Detection: Okta Account Lockout Events

REMOVED DETECTION

This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.

Reason: Detections updated to use the new search logic and field names due to the TA update

Removed in version: 5.2.0

Replacement: Okta Multiple Accounts Locked Out

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

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: 62b70968-a0a5-4724-8ac4-67871e6f544d Author: Michael Haag, Rico Valdez, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

DEPRECATION NOTE - This search has been deprecated and replaced with Okta Multiple Accounts Locked Out. The following anomaly will generate based on account lockout events utilizing Okta eventTypes of user.account.lock.limit or user.account.lock. Per the Okta docs site, this event is fired when a user account has reached the lockout limit. The account will not auto-unlock and a user or client cannot gain access to the account. This event indicates an account that will not be able to log in until remedial action is taken by the account admin. This event can be used to understand the specifics of an account lockout. Often this indicates a client application that is repeatedly attempting to authenticate with invalid credentials such as an old password.

Search

1`okta` eventType IN (user.account.lock.limit,user.account.lock) 
2| rename client.geographicalContext.country as country, client.geographicalContext.state as state, client.geographicalContext.city as city 
3| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(src_user) as users by displayMessage, country, state, city, src_ip 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `okta_account_lockout_events_filter`

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name	Value
okta	`eventtype=okta_log OR sourcetype = "OktaIM2:log"`
okta_account_lockout_events_filter	``

okta_account_lockout_events_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
T1078.001	Default Accounts	Initial Access

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

Anomaly detections generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events). They do not generate a Finding (Notable) directly.

Implementation

This analytic is specific to Okta and requires Okta logs to be ingested.

Known False Positives

None. Account lockouts should be followed up on to determine if the actual user was the one who caused the lockout, or if it was an unauthorized actor.

Associated Analytic Story

Suspicious Okta Activity

References

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: 5