Suspicious number of resource creation or deployment activities

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 7d
Group by: Caller
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Indicates when an anomalous number of VM creations or deployment activities occur in Azure via the AzureActivity log. This query generates the baseline pattern of cloud resource creation by an individual and generates an anomaly when any unusual spike is detected. These anomalies from unusual or privileged users could be an indication of a cloud infrastructure takedown by an adversary.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Impact	`T1496` Resource Hijacking

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Azure-Microsoft.Compute	Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write
Azure-Microsoft.Resources	Microsoft.Resources/deployments/write

Rule body kusto

id: 361dd1e3-1c11-491e-82a3-bb2e44ac36ba
name: Suspicious number of resource creation or deployment activities
description: |
  'Indicates when an anomalous number of VM creations or deployment activities occur in Azure via the AzureActivity log. This query generates the baseline pattern of cloud resource creation by an individual and generates an anomaly when any unusual spike is detected. These anomalies from unusual or privileged users could be an indication of a cloud infrastructure takedown by an adversary.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActivity
    dataTypes:
      - AzureActivity
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 7d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Impact
relevantTechniques:
  - T1496
query: |
  let szOperationNames = dynamic(["microsoft.compute/virtualMachines/write", "microsoft.resources/deployments/write"]);
  let starttime = 7d;
  let endtime = 1d;
  let timeframe = 1d;
  let TimeSeriesData =
  AzureActivity
  | where TimeGenerated between (startofday(ago(starttime)) .. startofday(now()))
  | where OperationNameValue in~ (szOperationNames)
  | project TimeGenerated, Caller 
  | make-series Total = count() on TimeGenerated from startofday(ago(starttime)) to startofday(now()) step timeframe by Caller; 
  TimeSeriesData
  | extend (anomalies, score, baseline) = series_decompose_anomalies(Total, 3, -1, 'linefit')
  | mv-expand Total to typeof(double), TimeGenerated to typeof(datetime), anomalies to typeof(double), score to typeof(double), baseline to typeof(long) 
  | where TimeGenerated >= startofday(ago(endtime))
  | where anomalies > 0 and baseline > 0
  | project Caller, TimeGenerated, Total, baseline, anomalies, score
  | join (AzureActivity
  | where TimeGenerated > startofday(ago(endtime)) 
  | where OperationNameValue in~ (szOperationNames)
  | summarize make_set(OperationNameValue,100), make_set(_ResourceId,100), make_set(CallerIpAddress,100) by bin(TimeGenerated, timeframe), Caller
  ) on TimeGenerated, Caller
  | mv-expand CallerIpAddress=set_CallerIpAddress
  | project-away Caller1
  | extend Name = iif(Caller has '@',tostring(split(Caller,'@',0)[0]),"")
  | extend UPNSuffix = iif(Caller has '@',tostring(split(Caller,'@',1)[0]),"")
  | extend AadUserId = iif(Caller !has '@',Caller,"")
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Caller
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: Name
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: UPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: AadUserId
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: CallerIpAddress
version: 2.0.4
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let szOperationNames = dynamic(["microsoft.compute/virtualMachines/write", "microsoft.resources/deployments/write"]);
let starttime = 7d;
let endtime = 1d;
let timeframe = 1d;

The stages below define let TimeSeriesData (the rule's main pipeline source).

Stage 1: `source`

AzureActivity

Stage 2: `where`

| where TimeGenerated between (startofday(ago(starttime)) .. startofday(now()))

Stage 3: `where`

| where OperationNameValue in~ (szOperationNames)

Stage 4: `project`

| project TimeGenerated, Caller

The stages below score time-series anomalies (make-series, series_decompose_anomalies).

Stage 5: `summarize`

| make-series Total = count() on TimeGenerated from startofday(ago(starttime)) to startofday(now()) step timeframe by Caller

The stages below run on TimeSeriesData (the outer pipeline).

Stage 6: `extend`

TimeSeriesData
| extend (anomalies, score, baseline) = series_decompose_anomalies(Total, 3, -1, 'linefit')

Stage 7: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand Total to typeof(double), TimeGenerated to typeof(datetime), anomalies to typeof(double), score to typeof(double), baseline to typeof(long)

Stage 8: `where`

| where TimeGenerated >= startofday(ago(endtime))

Stage 9: `where`

| where anomalies > 0 and baseline > 0

Stage 10: `project`

| project Caller, TimeGenerated, Total, baseline, anomalies, score

Stage 11: `join`

| join (AzureActivity
| where TimeGenerated > startofday(ago(endtime)) 
| where OperationNameValue in~ (szOperationNames)
| summarize make_set(OperationNameValue,100), make_set(_ResourceId,100), make_set(CallerIpAddress,100) by bin(TimeGenerated, timeframe), Caller
) on TimeGenerated, Caller

Stage 12: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand CallerIpAddress=set_CallerIpAddress

Stage 13: `project-away`

| project-away Caller1

Stage 14: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

| extend Name = iif(Caller has '@',tostring(split(Caller,'@',0)[0]),"")
| extend UPNSuffix = iif(Caller has '@',tostring(split(Caller,'@',1)[0]),"")
| extend AadUserId = iif(Caller !has '@',Caller,"")

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
`OperationNameValue`	in	`microsoft.compute/virtualMachines/write` `microsoft.resources/deployments/write`
`anomalies`	gt	`0` transforms: `cased`
`baseline`	gt	`0` transforms: `cased`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`Caller`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`Total`	`project`
`anomalies`	`project`
`baseline`	`project`
`score`	`project`
`Name`	`extend`
`UPNSuffix`	`extend`
`AadUserId`	`extend`

`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)

Suspicious number of resource creation or deployment activities

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `project`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `mv-expand`

Stage 8: `where`

Stage 9: `where`

Stage 10: `project`

Stage 11: `join`

Stage 12: `mv-expand`

Stage 13: `project-away`

Stage 14: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Suspicious number of resource creation or deployment activities

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: project

Stage 5: summarize

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: mv-expand

Stage 8: where

Stage 9: where

Stage 10: project

Stage 11: join

Stage 12: mv-expand

Stage 13: project-away

Stage 14: extend (3 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `project`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `mv-expand`

Stage 8: `where`

Stage 9: `where`

Stage 10: `project`

Stage 11: `join`

Stage 12: `mv-expand`

Stage 13: `project-away`

Stage 14: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)