Agent skill

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing

by mukul975 in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills

Detect C2 beaconing patterns in network traffic using frequency analysis, jitter detection, and domain reputation to identify compromised endpoints communicating with adversary infrastructure.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedSecurity

Install Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing .claude/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing
GitHub stars
34k
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
407 words
Files
8 (incl. scripts, references, assets)
Skills in repo
644
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Detect C2 beaconing patterns in network traffic using frequency analysis, jitter detection, and domain reputation to identify compromised endpoints communicating with adversary infrastructure.

  • Works in 7 steps: Identify Beaconing Characteristics:… → Collect Network Telemetry: Aggregate… → Apply Frequency Analysis: Identify… → …
  • Tasks that involve Red teaming and adversary simulation
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use, Prerequisites, Workflow and Key Concepts, plus 3 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder

What it does

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing is an agent skill from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills. Detect C2 beaconing patterns in network traffic using frequency analysis, jitter detection, and domain reputation to identify compromised endpoints communicating with adversary infrastructure.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 10 other files, including scripts, reference files and assets (for example `assets/template.md`, `references/api-reference.md` and `references/standards.md`).

It sits in Security, covering Red teaming and adversary simulation. The repository describes itself as: 817 structured cybersecurity skills for AI agents · Mapped to 6 frameworks: MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF 2.0, MITRE ATLAS, D3FEND, NIST AI RMF & MITRE F3 (Fight Fraud) · agentskills.io…. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Red teaming and adversary simulation

Example prompts

  • “/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

7 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Identify Beaconing Characteristics: Define what constitutes beaconing (regular intervals, small payload sizes, consistent destinations…
  2. Collect Network Telemetry: Aggregate proxy logs, DNS queries, and connection metadata for analysis.
  3. Apply Frequency Analysis: Identify connections with regular intervals using statistical methods (standard deviation, coefficient of…
  4. Filter Known-Good Traffic: Exclude legitimate periodic traffic (Windows Update, AV updates, heartbeat services, NTP).
  5. Analyze Domain/IP Reputation: Check identified beaconing destinations against threat intel, WHOIS data, and certificate transparency logs.
  6. Investigate Endpoint Context: Correlate beaconing activity with process creation, user context, and file system changes on source endpoints.
  7. Confirm and Respond: Validate C2 activity, block communication, and initiate incident response.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 54a7988. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 2 files in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.6k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 59 tokens; SKILL.md has 407 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~59
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~3.6k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills at commit 54a7988, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mukul975). 407 words, ~1,131 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 7 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing
description
Detect C2 beaconing patterns in network traffic using frequency analysis, jitter detection, and domain reputation to identify compromised endpoints communicating with adversary infrastructure.
domain
cybersecurity
subdomain
threat-hunting
tags
threat-hunting, mitre-attack, c2, beaconing, network-analysis, proactive-detection
version
1.0
author
mahipal
license
Apache-2.0
d3fend_techniques
File Metadata Consistency Validation, Certificate Analysis, Application Protocol Command Analysis, Content Format Conversion, File Content Analysis
nist_csf
DE.CM-01, DE.AE-02, DE.AE-07, ID.RA-05
mitre_attack
T1046, T1057, T1082, T1083, T1071

Hunting for Command and Control Beaconing

When to Use

  • When proactively hunting for compromised systems in the network
  • After threat intel indicates C2 frameworks targeting your industry
  • When investigating periodic outbound connections to suspicious domains
  • During incident response to identify active C2 channels
  • When DNS query logs show unusual patterns to specific domains

Prerequisites

  • Network proxy/firewall logs with full URL and timing data
  • DNS query logs (passive DNS, DNS server logs, or Sysmon Event ID 22)
  • Zeek/Bro network connection logs or NetFlow data
  • SIEM with statistical analysis capabilities (Splunk, Elastic)
  • Threat intelligence feeds for domain/IP reputation

Workflow

  1. Identify Beaconing Characteristics: Define what constitutes beaconing (regular intervals, small payload sizes, consistent destinations, jitter patterns).
  2. Collect Network Telemetry: Aggregate proxy logs, DNS queries, and connection metadata for analysis.
  3. Apply Frequency Analysis: Identify connections with regular intervals using statistical methods (standard deviation, coefficient of variation).
  4. Filter Known-Good Traffic: Exclude legitimate periodic traffic (Windows Update, AV updates, heartbeat services, NTP).
  5. Analyze Domain/IP Reputation: Check identified beaconing destinations against threat intel, WHOIS data, and certificate transparency logs.
  6. Investigate Endpoint Context: Correlate beaconing activity with process creation, user context, and file system changes on source endpoints.
  7. Confirm and Respond: Validate C2 activity, block communication, and initiate incident response.

Key Concepts

ConceptDescription
T1071Application Layer Protocol (HTTP/HTTPS/DNS C2)
T1071.001Web Protocols (HTTP/S beaconing)
T1071.004DNS (DNS tunneling C2)
T1573Encrypted Channel
T1572Protocol Tunneling
T1568Dynamic Resolution (DGA, fast-flux)
T1132Data Encoding in C2
T1095Non-Application Layer Protocol
Beacon IntervalTime between C2 check-ins
JitterRandom variation in beacon interval
DGADomain Generation Algorithm
Fast-FluxRapidly changing DNS resolution
Show full SKILL.md (137 more words)Show less

Tools & Systems

ToolPurpose
RITA (Real Intelligence Threat Analytics)Automated beacon detection in Zeek logs
SplunkStatistical beacon analysis with SPL
Elastic SecurityML-based anomaly detection for beaconing
Zeek/BroNetwork connection metadata collection
SuricataNetwork IDS with JA3/JA4 fingerprinting
VirusTotalDomain and IP reputation checking
PassiveDNSHistorical DNS resolution data
FlareC2 profile detection

Common Scenarios

  1. Cobalt Strike Beacon: HTTP/HTTPS beaconing with configurable sleep time and jitter to malleable C2 profiles.
  2. DNS Tunneling C2: Data exfiltration and command receipt via encoded DNS TXT/CNAME queries to attacker-controlled domains.
  3. Sliver C2 over HTTPS: Modern C2 framework using HTTPS with configurable beacon intervals and domain fronting.
  4. DGA-based C2: Malware generating random domains daily, with adversary registering upcoming domains for C2.
  5. Legitimate Service Abuse: C2 over legitimate cloud services (Azure, AWS, Slack, Discord, Telegram).

Output Format

Hunt ID: TH-C2-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Source IP: [Internal IP]
Source Host: [Hostname]
Destination: [Domain/IP]
Protocol: [HTTP/HTTPS/DNS/Custom]
Beacon Interval: [Average seconds]
Jitter: [Percentage]
Connection Count: [Total connections]
Data Volume: [Bytes sent/received]
First Seen: [Timestamp]
Last Seen: [Timestamp]
Domain Age: [Days]
TI Match: [Yes/No - source]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]

© mukul975, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 7 other files (scripts, references, assets) in skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing of mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • LICENSE
  • assets/template.md
  • references/api-reference.md
  • references/standards.md
  • references/workflows.md
  • scripts/agent.py
  • scripts/process.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 54a7988

Compare with similar skills

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing this skillmukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Authorization Bypass DetectionTencent/AI-Infra-Guard6.8k—~753Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Run Assert Evalresponsibleai/ASSERT330—~11kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Osint Methodologyelementalsouls/Claude-OSINT2.8k—~8.7kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Lfd Designelvisun/loss-function-development176—~2.9kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Acl AbuseADScanPro/Claude-AD211—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing

What does Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing do?

Detect C2 beaconing patterns in network traffic using frequency analysis, jitter detection, and domain reputation to identify compromised endpoints communicating with adversary infrastructure. Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing is an agent skill from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills. Detect C2 beaconing patterns in network traffic using frequency analysis, jitter detection, and domain reputation to identify compromised endpoints communicating with adversary infrastructure.

When should I use Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing?

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing fits situations like: tasks that involve Red teaming and adversary simulation.

How do I install Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills) into .claude/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills) into .agents/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing, .gemini/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing, .github/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing and .opencode/skills/hunting-for-command-and-control-beaconing in your project.

What does Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing needs Python for the scripts in its folder. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing use?

Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 2.5k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing: Authorization Bypass Detection (Tencent/AI-Infra-Guard, 6.8k stars), Run Assert Eval (responsibleai/ASSERT, 330 stars), Osint Methodology (elementalsouls/Claude-OSINT, 2.8k stars) and Lfd Design (elvisun/loss-function-development, 176 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Hunting For Command And Control Beaconing?

mukul975 (a GitHub user) maintains it in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills, which has 34,116 GitHub stars. The repository holds 644 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 31, 2026.

Source: mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.