Name:Azure Automation Account Created id:860902fd-2e76-46b3-b050-ba548dab576c version:5 date:2024-09-30 author:Mauricio Velazco, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:The following analytic detects the creation of a new Azure Automation account within an Azure tenant. It leverages Azure Audit events, specifically the Azure Activity log category, to identify when an account is created or updated. This activity is significant because Azure Automation accounts can be used to automate tasks and orchestrate actions across Azure and on-premise environments. If an attacker creates an Automation account with elevated privileges, they could maintain persistence, execute malicious runbooks, and potentially escalate privileges or execute code on virtual machines, posing a significant security risk. Data_source:
-Azure Audit Create or Update an Azure Automation account
search:`azure_audit` operationName.localizedValue="Create or Update an Azure Automation account" status.value=Succeeded | dedup object | rename claims.ipaddr as src_ip | rename caller as user | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(object) as object by user, src_ip, resourceGroupName, object_path | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `azure_automation_account_created_filter`
how_to_implement:You must install the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services from Splunkbase (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3110/#/details). You must be ingesting Azure Audit events into your Splunk environment. Specifically, this analytic leverages the Azure Activity log category. known_false_positives:Administrators may legitimately create Azure Automation accounts. Filter as needed. References: -https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/overview -https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-create-standalone-account?tabs=azureportal -https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-hybrid-runbook-worker -https://www.inversecos.com/2021/12/how-to-detect-malicious-azure.html -https://www.netspi.com/blog/technical/cloud-penetration-testing/maintaining-azure-persistence-via-automation-accounts/ -https://microsoft.github.io/Azure-Threat-Research-Matrix/Persistence/AZT503/AZT503-3/ -https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1136/003/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$user$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") starthoursago=168 | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Azure Active Directory Persistence' asset_type:Azure Tenant confidence:90 impact:70 message:A new Azure Automation account $object$ was created by $user$ mitre_attack_id: - 'T1136' - 'T1136.003' observable: name:'user' type:'User' - role: - 'Victim' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' required_fields: - '_time' - 'operationName.localizedValue' - 'status.value' - 'object' - 'caller' - 'claims.ipaddr' - 'resourceGroupName' - 'object_path' risk_score:63 security_domain:audit
