Detection: Identify New User Accounts

DEPRECATED DETECTION

This detection has been marked as deprecated by the Splunk Threat Research team. This means that it will no longer be maintained or supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2024-08-16 ID: 475b9e27-17e4-46e2-b7e2-648221be3b89 Author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk Type: Hunting Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

This detection search will help profile user accounts in your environment by identifying newly created accounts that have been added to your network in the past week.

Search

1
2| from datamodel Identity_Management.All_Identities  
3| eval empStatus=case((now()-startDate)<604800, "Accounts created in last week") 
4| search empStatus="Accounts created in last week"
5| `security_content_ctime(endDate)` 
6| `security_content_ctime(startDate)`
7| table identity empStatus endDate startDate 
8| `identify_new_user_accounts_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source	Supported App
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
identify_new_user_accounts_filter	`search *`

identify_new_user_accounts_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
T1078.002	Domain Accounts	Defense Evasion

KillChainPhase.DELIVERY

KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON

KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION

NistCategory.DE_AE

Cis18Value.CIS_10

APT3

APT5

Chimera

Cinnamon Tempest

Indrik Spider

Magic Hound

Naikon

Sandworm Team

TA505

Threat Group-1314

ToddyCat

Volt Typhoon

Wizard Spider

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	False

This configuration file applies to all detections of type hunting.

Implementation

To successfully implement this search, you need to be populating the Enterprise Security Identity_Management data model in the assets and identity framework.

Known False Positives

If the Identity_Management data model is not updated regularly, this search could give you false positive alerts. Please consider this and investigate appropriately.

Associated Analytic Story

No associated analytic story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message	Risk Score	Impact	Confidence
tbd	25	50	50

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

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	❌ Failing	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	❌ Failing	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

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