Azure Recovery Services Resource Deleted

Status: production
Kind: building block (feeds higher-level correlation rules; not a standalone alert)
Severity: medium
Time window: 9m
Author: Elastic
Source: github.com/elastic/detection-rules

Identifies the deletion of Azure Recovery Services resources. Azure Recovery Services vaults contain data for copies of VMs, workloads, servers, and other resources regarding Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Adversaries may delete these recovery services to impact backup capabilities during stable operations or to inhibit disaster recovery services during ransom-based attacks or operational disruptions.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Impact	`T1490` Inhibit System Recovery

Rule body elastic

[metadata]
bypass_bbr_timing = true
creation_date = "2025/10/13"
integration = ["azure"]
maturity = "production"
updated_date = "2025/10/13"

[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
building_block_type = "default"
description = """
Identifies the deletion of Azure Recovery Services resources. Azure Recovery Services vaults contain data for copies of
VMs, workloads, servers, and other resources regarding Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Adversaries may delete these
recovery services to impact backup capabilities during stable operations or to inhibit disaster recovery services during
ransom-based attacks or operational disruptions.
"""
from = "now-9m"
index = ["logs-azure.activitylogs-*", "filebeat-*"]
language = "kuery"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Azure Recovery Services Resource Deleted"
references = [
    "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2023/07/25/storm-0501-ransomware-attacks-expanding-to-hybrid-cloud-environments/",
]
risk_score = 47
rule_id = "b8c3e5d0-8a1a-11ef-9b4a-f661ea17fbce"
severity = "medium"
tags = [
    "Domain: Cloud",
    "Domain: Storage",
    "Data Source: Azure",
    "Data Source: Azure Activity Logs",
    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
    "Tactic: Impact",
    "Resources: Investigation Guide",
    "Rule Type: BBR",
]
timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
type = "query"

query = '''
event.dataset:azure.activitylogs and
    azure.activitylogs.operation_name:MICROSOFT.RECOVERYSERVICES/*/DELETE and
    event.outcome:(Success or success)
'''


[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1490"
name = "Inhibit System Recovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1490/"


[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0040"
name = "Impact"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0040/"

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `query`

event.dataset:azure.activitylogs and
    azure.activitylogs.operation_name:MICROSOFT.RECOVERYSERVICES/*/DELETE and
    event.outcome:(Success or success)

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`azure.activitylogs.operation_name`	wildcard	`MICROSOFT.RECOVERYSERVICES/*/DELETE`
`event.dataset`	eq	`azure.activitylogs`
`event.outcome`	in	`Success` `success`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Azure Recovery Services Resource Deleted

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body elastic

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `query`

Indicators

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Azure Recovery Services Resource Deleted

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body elastic

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: query

Indicators

Stage 1: `query`