Behavioral Detection of Wi-Fi Discovery Activity

Technique Detected:  Wi-Fi Discovery | T1016.002

ID: DET0464
Domains: Enterprise
Analytics: AN1280, AN1281, AN1282
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 October 2025
Last Modified: 21 October 2025

Analytics

AN1280

Enumeration of saved Wi-Fi profiles and cleartext password retrieval using netsh wlan or API-level access to wlanAPI.dll.

Log Sources
Data Component Name Channel
Process Creation (DC0032) WinEventLog:Sysmon EventCode=1
Command Execution (DC0064) WinEventLog:PowerShell EventCode=4104
Mutable Elements
Field Description
WiFiProfileName Filter by known saved SSID names to reduce benign usage of network diagnostics
ParentProcess Anomalous parent-child relationships may be used to spot abuse (e.g., Office → netsh)
TimeWindow Correlate profile enumeration and password dumping within short timeframe (e.g., 60 seconds)

AN1281

File access to NetworkManager connection configs and attempts to read PSK credentials from /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.

Log Sources
Data Component Name Channel
File Access (DC0055) auditd:PATH file read
Process Creation (DC0032) auditd:EXECVE execve
Mutable Elements
Field Description
FilenamePattern Filter for filenames like *.nmconnection or profiles containing SSID names
UserContext Distinguish between root/admin script usage vs. non-privileged terminal access

AN1282

Use of the security command or Keychain API to extract known Wi-Fi passwords for target SSIDs.

Log Sources
Data Component Name Channel
Process Creation (DC0032) macos:unifiedlog process
Mutable Elements
Field Description
WiFiNetworkFilter Match suspicious SSIDs being queried via `security find-generic-password -wa`
ExecutionUser Monitor root/admin usage of credential tools not linked to UI/system processes