This is a Microsoft Sysinternals Sysmon configuration file template with default high-quality event tracing.
The file provided should function as a great starting point for system change monitoring in a self-contained package. This configuration and results should give you a good idea of what's possible for Sysmon. Note that this does not track things like authentication and other Windows events that are also vital for incident investigation.
TEST VERSION THAT INCLUDES DNS LOGGING: z-AlphaVersion.xml
Because virtually every line is commented and sections are marked with explanations, it should also function as a tutorial for Sysmon and a guide to critical monitoring areas in Windows systems.
Pull requests and issue tickets are welcome, and new additions will be credited in-line or on Git.
See forks of this configuration
See @ion-storm Threat Intelligence SIEM fork
Note: Exact syntax and filtering choices are deliberate to catch appropriate entries and to have as little performance impact as possible. Sysmon's filtering abilities are different than the built-in Windows auditing features, so often a different approach is taken than the normal static listing of every possible important area.
Run with administrator rights
sysmon.exe -accepteula -i sysmonconfig-export.xml
Run with administrator rights
sysmon.exe -c sysmonconfig-export.xml
Run with administrator rights
sysmon.exe -u
Highly recommend using Notepad++ to edit this configuration. It understands UNIX newline format and does XML syntax highlighting, which makes this very understandable. I do not recommend using the built-in Notepad.exe.
You will need to install and observe the results of the configuration in your own environment before deploying it widely. For example, you will need to exclude actions of your antivirus, which will otherwise likely fill up your logs with useless information.
The configuration is highly commented and designed to be self-explanatory to assist you in this customization to your environment.
This configuration expects software to be installed system-wide and NOT in the C:\Users folder.
If your users install Chrome themselves, you should deploy the Chrome MSI, which will automatically change the shortcuts to the machine-level installation. Your users will not even notice anything different.