# [MED] Security Horror Story: Accidentally exposing PII data

**Source:** Snyk
**Published:** 2021-10-25
**Article:** https://snyk.io/blog/security-horror-story-accidentally-exposing-pii-data/

## Threat Profile

Snyk Blog In this article
Written by Brian Vermeer 
October 25, 2021
0 mins read Nothing beats a good horror story... especially not when you talk about software development and security. I mean, what could possibly go wrong when you develop software??? More importantly, what could possibly go wrong when you and your team are working on a small R&D type application and funding for this project is still pending...
You can imagine that working with immense pressure to deliver features at lightning…

## Indicators of Compromise (high-fidelity only)

- _No high-fidelity IOCs in the RSS summary._ If the source publishes a technical write-up with defanged IOCs in the body, those would be picked up automatically on the next pipeline run.

## MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

- **T1543.003** — Windows Service

## Kill chain phases observed

_(none detected from narrative keywords)_

## Recommended hunts

### Service install for persistence — sc.exe / new service registry write

`UC_SERVICE_PERSIST` · phase: **install** · confidence: **High**

**Splunk SPL (CIM):**
```spl
| tstats `summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
    from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes
    where Processes.process_name="sc.exe" AND Processes.process="*create*"
      AND (Processes.process="*\Users\*" OR Processes.process="*\AppData\*"
        OR Processes.process="*\ProgramData\*" OR Processes.process="*\Temp\*")
    by Processes.dest, Processes.user, Processes.process, Processes.parent_process_name
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| append
    [| tstats `summariesonly` count from datamodel=Endpoint.Registry
        where Registry.registry_path="*\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\*"
          AND Registry.registry_value_name="ImagePath"
          AND (Registry.registry_value_data="*\Users\*"
            OR Registry.registry_value_data="*\AppData\*"
            OR Registry.registry_value_data="*\Temp\*")
        by Registry.dest, Registry.registry_path, Registry.registry_value_data, Registry.user
     | `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)`]
```

**Defender KQL:**
```kql
DeviceProcessEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(7d)
| where AccountName !endswith "$"
| where FileName =~ "sc.exe" and ProcessCommandLine has "create"
| where ProcessCommandLine matches regex @"(?i)(\Users\|\AppData\|\ProgramData\|\Temp\)"
| project Timestamp, DeviceName, AccountName, ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessFileName
```


## Why this matters

Severity classified as **MED** based on: 1 use case(s) fired, 1 technique(s) inferred. Read the full article for actor attribution, tooling details, and any defanged IOCs in the body that aren't visible in the RSS summary.