",
entity page, dataset version ref-05f4ef7d4f73, updated 2023-05-13T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/e2b5163d-7deb-4566-9af3-40afea6858c3 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule e2b5163d-7deb-4566-9af3-40afea6858c3, 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.