hmpalert.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
HitmanPro.Alert endpoint protection agent by Sophos. Provides anti-exploit and anti-ransomware protection at the kernel and user-mode levels.
hmpalert.exe is the 73rd most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 377,527 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Program Files (x86)\HitmanPro.Alert and it is most often launched by McsAgent.exe.
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Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Program Files (x86)\HitmanPro.Alert99.93%
- C:\ProgramData\...0.07%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- cab95ee2f9c061888d22772e073ea1d95bdcf83392a0b36afd769d8e556904c622.06%
- 6917062839e49946a111a8f5ddc6d210b01557739aeed3cc28a40e161463e31813.66%
- 34cd9466c306dbb7d68291305b14c039f7679036de0fc63c49380e51c178e4bc12.24%
- 168fd5d2c97e7b1509294afceae97cc5e0cea2a8574b1e30ba1d627c96d30ec69.76%
- f01346595f51d738a94d5783fc8e53ee0dd2258b23e1aa6e80058c111de63bd46.17%
- f74f4548126b2f4a972fb9d08f5152873ad839c01cf52c2176803138e47d1dd76.07%
- 210339cb906eac993a0995d1447f6d2a68cf5394e22048575cdb3423adb083e25.84%
- a53318b9cd3c947c04519253e447fdfb658ffec825a79d94a8f6778cc5f134c13.49%
- 4f645817b9d10de1ccd54389dc861adbce573a4e2380ce745ddd31e33eed5f2a3.39%
- 97111596ec112adc1a047d5281946643b4bf4f73ea0ae6dc6261a840bbfa31543.39%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe96.66%
- GatherTelem.exe2.13%
- wininit.exe1.11%
- ALsvc.exe0.1%
- setup.exe<0.01%
Top Parents
- McsAgent.exe96.1%
- EXPTelem.exe1.52%
- hmpalert.exe1.48%
- services.exe0.82%
- SophosUpdate.exe0.07%
- Uninstall.exe<0.01%
Top Children
- hmpalert.exe97.04%
- SophosUI.exe2.76%
- WerFault.exe0.1%
- conhost.exe0.03%
- csrss.exe0.03%
- wininit.exe0.02%
- winlogon.exe0.02%
Security Analysis
What does hmpalert.exe normally do?
Part of Sophos endpoint protection suite. Runs as a service or scheduled task.
When is hmpalert.exe suspicious?
Running from unexpected paths outside the vendor installation directory.
How do attackers abuse hmpalert.exe?
Not directly abused. As security products, they are targets for tampering or disabling.
Detection guidance
Monitor for these processes being stopped or their files being modified (indicates attacker attempting to disable security tooling).
False positive notes
Normal Sophos operation.
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