How do I install the Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks With Sysmon skill?

Run npx skillmds add theheavenlyd3mon/detecting-malicious-scheduled-tasks-with-sysmon in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

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Is Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks With Sysmon free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under Apache-2.

Who published Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks With Sysmon?

theheavenlyd3mon (@theheavenlyd3mon) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks With Sysmon by theheavenlyd3mon

Name: Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks With Sysmon
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: theheavenlyd3mon

Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks With Sysmon

Detect malicious scheduled task creation and modification using Sysmon Event IDs 1 (Process Create for schtasks.exe), 11 (File Create for task XML), and Windows Security Event 4698/4702. The analyst correlates task creation with suspicious parent processes, public directory paths, and encoded command arguments to identify persistence and lateral movement via scheduled tasks. Activates for requests involving scheduled task detection, Sysmon persistence hunting, or T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job analysis.

theheavenlyd3mon d979bc3 4 files · 23.4 KB Updated Sep 9, 2026 28 repo stars

File contents

Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks with Sysmon

Overview

Adversaries abuse Windows Task Scheduler (schtasks.exe, at.exe) for persistence (T1053.005) and lateral movement. Sysmon Event ID 1 captures schtasks.exe process creation with full command-line arguments, while Event ID 11 captures task XML files written to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks. Windows Security Event 4698 logs task registration details. This skill covers building detection rules that correlate these events to identify malicious scheduled tasks created from suspicious paths, with encoded payloads, or targeting remote systems.

When to Use

When investigating security incidents that require detecting malicious scheduled tasks with sysmon
When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques

Prerequisites

Sysmon installed with a detection-focused configuration (e.g., SwiftOnSecurity or Olaf Hartong)
Windows Event Log forwarding to SIEM (Splunk, Elastic, or Sentinel)
PowerShell ScriptBlock Logging enabled (Event 4104)

Steps

Configure Sysmon to log Event IDs 1, 11, 12, 13 with task-related filters
Build detection rules for schtasks.exe /create with suspicious arguments
Correlate Event 4698 (task registered) with Sysmon Event 1 (process create)
Hunt for tasks executing from public directories or with encoded commands
Alert on remote task creation (schtasks /s) for lateral movement detection

Expected Output

[CRITICAL] Suspicious Scheduled Task Detected
  Task: \Microsoft\Windows\UpdateCheck
  Command: powershell.exe -enc SQBuAHYAbwBrAGUALQBXAGUAYgBSAGU...
  Created By: DOMAIN\compromised_user
  Parent Process: cmd.exe (PID 4532)
  Source: \\192.168.1.50 (remote creation)
  MITRE: T1053.005 - Scheduled Task/Job

---name: detecting-malicious-scheduled-tasks-with-sysmondescription: Detect malicious scheduled task creation and modification using Sysmon Event IDs 1 (Process Create for schtasks.exe), 11 (File Create for task XML), and Windows Security Event 4698/4702. The analyst correlates task creation with suspicious parent processes, public directory paths, and encoded command arguments to identify persistence and lateral movement via scheduled tasks. Activates for requests involving scheduled task detection, Sysmon persistence hunting, or T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job analysis.license: Apache-2.0---# Detecting Malicious Scheduled Tasks with Sysmon ## Overview Adversaries abuse Windows Task Scheduler (schtasks.exe, at.exe) for persistence (T1053.005) and lateral movement. Sysmon Event ID 1 captures schtasks.exe process creation with full command-line arguments, while Event ID 11 captures task XML files written to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\. Windows Security Event 4698 logs task registration details. This skill covers building detection rules that correlate these events to identify malicious scheduled tasks created from suspicious paths, with encoded payloads, or targeting remote systems. ## When to Use - When investigating security incidents that require detecting malicious scheduled tasks with sysmon - When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain - When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type - When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques ## Prerequisites - Sysmon installed with a detection-focused configuration (e.g., SwiftOnSecurity or Olaf Hartong) - Windows Event Log forwarding to SIEM (Splunk, Elastic, or Sentinel) - PowerShell ScriptBlock Logging enabled (Event 4104) ## Steps 1. Configure Sysmon to log Event IDs 1, 11, 12, 13 with task-related filters 2. Build detection rules for schtasks.exe /create with suspicious arguments 3. Correlate Event 4698 (task registered) with Sysmon Event 1 (process create) 4. Hunt for tasks executing from public directories or with encoded commands 5. Alert on remote task creation (schtasks /s) for lateral movement detection ## Expected Output ``` [CRITICAL] Suspicious Scheduled Task Detected Task: \Microsoft\Windows\UpdateCheck Command: powershell.exe -enc SQBuAHYAbwBrAGUALQBXAGUAYgBSAGU... Created By: DOMAIN\compromised_user Parent Process: cmd.exe (PID 4532) Source: \\192.168.1.50 (remote creation) MITRE: T1053.005 - Scheduled Task/Job ```

Frequently asked questions