Detection: O365 Multiple Mailboxes Accessed via API

Updated Date: 2024-05-16 ID: 7cd853e9-d370-412f-965d-a2bcff2a2908 Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects when a high number of Office 365 Exchange mailboxes are accessed via API (Microsoft Graph API or Exchange Web Services) within a short timeframe. It leverages 'MailItemsAccessed' operations in Exchange, using AppId and regex to identify API interactions. This activity is significant as it may indicate unauthorized mass email access, potentially signaling data exfiltration or account compromise. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain access to sensitive information, leading to data breaches and further exploitation of compromised accounts. The threshold is set to flag over five unique mailboxes accessed within 10 minutes, but should be tailored to your environment.

Search

1 `o365_management_activity` Workload=Exchange Operation=MailItemsAccessed AppId=* ClientAppId=* 
2| bucket span=10m _time 
3| eval matchRegex=if(match(ClientInfoString, "^Client=WebServices;ExchangeWebServices"), 1, 0) 
4| search (AppId="00000003-0000-0000-c000-000000000000" OR matchRegex=1) 
5| stats values(ClientIPAddress) as src_ip dc(user) as unique_mailboxes values(user) as user by _time ClientAppId ClientInfoString 
6| where unique_mailboxes > 5 
7| `o365_multiple_mailboxes_accessed_via_api_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source	Supported App
O365 MailItemsAccessed	N/A	`'o365:management:activity'`	`'o365'`	N/A

Macros Used

Name	Value
o365_management_activity	`sourcetype=o365:management:activity`
o365_multiple_mailboxes_accessed_via_api_filter	`search *`

o365_multiple_mailboxes_accessed_via_api_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
T1114.002	Remote Email Collection	Collection

KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON

NistCategory.DE_CM

Cis18Value.CIS_10

APT1

APT28

APT29

Chimera

Dragonfly

FIN4

HAFNIUM

Ke3chang

Kimsuky

Leafminer

Magic Hound

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

You must install the Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.

Known False Positives

Legitimate applications may access multiple mailboxes via an API. You can filter by the ClientAppId or the CLientIpAddress fields.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message	Risk Score	Impact	Confidence
An Oauth application identified with id $ClientAppId$ accessed multiple mailboxes in a short period of time via an API.	42	70	60

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

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: 2