ThreatFox: INC IOCs | SOC Hunt Feed

Hunt Hypothesis

This detection identifies adversary activity by correlating five specific Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) linked to the ThreatFox intelligence feed within Azure Sentinel logs. A proactive hunt is essential because these high-severity IOCs often represent early-stage indicators of a broader campaign, allowing the SOC team to isolate affected assets before lateral movement or data exfiltration occurs.

IOC Summary

Malware Family: INC Total IOCs: 5 IOC Types: md5_hash

Type	Value	Threat Type	First Seen	Confidence
md5_hash	`ba77ebc4ee8500a0baaa5e2cddf8076a`	payload	2026-08-06	100%
md5_hash	`7997927159d0477fcb755d0befa26ca2`	payload	2026-08-06	100%
md5_hash	`3279610d12c4309a5b2fdc7ebc9cfb66`	payload	2026-08-06	100%
md5_hash	`974e9a9579927b2935140b6813f89692`	payload	2026-08-06	100%
md5_hash	`1a2bcaa7ccee237163bb2a03f1c08e55`	payload	2026-08-06	100%

KQL: Hash Hunt

// Hunt for files matching known malicious hashes
// Source: ThreatFox - INC
let malicious_hashes = dynamic(["ba77ebc4ee8500a0baaa5e2cddf8076a", "7997927159d0477fcb755d0befa26ca2", "3279610d12c4309a5b2fdc7ebc9cfb66", "974e9a9579927b2935140b6813f89692", "1a2bcaa7ccee237163bb2a03f1c08e55"]);
DeviceFileEvents
| where SHA256 in (malicious_hashes) or SHA1 in (malicious_hashes) or MD5 in (malicious_hashes)
| project Timestamp, DeviceName, FileName, FolderPath, SHA256, InitiatingProcessFileName
| order by Timestamp desc

Required Data Sources

Sentinel Table	Notes
`DeviceFileEvents`	Ensure this data connector is enabled

References

ThreatFox — INC

False Positive Guidance

Here are 4 specific false positive scenarios for the ThreatFox: INC IOCs detection rule, along with targeted filters and exclusions suitable for an enterprise environment:

Scenario: Scheduled Antivirus Definition Updates
- Context: The daily update task for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint or CrowdStrike Falcon connects to the vendor’s distribution servers. These updates often contain IOCs (hashes, URLs) that match the “INC” signature set within the ThreatFox feed, triggering alerts even though they are benign security maintenance.
- Filter/Exclusion: Create a rule exclusion based on the Process Name (MsMpEng.exe or FalconSensorService) and the Source IP Range of the specific vendor update servers (e.g., 13.107.x.x). Alternatively, exclude alerts where the event type is “Antivirus Update” occurring between 02:00 and 04:00 UTC.
Scenario: Automated Patch Management Deployments
- Context: During monthly patch cycles, tools like Microsoft SCCM (Endpoint Configuration Manager) or Ivanti Neurons download patches from public repositories. The hash values of the downloaded .msi or .cab files may overlap with IOCs flagged in the INC ThreatFox package, causing high-volume noise during deployment windows.
- Filter/Exclusion: Implement a time-based exclusion for alerts generated by SCCM Deployment Services (WUAHandler.exe) during known maintenance windows (e.g., First Tuesday of the month, 18:00–22:00). Additionally, filter out events where the User Account is a dedicated service account like SVC-PATCH-DEPLOY.
Scenario: Cloud Backup and Archiving Jobs
- Context: Enterprise backup solutions