ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1114.003 | Email Forwarding Rule | Collection |
T1564.008 | Email Hiding Rules | Defense Evasion |
Detection: O365 Email New Inbox Rule Created
Description
The following analytic identifies the creation of new email inbox rules in an Office 365 environment. It detects events logged under New-InboxRule and Set-InboxRule operations within the o365_management_activity data source, focusing on parameters that may indicate mail forwarding, removal, or obfuscation. Inbox rule creation is a typical end-user activity however attackers also leverage this technique for multiple reasons.
Search
1`o365_management_activity` Workload=Exchange AND (Operation=New-InboxRule OR Operation=Set-InboxRule) Parameters{}.Name IN (SoftDeleteMessage,DeleteMessage,ForwardTo,ForwardAsAttachmentTo,RedirectTo,MoveToFolder,CopyToFolder)
2
3| eval file_path = mvappend(MoveToFolder,CopyToFolder), recipient=mvappend(ForwardTo, ForwardAsAttachmentTo, RedirectTo), user = lower(UserId), signature = Operation, src = if(match(ClientIP, "^\["), ltrim(mvindex(split(ClientIP, "]:"), 0), "["), mvindex(split(ClientIP,":"),0)), desc = Name, action = 'Parameters{}.Name'
4
5
6| stats values(action) as action, values(src) as src, values(recipient) as recipient, values(file_path) as file_path, count, min(_time) as firstTime, max(_time) as lastTime by user, signature, desc
7
8| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
9
10| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
11
12| `o365_email_new_inbox_rule_created_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Office 365 Universal Audit Log | N/A | 'o365:management:activity' |
'o365' |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
o365_management_activity | sourcetype=o365:management:activity |
o365_email_new_inbox_rule_created_filter | search * |
o365_email_new_inbox_rule_created_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
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 Risk Event | True |
Implementation
You must install the Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.
Known False Positives
Users may create email rules for legitimate purposes. Filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message:
A new email inbox rule was created for $user$
Risk Object | Risk Object Type | Risk Score | Threat Objects |
---|---|---|---|
user | user | 10 | desc |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | o365 |
o365:management:activity |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | o365 |
o365:management:activity |
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