Sigma rule: Network Reconnaissance Activity

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-a0cd818369d9, updated 2022-02-07T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Network Reconnaissance Activity
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2022-02-07
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_nslookup_domain_discovery.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a set of suspicious network related commands often used in recon stages

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'nslookup'
        - '_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • False positives depend on scripts and administrative tools used in the monitored environment

Tags

  • attack.discovery
  • attack.t1087
  • attack.t1082
  • car.2016-03-001

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/process_creation/proc_creation_win_nslookup_domain_discovery.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Network Reconnaissance Activity" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_nslookup_domain_discovery.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 Reconnaissance Activity",
entity page, dataset version ref-a0cd818369d9, updated 2022-02-07T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/e6313acd-208c-44fc-a0ff-db85d572e90e (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule e6313acd-208c-44fc-a0ff-db85d572e90e, 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.