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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsTo audit remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools for unauthorized access, compare what your organization has approved with what is actually running, who can sign in, and what the logs show. Do not rely on installed-software lists alone: portable or memory-only RMM clients can run without a conventional installation. Build an authorization baseline, inspect endpoint, identity, RMM, and network evidence, investigate mismatches, then close access paths and document any visibility gaps.
What counts as an unauthorized RMM tool or session?
RMM software lets administrators or service providers manage devices remotely. The product itself may be legitimate while a particular installation, account, session, or action is not authorized. CISA, NSA, and MS-ISAC described attackers using legitimate RMM tools after help-desk-themed phishing, including portable executables that did not require installation or administrator privileges. Their advisory names AnyDesk and ScreenConnect, now ConnectWise Control, as examples—not as a complete list of risky products. CISA’s joint advisory AA23-025A warns that legitimate RMM software can be abused as a backdoor.
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Accordingly, an unfamiliar agent is an anomaly to validate, not proof of compromise; it could be an approved but undocumented deployment. Conversely, a familiar product or vendor does not make every account or session legitimate. The strongest assessment comes from correlating independent evidence, such as a successful login by an unfamiliar account, an unexpected endpoint process, a role change, and a network connection in the same time window.
Prepare the audit and establish the expected state
Set scope and preserve evidence
Define which endpoints, servers, cloud tenants, networks, and MSP or other third-party relationships are in scope. Confirm who is authorized to conduct the audit, who receives suspected-access escalations, and which incident-response and retention procedures apply. Preserve relevant records according to those procedures.
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Build an authorization baseline
Record each approved remote-access and RMM product—not only tools labeled “RMM,” but also remote-support tools—with its deployment owner, business purpose, version where available, expected endpoints, approved network path, named administrators, MSP/customer relationship, and permitted roles. CISA recommends identifying the remote-access tools currently in use and those authorized.
Make the baseline specific enough to compare against observed activity. “Approved vendor” alone is not sufficient: document which people or service identities may use the service, which devices they may reach, and which actions their roles permit. Verify entries against current ownership and change records.
Find tools and execution that the inventory may miss
Compare the expected list against endpoint and software inventories, application-control events, process or execution telemetry, and network observations. An installed-software inventory is only one source: CISA’s advisory describes portable RMM executables used without installation, so installation-based checks can miss relevant activity.
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- Look for unexpected or renamed binaries, portable executables, and programs launched from temporary or user-writable locations.
- Check for memory-only loading or other execution evidence that may not appear as a conventional installed application.
- Identify connections to unapproved remote-access services or network destinations, and compare them with approved VPN or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) paths.
- Match observed tools and devices to deployment owners and change records; investigate missing ownership rather than assuming malice.
Correlate endpoint and network evidence with identity and RMM records. A detection in one source is a lead; a coherent timeline across sources provides a stronger basis for deciding whether the activity was authorized.
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Review accounts, roles, and third-party access
Review the RMM platform’s users and administrator roles, along with service accounts and API or service identities where supported. Include MSP and other third-party accounts, account status, MFA status, recent access changes, and the endpoints or tenants each identity can reach. Match every identity to a current owner and business need.
Investigate stale accounts, unknown identities, unexpected role assignments, and changes that lack an approved owner or change record. Disable or remove unauthorized access through the organization’s change-control process. CISA’s ransomware guidance calls for quarterly audits of user and administrator accounts, with attention to publicly accessible RMM accounts and third-party/MSP access; treat that as a practical baseline for account review and set other review cadences according to risk and policy. CISA also recommends phishing-resistant MFA for accounts and services that can access critical systems, alongside least privilege and separation of duties for third parties. See CISA’s ransomware guidance.
Examine and correlate the logs
Review available authentication, session, execution, administrative, and network records. The exact fields vary by product and configuration, but useful evidence commonly includes:
- Successful and failed sign-ins, including identity and source information where available.
- Session start and end events, and remote commands or file transfers when the platform records them.
- Endpoint process and application-control events associated with RMM execution.
- Privilege, role, account, and configuration changes.
- Relevant firewall, VPN/VDI, and network connection events.
Check whether records identify the user or process, time, event, outcome, and source or destination where available. Correlate records across RMM, identity, endpoint, and network repositories to build a timeline; NIST recommends selected-event logging, review and analysis, and cross-repository correlation to improve situational awareness. NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 also calls for retaining audit records according to policy and protecting audit information and logging tools from unauthorized access, modification, or deletion.
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Check whether the evidence can be trusted
A clean-looking log is not conclusive if logging was disabled, records expired, or the people being audited could alter the evidence. Confirm that logging is enabled for the relevant systems, retention follows policy, and timestamps and clock settings allow events to be ordered coherently. Look for logging failures, unexplained gaps, or changes to audit configuration.
Restrict log administration to a subset of privileged roles, separate it from the RMM administrators under review where practicable, and monitor access to logging systems. Preserve original record content and time ordering. NIST specifies protection against unauthorized access, modification, and deletion; CISA’s business logging guide recommends enabling and centralizing logging across servers, firewalls, endpoints, and cloud services, monitoring it regularly, and retaining it under organizational policy. Read CISA’s Quick Guide for Security Log Management.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Triage anomalies without overclaiming
Investigate tools, users, sessions, destinations, times, or privilege changes that do not match the approved baseline. Portable execution, memory-only loading, an unknown owner, unexpected third-party access, and unexplained log gaps warrant investigation, but none alone establishes malicious access.
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- Compare the event with the approved-tool, identity, and network baselines.
- Check related endpoint, identity, RMM, and network records around the same time to establish a timeline.
- Validate the account, device, deployment, and change history with their owners.
- Record what is confirmed, what remains unexplained, and which evidence sources were unavailable.
- If compromise is suspected, preserve evidence and follow the organization’s incident-response process.
Confidence in a clean result depends on coverage as well as findings. Note unavailable session logs, incomplete endpoint visibility, or other gaps rather than treating the absence of evidence as proof that no unauthorized access occurred.
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Reduce the chance of repeat access
Use controls that cover both approved access and unauthorized execution. CISA recommends application controls to manage execution, reviewing execution logs for abnormal RMM use, and detecting memory-only instances. It also recommends requiring authorized RMM to use approved VPN or VDI access and blocking common RMM ports and protocols at the perimeter where appropriate. Apply these measures in line with the organization’s network and operational requirements so restrictions do not disrupt authorized support.
- Limit RMM execution to approved products and deployment paths with application controls; address portable versions as well as installers.
- Require administrators and MSP users to use approved access paths, MFA, and least-privilege roles.
- Restrict unnecessary RMM traffic at network boundaries and alert on high-risk events such as failed logins, privilege escalation, and logging failures.
- Centralize and protect relevant logs, review them regularly, and keep log administration appropriately restricted.
When selecting or assessing an RMM, identity, or log-management platform, compare the completeness and exportability of identity, session, command, and configuration events; role separation, MFA, and third-party scoping; log retention and tamper resistance; alerting and correlation; portable-client handling and application-control integration; and compatibility with approved VPN/VDI and network policies. These are evaluation criteria drawn from CISA and NIST guidance, not a comparative product test.
Record the audit outcome
Document the scope and dates, systems and tenants reviewed, inventory sources, tools and accounts checked, evidence repositories, exceptions, remediation owners, and deadlines. State limitations such as missing session logs or incomplete endpoint coverage. Those qualifications help readers of the audit understand how much confidence the available evidence supports.
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