Detection: Cisco Duo Policy Allow Devices Without Screen Lock

Updated Date: 2025-07-10 ID: 114c616b-c793-465d-a80d-758c9fe8a704 Author: Patrick Bareiss, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects when a Duo policy is created or updated to allow devices without a screen lock requirement. It identifies this behavior by searching Duo administrator activity logs for policy creation or update events where the 'require_lock' setting is set to false. This action may indicate a weakening of device security controls, potentially exposing the organization to unauthorized access if devices are lost or stolen. For a Security Operations Center (SOC), identifying such policy changes is critical, as attackers or malicious insiders may attempt to lower authentication standards to facilitate unauthorized access. The impact of this attack could include increased risk of credential compromise, data breaches, or lateral movement within the environment due to reduced device security requirements.

Search

1`cisco_duo_administrator` action=policy_update OR action=policy_create 
2| spath input=description 
3| search require_lock=false 
4| rename object as user 
5| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by action actionlabel description user admin_email 
6| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
7| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
8| `cisco_duo_policy_allow_devices_without_screen_lock_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Cisco Duo Administrator	N/A	`'cisco:duo:administrator'`	`'cisco_duo'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
cisco_duo_administrator	`sourcetype=cisco:duo:administrator`
cisco_duo_policy_allow_devices_without_screen_lock_filter	`search *`

cisco_duo_policy_allow_devices_without_screen_lock_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1556	Modify Authentication Process	Credential Access

Exploitation

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Notable	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

The analytic leverages Duo activity logs to be ingested using the Cisco Security Cloud App (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/7404).

Known False Positives

unknown

Associated Analytic Story

Cisco Duo Suspicious Activity

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

A policy has been created or updated to allow devices without screen lock by user $user$ with email $admin_email$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
user	user	48	No Threat Objects

References

https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/7404

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`duo`	`cisco:duo:administrator`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`duo`	`cisco:duo:administrator`

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

Source: GitHub | Version: 1