Remote Management and Monitoring tool - Atera - Network Connection

Hunt Hypothesis

Atera’s network connection behavior may indicate an adversary establishing a C2 channel or maintaining persistence by leveraging the RMM tool. SOC teams should proactively hunt for this behavior in Azure Sentinel to detect potential abuse of legitimate remote management tools by threat actors.

KQL Query

let Time_start = now(-5d);
let Time_end = now();
//
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp between (Time_start..Time_end)
| where RemoteUrl  has_any (
        'atera.com', 
        'atera-agent-heartbeat'
    )
    and InitiatingProcessVersionInfoCompanyName has 'Atera Networks'
| summarize FirstSeen=min(Timestamp), LastSeen=max(Timestamp), 
    Report=make_set(ReportId), Count=count() by DeviceId, DeviceName,
    RemoteUrl 

Analytic Rule Definition

id: 774bb5a8-c93b-4fa1-8ebf-4053b99622ed
name: Remote Management and Monitoring tool - Atera - Network Connection
description: |
    Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) programs are IT to manage remote endpoints. Attackers have begun to abuse these programs to persist or provide C2 channels.
    https://github.com/jischell-msft/RemoteManagementMonitoringTools
requiredDataConnectors:
- connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
  dataTypes:
  - DeviceNetworkEvents
tactics: CommandAndControl
relevantTechniques: T1219
query: |
  let Time_start = now(-5d);
  let Time_end = now();
  //
  DeviceNetworkEvents
  | where Timestamp between (Time_start..Time_end)
  | where RemoteUrl  has_any (
          'atera.com', 
          'atera-agent-heartbeat'
      )
      and InitiatingProcessVersionInfoCompanyName has 'Atera Networks'
  | summarize FirstSeen=min(Timestamp), LastSeen=max(Timestamp), 
      Report=make_set(ReportId), Count=count() by DeviceId, DeviceName,
      RemoteUrl 

Required Data Sources

MITRE ATT&CK Context

• Tactic: CommandAndControl
• Technique: T1219 — T1219

References

• [Source Query](https://github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel/blob/main/Hunting Queries/Microsoft 365 Defender/RemoteManagementMonitoring/rmm_Atera_netconn.yaml)

False Positive Guidance

• Scenario: Atera scheduled job runs to update remote endpoints
  Filter/Exclusion: process.name != "AteraAgent.exe" or process.parent.name != "AteraAgent.exe"

• Scenario: IT admin uses Atera to remotely reboot a server during maintenance window
  Filter/Exclusion: process.name != "AteraAgent.exe" or process.parent.name != "AteraAgent.exe"

• Scenario: Atera is used to push a software update to multiple endpoints
  Filter/Exclusion: process.name != "AteraAgent.exe" or process.parent.name != "AteraAgent.exe"

• Scenario: Atera is used to monitor system performance and generate reports
  Filter/Exclusion: process.name != "AteraAgent.exe" or process.parent.name != "AteraAgent.exe"

• Scenario: Atera is used to configure firewall rules on remote endpoints
  Filter/Exclusion: process.name != "AteraAgent.exe" or process.parent.name != "AteraAgent.exe"