GCP IAM - New Service Account Key

Status: available
Severity: low
Time window: 1d
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Detects new service account key creation.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Lateral Movement	`T1550` Use Alternate Authentication Material

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
GCP-iam.googleapis.com	google-iam-admin-CreateServiceAccountKey	Create service account key

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

Google Cloud Service Account Key Created or Uploaded (YARA-L)

Rule body kusto

id: fc135860-8773-4ead-b5be-9789af1ff8ff
name: GCP IAM - New Service Account Key
description: |
  'Detects new service account key creation.'
severity: Low
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: GCPIAMDataConnector
    dataTypes:
      - GCP_IAM
queryFrequency: 24h
queryPeriod: 24h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - LateralMovement
relevantTechniques:
  - T1550
query: |
  GCP_IAM
  | where PayloadMethodname =~ 'google.iam.admin.v1.CreateServiceAccountKey'
  | extend result = parse_json(todynamic(PayloadAuthorizationinfo))[0]['granted']
  | where result =~ 'true'
  | extend service_account = extract(@'serviceAccounts\/(.*?)@', 1, PayloadResponseName)
  | project-away result
    | extend AccountName = tostring(split(service_account, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(service_account, "@")[1])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: service_account
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: SrcIpAddr
version: 1.0.1
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

GCP_IAM

Stage 2: `where`

| where PayloadMethodname =~ 'google.iam.admin.v1.CreateServiceAccountKey'

Stage 3: `extend`

| extend result = parse_json(todynamic(PayloadAuthorizationinfo))[0]['granted']

Stage 4: `where`

| where result =~ 'true'

Stage 5: `extend`

| extend service_account = extract(@'serviceAccounts\/(.*?)@', 1, PayloadResponseName)

Stage 6: `project-away`

| project-away result

Stage 7: `extend`

| extend AccountName = tostring(split(service_account, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(service_account, "@")[1])

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
`PayloadMethodname`	eq	`google.iam.admin.v1.CreateServiceAccountKey`
`result`	eq	`true`

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
`service_account`	`extend`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`AccountUPNSuffix`	`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)

GCP IAM - New Service Account Key

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `extend`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `project-away`

Stage 7: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

GCP IAM - New Service Account Key

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: extend

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: extend

Stage 6: project-away

Stage 7: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `extend`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `project-away`

Stage 7: `extend`