:no_entry: THIS IS A DEPRECATED DETECTION

This detection has been marked deprecated by the Splunk Threat Research team. This means that it will no longer be maintained or supported.

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Description

This search looks for AWS CloudTrail events where an instance is started in a particular region in the last one hour and then compares it to a lookup file of previously seen regions where an instance was started

  • Type: Anomaly

  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud

  • Last Updated: 2018-02-23
  • Author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
  • ID: ada0f478-84a8-4641-a3f3-d82362d6fd75

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1535 Unused/Unsupported Cloud Regions Defense Evasion
Kill Chain Phase
  • Actions on Objectives
NIST
  • DE.DP
  • DE.AE
CIS20
  • CIS 12
CVE 


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`cloudtrail` earliest=-1h StartInstances 
| stats earliest(_time) as earliest latest(_time) as latest by awsRegion 
| inputlookup append=t previously_seen_aws_regions.csv 
| stats min(earliest) as earliest max(latest) as latest by awsRegion 
| outputlookup previously_seen_aws_regions.csv 
| eval regionStatus=if(earliest >= relative_time(now(),"-1d@d"), "Instance Started in a New Region","Previously Seen Region") 
| `security_content_ctime(earliest)` 
| `security_content_ctime(latest)` 
| where regionStatus="Instance Started in a New Region" 
| `ec2_instance_started_in_previously_unseen_region_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: ec2_instance_started_in_previously_unseen_region_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Required fields

List of fields required to use this analytic.

  • _time
  • awsRegion

How To Implement

You must install the AWS App for Splunk (version 5.1.0 or later) and Splunk Add-on for AWS (version 4.4.0 or later), then configure your AWS CloudTrail inputs. Run the "Previously seen AWS Regions" support search only once to create of baseline of previously seen regions. This search is deprecated and have been translated to use the latest Change Datamodel.

Known False Positives

It's possible that a user has unknowingly started an instance in a new region. Please verify that this activity is legitimate.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
25.0 50 50 tbd

:information_source: The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

Reference

Test Dataset

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

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