Detection: Update previously seen users in CloudTrail

REMOVED DETECTION

This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.

Reason: All detection(s) which leverage this baseline have been deprecated. As such, this baseline has been deprecated as well.

Removed in version: 5.2.0

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: 06c036e6-d6d7-4daa-bd76-411c3d356031 Author: Jason Brewer, Splunk Type: Baseline Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

This search looks for CloudTrail events where a user logs into the console, then updates the baseline of the latest and earliest times, City, Region, and Country we have encountered this user in our dataset, grouped by ARN, within the last hour. NOTE - This baseline search is deprecated and has been updated to use the Authentication Datamodel

Search

1`cloudtrail` eventName=ConsoleLogin 
2| rename userIdentity.arn as user 
3| iplocation src 
4| eval City=if(City LIKE "",src,City),Region=if(Region LIKE "",src,Region) 
5| stats earliest(_time) AS firstTime latest(_time) AS lastTime by user src City Region Country 
6| inputlookup append=t previously_seen_users_console_logins 
7| stats min(firstTime) as firstTime max(lastTime) as lastTime by user src City Region Country 
8| outputlookup previously_seen_users_console_logins

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name	Value
cloudtrail	`sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail`

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic

Default Configuration

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

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`N/A`
Earliest Time	`N/A`
Latest Time	`N/A`
Schedule Window	`N/A`
Creates Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

Implementation

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 CloudTrail inputs. Please validate the user name entries in previously_seen_users_console_logins, which is a lookup file created as a result of running this support search.

Known False Positives

none

Associated Analytic Story

Suspicious AWS Login Activities

Detection Testing

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