sigmamediumHunting

Suspicious Access to Sensitive File Extensions

Detects known sensitive file extensions accessed on a network share

MITRE ATT&CK

collection

Detection Query

selection:
  EventID: 5145
  RelativeTargetName|endswith:
    - .bak
    - .dmp
    - .edb
    - .kirbi
    - .msg
    - .nsf
    - .nst
    - .oab
    - .ost
    - .pst
    - .rdp
condition: selection

Author

Samir Bousseaden

Created

2019-04-03

Data Sources

windowssecurity

Platforms

windows

References

Internal Research

Tags

attack.collectionattack.t1039

Raw Content

title: Suspicious Access to Sensitive File Extensions
id: 91c945bc-2ad1-4799-a591-4d00198a1215
related:
    - id: 286b47ed-f6fe-40b3-b3a8-35129acd43bc
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects known sensitive file extensions accessed on a network share
references:
    - Internal Research
author: Samir Bousseaden
date: 2019-04-03
modified: 2025-10-17
tags:
    - attack.collection
    - attack.t1039
logsource:
    product: windows
    service: security
detection:
    selection:
        EventID: 5145
        RelativeTargetName|endswith:
            - '.bak'
            - '.dmp'
            - '.edb'
            - '.kirbi'
            - '.msg'
            - '.nsf'
            - '.nst'
            - '.oab'
            - '.ost'
            - '.pst'
            - '.rdp'
            # - '\groups.xml'  # Commented out: groups.xml is accessed legitimately by Group Policy processing; high FP rate in enterprise environments
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Help Desk operator doing backup or re-imaging end user machine or backup software
    - Users working with these data types or exchanging message files
level: medium