Detection rules › Elastic
A scheduled task was created
Indicates the creation of a scheduled task using Windows event logs. Adversaries can use these to establish persistence, move laterally, and/or escalate privileges.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1053 Scheduled Task/Job, T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
| Persistence | T1053 Scheduled Task/Job, T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
| Privilege Escalation | T1053 Scheduled Task/Job, T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Security-Auditing | 4698 | A scheduled task was created. |
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: eql:iam
not user.name:"*$" and not winlog.event_data.TaskName:"\\CreateExplorerShellUnelevatedTask" and event.action:"scheduled-task-created"Exclusions
Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts — predicates this rule actively suppresses.
| Stage | Field | Kind | Excluded values |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TaskName | wildcard | \CreateExplorerShellUnelevatedTask, \Hewlett-Packard\HPDeviceCheck, \Hewlett-Packard\HP Support Assistant\WarrantyChecker, \Hewlett-Packard\HP Support Assistant\WarrantyChecker_backup, \Hewlett-Packard\HP Web Products Detection, \Microsoft\VisualStudio\Updates\BackgroundDownload, \OneDrive Standalone Update Task-S-1-5-21*, \OneDrive Standalone Update Task-S-1-12-1-* |
| 2 | user | ends_with | $ |
Indicators
Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
event.action | eq |
|
Neighbors
Broader alternatives (more inclusive than this rule)
These rules match a superset of what this rule catches. They cover the same events plus more. Use them if you want wider coverage and can absorb more false positives.
- Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation (drops 3 filters this rule applies)