Agent Foskett Academy • SOC Analyst Academy • Module 4 • Lesson 35 • Endpoint Incidents: Following the Attack Chain

Lesson 35 — The Process Connected to an External IP

The file had appeared.

Seven seconds later, it executed.

Eight seconds after that, the new process opened an outbound connection to an external IP address.

The destination alone did not prove compromise. External connections happen constantly on normal endpoints.

Agent Foskett needed to answer a more useful question:

Did this network connection belong to the same suspicious execution chain?

An external IP is an indicator. Process context, timing and destination behaviour turn it into evidence.

Follow the Network Connection Back to SOC Analyst Academy

Agent Foskett investigating suspicious outbound network activity in Microsoft Defender XDR

The IP address was only the beginning

Determine which process initiated the connection, when it happened, where it went and whether the destination fits the established attack chain.

✓ Identify the initiating process

✓ Preserve IP, URL, port and protocol

✓ Correlate network and process timing

✓ Hunt the destination across devices

Case briefing

10:14:38 update-check.exe created ↓ 10:14:45 update-check.exe executed ↓ 10:14:53 OUTBOUND CONNECTION PROCESS update-check.exe REMOTE IP 203.0.113.77 REMOTE PORT 443 PROTOCOL TCP THE EASY CONCLUSION "External IP = malicious." THE BETTER QUESTION "What evidence connects this destination to the suspicious process chain?"

Investigation objective

Identify the process responsible for the connection, preserve the destination details, correlate network activity with execution and determine whether the same destination appears elsewhere in the environment.

Investigator's rule

Do not investigate an IP address without its process context. The same destination can mean very different things depending on what connected to it and why.

Stage 1 — preserve the network evidence

Field	Why it matters
RemoteIP	Provides a destination pivot for hunting across the environment.
RemoteUrl	May provide hostname or domain context beyond the raw IP address.
RemotePort	Shows the destination service port, but does not prove the application protocol.
Protocol	Provides transport context for the connection.
InitiatingProcessFileName	Connects the network event back to endpoint execution.
Timestamp	Places the connection into the attack timeline.

Port 443 does not mean safe

Legitimate and malicious traffic can both use common ports. Treat the port as context and continue investigating the initiating process and destination.

Do not overstate RemoteUrl

When hostname information is available, preserve it. When it is not, record the IP address without inventing a domain relationship that telemetry has not established.

Stage 2 — retrieve the process network activity

12345 6789101112 131415

let TargetDevice = "WS-FIN-044";
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(24h)
| where DeviceName =~ TargetDevice
| where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ "update-check.exe"
| project Timestamp,
          ActionType,
          RemoteUrl,
          RemoteIP,
          RemotePort,
          Protocol,
          InitiatingProcessFileName,
          InitiatingProcessCommandLine,
          InitiatingProcessSHA1
| order by Timestamp asc

Start with the known process

The investigation already established update-check.exe as suspicious. Using that process as the starting point reduces unrelated network noise.

Preserve the process hash

The initiating-process hash provides another way to connect the network event to the exact executable observed in the previous lesson.

Stage 3 — place the connection into the timeline

10:14:27 powershell.exe starts ↓ 10:14:38 update-check.exe created ↓ 7 seconds 10:14:45 update-check.exe executes ↓ 8 seconds 10:14:53 203.0.113.77:443 contacted QUESTION Is this a separate network event? OR Is it the next observable step in the same attack chain?

Timing strengthens correlation

A connection occurring seconds after process execution is more relevant than an unrelated connection hours later, especially when the network event identifies the same initiating process.

Correlation is not causation by timestamp alone

The timing matters because it is combined with process identity and device context. Do not join unrelated events simply because they occurred close together.

Stage 4 — hunt the destination across the environment

123456789101112

let TargetIP = "203.0.113.77";
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(30d)
| where RemoteIP == TargetIP
| summarize
    Connections=count(),
    Devices=dcount(DeviceName),
    FirstSeen=min(Timestamp),
    LastSeen=max(Timestamp)
    by RemoteIP
| order by LastSeen desc

Prevalence changes the question

If hundreds of managed devices contact the destination through known business software, the context differs from a destination seen once from one suspicious process.

Rare does not automatically mean malicious

Low prevalence raises investigative interest. It does not replace validation of ownership, business purpose and surrounding behaviour.

Stage 5 — find every process that contacted the IP

12345678910111213

let TargetIP = "203.0.113.77";
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(30d)
| where RemoteIP == TargetIP
| project Timestamp,
          DeviceName,
          AccountName,
          InitiatingProcessFileName,
          InitiatingProcessCommandLine,
          InitiatingProcessSHA1,
          RemoteIP,
          RemotePort
| order by Timestamp desc

Look for repetition

If the same unusual executable contacts the destination on multiple endpoints, the scope of the incident may be larger than the original device.

Look for legitimate explanations too

If only approved software contacts the destination elsewhere, investigate whether the suspicious process could be interacting with legitimate infrastructure.

Stage 6 — reconnect network activity to process ancestry

12345678910111213

DeviceProcessEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(24h)
| where DeviceName =~ "WS-FIN-044"
| where FileName =~ "update-check.exe"
| project Timestamp,
          AccountName,
          FileName,
          FolderPath,
          SHA1,
          ProcessCommandLine,
          InitiatingProcessFileName,
          InitiatingProcessCommandLine
| order by Timestamp asc

The network event is not isolated

The process was created by suspicious PowerShell activity, appeared only seconds before execution and then initiated the outbound connection. Those facts belong in one investigation story.

Keep the chain evidence-led

Record only relationships established by telemetry. If the destination's purpose remains unknown, say that rather than labelling it command-and-control without evidence.

Stage 7 — test the destination context

Possible explanation	What to validate
Known business service	Ownership, approved application use, expected processes and broad organisational prevalence.
Content delivery or cloud infrastructure	Hostname context, expected application behaviour and other legitimate connections.
New or uncommon external service	First-seen timing, process context, destination ownership and business justification.
Malicious infrastructure	Threat intelligence, suspicious process ancestry, related endpoints and follow-on activity.

Threat intelligence supports the investigation

Reputation and threat-intelligence results can strengthen or weaken a hypothesis, but they should be combined with the endpoint evidence rather than used as the sole verdict.

A clean reputation result is not an acquittal

New infrastructure may have little or no reputation history. Continue evaluating the process chain and destination behaviour even when no known threat classification exists.

Stage 8 — make the SOC decision

SUSPICIOUS PROCESS EXECUTES ↓ NETWORK CONNECTION APPEARS ↓ IDENTIFY INITIATING PROCESS ↓ PRESERVE IP / URL / PORT / PROTOCOL ↓ CORRELATE TIMESTAMPS ↓ HUNT DESTINATION PREVALENCE ↓ CHECK OTHER CONTACTING PROCESSES ↓ VALIDATE BUSINESS + THREAT CONTEXT ↓ CLOSE / CONTINUE / ESCALATE / CONTAIN

Write the investigation finding

ENDPOINT INVESTIGATION FINDING DeviceNetworkEvents showed update-check.exe initiating an outbound TCP connection to 203.0.113.77 on remote port 443 at 10:14:53. The connection occurred eight seconds after update-check.exe executed. The same executable had been created by the previously identified suspicious PowerShell process seven seconds before execution. Environment-wide hunting found the destination to be uncommon and no validated business explanation was identified. DECISION Continue escalation of the endpoint compromise. REASON Process ancestry, file creation, execution and outbound network activity now form one continuous evidence-backed timeline.

Lesson 35 key takeaways

Investigate external destinations together with the initiating process.
Preserve RemoteIP, RemoteUrl, RemotePort, protocol and exact timestamps.
Common ports such as 443 do not make a connection benign.
Correlate network activity with the process execution timeline.
Use process hashes to strengthen event correlation.
Hunt destination prevalence across the environment.
Identify every process and device contacting the same destination.
Use threat intelligence as supporting context rather than the sole verdict.
Do not label unknown traffic command-and-control without evidence.
Build the SOC finding from the complete process, file and network chain.

Module 4 — Endpoint Incidents: Following the Attack Chain

Lesson 35 connects suspicious execution to outbound network activity. Next, Agent Foskett investigates whether the compromised process created a mechanism designed to survive beyond the current session.

Next: Lesson 36 — The Suspicious Process Created Persistence

Continue your SOC Analyst training

Module 3 focuses on identity incidents, authentication, MFA, privilege, sessions and application access.

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🔎 SOC Analyst Academy — Module 4: Endpoint Incidents: Following the Attack Chain

Follow endpoint evidence from suspicious execution through process ancestry, file creation, network activity, persistence, credential access and movement.

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Lesson 34 — The File Appeared Seconds Before It Executed Correlate file creation with execution.

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Lesson 36 — The Suspicious Process Created Persistence Investigate scheduled tasks, registry changes and persistence.

How to investigate suspicious outbound connections in Microsoft Defender XDR

Lesson 35 of the Agent Foskett SOC Analyst Academy teaches analysts how to use DeviceNetworkEvents to connect outbound network activity with suspicious endpoint process execution, preserve destination evidence and hunt IP prevalence across devices.

KQL network investigation for SOC analysts

Learn how to correlate DeviceNetworkEvents with DeviceProcessEvents, investigate initiating processes, external IP addresses, remote ports, destination prevalence and threat context during endpoint compromise analysis.