Subscription moved to another tenant

Severity: low
Time window: 20m
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This detection uses AzureActivity logs (Security category) to identify when a subscription is moved to another tenant. A threat actor may move a subscription into their own tenant to circumvent local resource deployment and logging policies. Once moved, threat actors may deploy resources and perform malicious activities such as crypto mining. This is a technique known as "subscription hijacking". More information can be found here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-defender-blog/hunt-for-compromised-azure-subscriptions-using-microsoft/ba-p/3607121

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Impact	`T1496` Resource Hijacking

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Azure-Microsoft.Subscription	Microsoft.Subscription/updateTenant/action

Rule body kusto

id: 48c026d8-7f36-4a95-9568-6f1420d66e37
kind: Scheduled
name: Subscription moved to another tenant
description: |
  'This detection uses AzureActivity logs (Security category) to identify when a subscription is moved to another tenant.
  A threat actor may move a subscription into their own tenant to circumvent local resource deployment and logging policies.
  Once moved, threat actors may deploy resources and perform malicious activities such as crypto mining.
  This is a technique known as "subscription hijacking". More information can be found here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-defender-blog/hunt-for-compromised-azure-subscriptions-using-microsoft/ba-p/3607121'
severity: Low
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActivity
    dataTypes:
      - AzureActivity
queryPeriod: 20m
queryFrequency: 5m
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Impact
relevantTechniques:
  - T1496
query: |
  let queryFrequency = 5m;
  let eventCapture = "moved from tenant ([0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12}) to tenant ([0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12})";
  AzureActivity
  | where ingestion_time() > ago(queryFrequency)
  | where CategoryValue =~ "Security"
  | where OperationNameValue =~ "Microsoft.Subscription/updateTenant/action"
  | extend Properties_d = coalesce(parse_json(Properties), Properties_d)
  | where isnotempty(Properties_d)
  | extend Summary = tostring(Properties_d.message)
  | extend EventCapture = extract_all(eventCapture, Summary)
  | extend SourceTenantId = iff(isnotempty(EventCapture), EventCapture[0][0], "")
  | extend DestinationTenantId = iff(isnotempty(EventCapture), EventCapture[0][1], "")
  | extend 
      Name = split(Caller, "@", 0)[0],
      UPNSuffix = split(Caller, "@", 1)[0]
eventGroupingSettings:
  aggregationKind: SingleAlert
entityMappings:
  - entityType: AzureResource
    fieldMappings: 
      - identifier: ResourceId
        columnName: _ResourceId                 
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings: 
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Caller
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: Name
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: UPNSuffix
customDetails:
  DestinationTenantId: DestinationTenantId
  SourceTenantId: SourceTenantId
alertDetailsOverride:
  alertDescriptionFormat: |
    The user {{Caller}} moved a subscription:
    
    {{Summary}}
    
    If this was not expected, it may indicate a subscription hijacking event.
  alertDisplayNameFormat: |
    Subscription {{SubscriptionId}} changed tenants
version: 1.0.1

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let queryFrequency = 5m;

Let binding: `eventCapture`

let eventCapture = "moved from tenant ([0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12}) to tenant ([0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12})";

Stage 1: `source`

AzureActivity

Stage 2: `where`

| where ingestion_time() > ago(queryFrequency)

Stage 3: `where`

| where CategoryValue =~ "Security"

Stage 4: `where`

| where OperationNameValue =~ "Microsoft.Subscription/updateTenant/action"

Stage 5: `extend`

| extend Properties_d = coalesce(parse_json(Properties), Properties_d)

Stage 6: `where`

| where isnotempty(Properties_d)

Stage 7: `extend` (5 consecutive steps)

| extend Summary = tostring(Properties_d.message)
| extend EventCapture = extract_all(eventCapture, Summary)
| extend SourceTenantId = iff(isnotempty(EventCapture), EventCapture[0][0], "")
| extend DestinationTenantId = iff(isnotempty(EventCapture), EventCapture[0][1], "")
| extend 
    Name = split(Caller, "@", 0)[0],
    UPNSuffix = split(Caller, "@", 1)[0]

References eventCapture (defined above).

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
`CategoryValue`	eq	`Security`
`OperationNameValue`	eq	`Microsoft.Subscription/updateTenant/action`
`Properties_d`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)

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
`Properties_d`	`extend`
`Summary`	`extend`
`EventCapture`	`extend`
`SourceTenantId`	`extend`
`DestinationTenantId`	`extend`
`Name`	`extend`
`UPNSuffix`	`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)

Subscription moved to another tenant

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Let binding: `eventCapture`

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `extend` (5 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Subscription moved to another tenant

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Let binding: eventCapture

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: extend

Stage 6: where

Stage 7: extend (5 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Let binding: `eventCapture`

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `extend` (5 consecutive steps)