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T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs

Adversaries may clear Windows Event Logs to hide the activity of an intrusion. Windows Event Logs are a record of a computer's alerts and notifications. There are three system-defined sources of events: System, Application, and Security, with five event types: Error, Warning, Information, Success Audit, and Failure Audit.

With administrator privileges, the event logs can be cleared with the following utility commands:

  • wevtutil cl system
  • wevtutil cl application
  • wevtutil cl security

These logs may also be cleared through other mechanisms, such as the event viewer GUI or PowerShell. For example, adversaries may use the PowerShell command Remove-EventLog -LogName Security to delete the Security EventLog and after reboot, disable future logging. Note: events may still be generated and logged in the .evtx file between the time the command is run and the reboot.(Citation: disable_win_evt_logging)

Adversaries may also attempt to clear logs by directly deleting the stored log files within C:\Windows\System32\winevt\logs\.

View in MITRE ATT&CK®

VERIS Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
action.hacking.variety.Disable controls Disable or interfere with security controls related-to T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs
attribute.integrity.variety.Log tampering Log tampering or modification related-to T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs
Comments
see T1685.005 Disable or Modify Tools: Clear Windows Event Logs
References

    GCP Mappings

    Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
    google_secops Google Security Operations technique_scores T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs
    Comments
    Google Security Ops is able to trigger an alert based on suspicious system events used to evade defenses, such as deletion of Windows security event logs. This technique was scored as minimal based on low or uncertain detection coverage factor. https://github.com/chronicle/detection-rules/blob/main/gcp_cloudaudit/gcp_log_deletion.yaral
    References
    1. https://cloud.google.com/security/products/security-operations
    2. https://cloud.google.com/chronicle/docs/secops/secops-overview
    3. https://github.com/chronicle/detection-rules