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

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DETECTION OVERVIEW

PingCastle Scan

Risk Factors

PingCastle is one of many publicly available tools for scanning Active Directory networks. These types of scans typically do not negatively affect network performance, but attackers can leverage this information to find new targets in an attack campaign.

Kill Chain

Reconnaissance
Detection diagram
Next in Reconnaissance: RDP Session Enumeration Attempt

Description

$object sent a request that matches with a PingCastle scan. PingCastle enumerates Microsoft Active Directory (AD) information over protocols such as SMB or MS-RPC. Check if PingCastle is authorized in your environment.

Attack Background

PingCastle is a tool for assessing the security posture of Active Directory (AD) environments. PingCastle is considered to be dual-use software, which is easy to acquire and can be leveraged for both legitimate and malicious activity. Attackers can run PingCastle to enumerate AD information, such as usernames, group policies, and more. For example, PingCastle enumerates group policy objects (GPOs) by sending an SMB request to a device.

Mitigation Options

Block executable files from running with Group Policy or AppLocker

Because securing AD environments can be difficult without compromising functionality, monitor and investigate unusual activity to minimize potential damage

MITRE ATT&CK ID

Associated content

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.

Report

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.

Blog

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.

External
Periodic Table of Use Cases

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