User Account Created Using Incorrect Naming Format

Severity: low
Time window: 1d
Author: Microsoft Security Research
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This query looks for accounts being created where the name does not match a defined pattern. Attackers may attempt to add accounts as a means of establishing persistant access to an environment, looking for anomalies in created accounts may help identify illegitimately created accounts. Created accounts should be investigated to ensure they were legitimated created. The user_regex field in the query needs to be populated with the expected pattern for the environment before deployment. Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-user-accounts#accounts-not-following-naming-policies

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1136.003` Create Account: Cloud Account

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Entra-AuditLogs	Add user

Rule body kusto

id: ee55dc85-d2da-48c1-a6c0-3eaee62a8d56
name: User Account Created Using Incorrect Naming Format
description: |
  'This query looks for accounts being created where the name does not match a defined pattern.
    Attackers may attempt to add accounts as a means of establishing persistant access to an environment, looking for anomalies in created accounts may help identify illegitimately created accounts.
    Created accounts should be investigated to ensure they were legitimated created.
    The user_regex field in the query needs to be populated with the expected pattern for the environment before deployment.
    Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-user-accounts#accounts-not-following-naming-policies'
severity: Low
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
relevantTechniques:
  - T1136.003
tags:
  - AADSecOpsGuide
query: |
  // Add the environments expected username format regex below before deploying
  let user_regex = "";
  AuditLogs
  | where OperationName =~ "Add user"
  | where Result =~ "success"
  | extend userAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetails[0].value)
  | extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
  | extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
  | extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
  | extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
  | extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
  | extend InitiatedBy = tostring(iff(isnotempty(InitiatingUserPrincipalName),InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAppName))
  | extend AddedUser = tostring(TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName)
  | where AddedUser matches regex user_regex
  | extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
  | extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(AddedUser, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(AddedUser, "@")[1])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatingAppName
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: InitiatingUserPrincipalName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatingAccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatingAadUserId
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: AddedUser
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: TargetAccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: TargetAccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: InitiatingIPAddress
version: 1.1.0
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Others" ]

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let user_regex = "";

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where OperationName =~ "Add user"

Stage 3: `where`

| where Result =~ "success"

Stage 4: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

| extend userAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetails[0].value)
| extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
| extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
| extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
| extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
| extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
| extend InitiatedBy = tostring(iff(isnotempty(InitiatingUserPrincipalName),InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAppName))
| extend AddedUser = tostring(TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName)

Stage 5: `where`

| where AddedUser matches regex user_regex

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])

Stage 7: `extend`

| extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(AddedUser, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(AddedUser, "@")[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
`OperationName`	eq	`Add user`
`Result`	eq	`success`

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
`userAgent`	`extend`
`InitiatingAppName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId`	`extend`
`InitiatingUserPrincipalName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAadUserId`	`extend`
`InitiatingIPAddress`	`extend`
`InitiatedBy`	`extend`
`AddedUser`	`extend`
`InitiatingAccountName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`
`TargetAccountName`	`extend`
`TargetAccountUPNSuffix`	`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)

User Account Created Using Incorrect Naming Format

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

User Account Created Using Incorrect Naming Format

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: extend (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 5: where

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`