System Monitor (Sysmon) is a Windows logging add-on that offers granular logging capabilities and captures security events that are not usually recorded by default. It provides information on process creations, network connections, changes to file systems, and more. Analyzing Sysmon logs is essential to spot malicious activities and security threats.
ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer, a powerful log management solution, can centrally collect and monitor Sysmon logs from all Windows and Linux devices to ensure endpoint security.
Upon receiving logs from devices that have Sysmon installed in them, EventLog Analyzer automatically generates out-of-the-box reports that provide detailed information on critical events in the form of intuitive graphs and charts.
EventLog Analyzer helps you keep track of various processes, including processes that are currently running as well as processes that have been terminated. Apart from the process name, you can also view additional information about the process such as the process ID, the parent process name, and the process command line. By correlating this information with threat feeds, you can spot malicious software installations or malware attacks.
EventLog Analyzer helps you keep track of various processes, including processes that are currently running as well as processes that have been terminated. Apart from the process name, you can also view additional information about the process such as the process ID, the parent process name, and the process command line. By correlating this information with threat feeds, you can spot malicious software installations or malware attacks.
EventLog Analyzer can help you detect and investigate various techniques employed by malware. For instance, malware usually modifies file creation timestamps to cover its tracks. With EventLog Analyzer's file audit reports, you can analyze file modifications in real time. Another common technique used by malware includes using named pipes for inter-process communication. EventLog Analyzer's process audit reports can help you monitor Sysmon event logs generated when a pipe is created or connected.
By integrating EventLog Analyzer with the MITRE ATT&CK framework, you can analyze Sysmon logs to discover malicious activities like privilege escalation attacks. For instance, by monitoring process creations, you can detect attackers who try to bypass User Access Control mechanisms to elevate process privileges in a system.
With EventLog Analyzer, you can monitor file and stream creation operations. File creation operations will be logged when a file has been created or overwritten. You can also monitor read operations performed on a drive using the Raw Access Read report. This can help you prevent data exfiltration attacks on these files. With EventLog Analyzer's File Stream Creation report, you can monitor when a file stream is created and keep track of certain malware that drop their executables or configuration settings through browser downloads.
With EventLog Analyzer's in-depth Sysmon log analysis capability, monitor network connections and get visibility into each connection’s process ID, source IP address, source and destination ports, and more. You can also analyze logs generated when a process executes a DNS query, regardless of its result (Success, Failure, or Cached).
Sometimes attackers initiate an attack by modifying registries to launch malicious applications. With EventLog Analyzer, you can monitor changes such as modifications to registry keys and registry values.
You can also monitor the state of a Sysmon service using the Service State Change report, which will tell you if the service has started or stopped running along with its version number.
Sometimes attackers initiate an attack by modifying registries to launch malicious applications. With EventLog Analyzer, you can monitor changes such as modifications to registry keys and registry values.
You can also monitor the state of a Sysmon service using the Service State Change report, which will tell you if the service has started or stopped running along with its version number.
Correlate process creation or modification events with threat intelligence or other security events to detect attacks at an early stage.
Sysmon log files can be located in the following file path:
C:\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs\.
In the Event Viewer, you can view Sysmon logs in Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Sysmon.
Sysmon event IDs to monitor:
To monitor Sysmon logs in EventLog Analyzer, devices that have Sysmon installed in them can be added by navigating to Settings > Configuration > Manage Application Sources. Click here to learn more.
Sysmon is a Windows system device that's designed to provide detailed information about Windows system activities in real time, which includes process creations, network connections, and changes to file creation time. It operates as a Windows service and device driver, which, once installed and configured, starts automatically with Windows. This ensures that monitoring persists through system reboots and is available from system startup to shutdown. This can give the user an understanding of the system and user behavior, which can later be used for attack detection, anomaly detection, and forensic analysis.
Sysmon can be used to monitor and log a wide variety of system activity, including process creation and termination, network connections, file and registry changes, DNS queries, and so on. This can be used to detect and investigate malware infections and track the behavior of attackers. Sysmon logs are of a great help in gaining insights of the how the systems in place are being used.
Sysmon logs enhance visibility into your network by providing detailed insights into a wide range of system activities. This comprehensive logging can help you identify anomalies and suspicious behavior that could indicate a security breach. Moreover, Sysmon logs can be effectively integrated with log management solutions to provide a centralized view of security events across your network, which can help you correlate events from different sources, identify potential threats, and streamline incident response.
