Equation Group hack tool set

Hunt Hypothesis

The Equation Group hack tool set is associated with advanced persistent threats and may indicate the presence of sophisticated malware or espionage activity. SOC teams should proactively hunt for this behavior in Azure Sentinel to identify potential long-term compromise and mitigate advanced threat exposure.

YARA Rule

rule EquationGroup_gr_dev_bin_post {
   meta:
      description = "Equation Group hack tool set"
      author = "Florian Roth"
      reference = "https://medium.com/@shadowbrokerss/dont-forget-your-base-867d304a94b1"
      date = "2017-04-09"
      hash1 = "c1546155efa95dbc4e3cc95299a3968fc075f89d33164e78b00b76c7d08a0591"
   strings:
      $x1 = "op=cron&action=once&frame=cronOnceFrame&cronK=cronV&cronCommand=%2Ftmp%2Ftmpwatch&time=12%3A12+01%2F28%2F2005" ascii
   condition:
      ( filesize < 1KB and all of them )
}

Deployment Notes

This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint — Custom indicators / advanced hunting
Email Gateway — Attachment scanning
File Share Monitoring — Periodic scanning of shared drives
YARA CLI — Manual threat hunting on endpoints

This rule contains 1 string patterns in its detection logic.

References

False Positive Guidance

Scenario: Legitimate scheduled job running Equation Group-related tools
Description: A scheduled job runs the equation_group_tool.exe as part of a known enterprise toolset used for system diagnostics or maintenance.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes where the full path contains C:\Program Files\EquationGroupTools\ or where the process is initiated by a known enterprise scheduler (e.g., schtasks.exe).
Scenario: Admin task using Equation Group tools for forensic analysis
Description: A security administrator uses the equation_group_analyzer.exe tool to perform forensic analysis on a compromised system.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes initiated by user accounts with the Administrators group and where the command line includes -forensic_mode or similar flags.
Scenario: Equation Group tool used in a red team exercise
Description: During a red team training exercise, the equation_group_launcher.exe is used to simulate a real-world attack scenario.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes where the parent process is a known red team tool (e.g., metasploit.exe) or where the command line includes -simulate or -redteam.
Scenario: Equation Group tool used for system cleanup
Description: A system cleanup tool, such as equation_group_cleaner.exe, is used to remove old logs or temporary files.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes where the command line includes -cleanup or -remove_logs, or where the process is initiated by a known cleanup service (e.g., CleanupService.exe).
Scenario: Equation Group tool used in a third-party software update
Description: A third-party software update package includes the equation_group_updater.exe as part of its installation process.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes