SecurePE1Xwwwdeepzoneorg

Hunt Hypothesis

This detection identifies potential malicious activity associated with the “SecurePE1Xwwwdeepzoneorg” signature, which may indicate an adversary attempting to establish persistence or execute custom payloads within the environment. A proactive hunt is recommended in Azure Sentinel to validate these low-severity alerts against known benign patterns and uncover any stealthy threats that might otherwise be overlooked by automated triage processes.

YARA Rule

rule SecurePE1Xwwwdeepzoneorg
{
      meta:
		author="malware-lu"
strings:
		$a0 = { 8B 04 24 E8 00 00 00 00 5D 81 ED 4C 2F 40 00 89 85 61 2F 40 00 8D 9D 65 2F 40 00 53 C3 00 00 00 00 8D B5 BA 2F 40 00 8B FE BB 65 2F 40 00 B9 C6 01 00 00 AD 2B C3 C1 C0 03 33 C3 AB 43 81 FB 8E 2F 40 00 75 05 BB 65 2F 40 00 E2 E7 89 AD 1A 31 40 00 89 AD 55 34 40 00 89 AD 68 34 40 00 8D 85 BA 2F 40 00 50 C3 }

condition:
		$a0 at pe.entry_point
}

Deployment Notes

This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint — Custom indicators / advanced hunting
• Email Gateway — Attachment scanning
• File Share Monitoring — Periodic scanning of shared drives
• YARA CLI — Manual threat hunting on endpoints

This rule contains 1 string patterns in its detection logic.

• Source Rule

False Positive Guidance

Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the SecurePE1Xwwwdeepzoneorg detection rule, including suggested filters and exclusions tailored for an enterprise environment:

• Scenario: Scheduled DeepZone Antivirus Definition Updates

  • Context: The DeepZone security suite (often used in conjunction with SecurePE) runs a daily scheduled task to download and install the latest virus definition signatures. This process extracts new PE binaries that match the rule’s signature, triggering an alert despite being a trusted administrative action.
  • Suggested Filter/Exclusion: Create a whitelist exclusion for the specific executable path C:\Program Files\DeepZone\bin\updater.exe and its child processes. Additionally, filter alerts occurring during the defined maintenance window (e.g., 02:00–04:00 UTC) where the user context is SYSTEM.

• Scenario: Deployment of Patched Applications via SCCM/Intune

  • Context: During a monthly patch cycle, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) or Microsoft Intune deploys updated versions of enterprise applications. The deployment agent extracts and installs new PE files that contain the SecurePE1X signature structure, causing the rule to flag these legitimate installations as potential threats.
  • Suggested Filter/Exclusion: Exclude alerts where the parent process is ccmsetup.exe, Microsoft.IntuneManagementExtension.exe, or msiexec.exe. Implement a filter that suppresses alerts for files located within the standard software deployment directory, such as C:\Windows\CCMCache or C:\Program Files\Apps\Deployed.

• Scenario: Automated Backup and Archiving Jobs

  • Context: Enterprise backup solutions like Veeam or Commvault frequently archive legacy logs and configuration files. These tools often compress and package data into PE-like structures