ExtraHop named a Leader in the 2025 Forrester Wave™: Network Analysis And Visibility Solutions

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DETECTION OVERVIEW

New Remote Service Launch Attempt

Risk Factors

An attacker must acquire admin credentials, lowering the likelihood of this technique. If the attacker is able to launch a service, the impact depends on which devices are compromised and the details of the newly configured service.

The system might change the risk score for this detection.

Category

Lateral Movement
Detection diagram
Next in Lateral Movement: New SMB Executable File Transfer Activity

Attack Background

After an attacker with admin credentials remotely launches a service on a device, the effects can range from minor configuration changes to remote command execution (RCE). One tool, PsExec, has been associated with known lateral movement techniques. PsExec, which is part of the Windows Sysinternals utilities, enables administrators to run remote commands by copying an executable file to the remote ADMIN$ share and then creating a temporary service to run that executable file.

System administrators might often remotely launch services on a device. This legitimate activity can appear similar to lateral movement activity.

Mitigation Options

Require User Account Control (UAC) approvals for any PsExec operations by enabling FilterAdministratorToken (Admin Approval Mode for the built-in Administrator account) in the Windows registry

Disable the ability to download software utility tools such as AppLocker, unless required

Reduce the number of users that have administrator privileges

Implement network segmentation, security zones, and firewall policies that limit how devices can communicate

MITRE ATT&CK ID

Associated content

How to Detect PsExec Misuse with ExtraHop — ExtraHop

PsExec is a Windows Sysinternals utility that enables IT administrators to run commands and executable binary files on remote servers, but it can also be used for stealthy lateral movement.

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Announcing The Forrester Wave™: Network Analysis And Visibility Solutions, Q4 2025

Network analysis and visibility solutions remain underrepresented in enterprises. Find out why in this preview of a new Wave report.

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ExtraHop® Named a Leader in First-Ever Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Detection and Response — ExtraHop

ExtraHop® Named a Leader in First-Ever Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Detection and Response

News

Detections

Visit this resource for more information.

Docs

The 2025 ExtraHop Global Threat Landscape Report: The Alarming Reality of Threat Actor Dwell Time and Deeper Network Access — ExtraHop

This analysis exposes the critical link between an organization's lack of internal visibility and the escalating cost of compromise, demanding an urgent re-evaluation of how core business assets are protected.

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ExtraHop RevealX MITRE ATT&CK Coverage 2024 — ExtraHop

Learn why you need to be wary of the claims certain network detection and response providers make about their coverage against the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

Blog

MITRE ATT&CK - Network Detection & Response with RevealX — ExtraHop

Learn how NDR from RevealX helps security teams detect and investigate more adversary TTPs in the MITRE ATT&CK framework than rule-based tools.

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