User login from different countries within 3 hours (Uses Authentication Normalization)

Severity: high
Time window: 3h
Group by: TargetUserId, TargetUserType, TargetUsername
Author: Ofer Shezaf
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This query searches for successful user logins from different countries within 3 hours. To use this analytics rule, make sure you have deployed the ASIM normalization parsers

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Initial Access	`T1078` Valid Accounts

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4624	An account was successfully logged on.
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4625	An account failed to log on.
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4634	An account was logged off.

Rule body kusto

id: 09ec8fa2-b25f-4696-bfae-05a7b85d7b9e
name: User login from different countries within 3 hours (Uses Authentication Normalization)
description: |
  'This query searches for successful user logins from different countries within 3 hours.
   To use this analytics rule, make sure you have deployed the [ASIM normalization parsers](https://aka.ms/ASimAuthentication)'
severity: High
requiredDataConnectors: []
queryFrequency: 3h
queryPeriod: 3h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - InitialAccess 
relevantTechniques:
  - T1078
tags:
  - Id: 2954d424-f786-4677-9ffc-c24c44c6e7d5
    version: 1.0.0
  - Schema: ASIMAuthentication
    SchemaVersion: 0.1.0
query: |
  let timeframe = ago(3h);
  let threshold = 2;
  imAuthentication
  | where TimeGenerated > timeframe
  | where EventType == 'Logon'
      and EventResult == 'Success'
  | where isnotempty(SrcGeoCountry)
  | summarize
      StartTime        = min(TimeGenerated)
      , EndTime        = max(TimeGenerated)
      , Vendors        = make_set(EventVendor, 128)
      , Products       = make_set(EventProduct, 128)
      , NumOfCountries = dcount(SrcGeoCountry)
      , Countries      = make_set(SrcGeoCountry, 128)
      by TargetUserId, TargetUsername, TargetUserType
  | where NumOfCountries >= threshold
  | where TargetUserType !in ("Application", "Service", "System", "Other", "Machine", "ServicePrincipal")
  | extend
    Name = iif(
        TargetUsername contains "@"
            , tostring(split(TargetUsername, '@', 0)[0])
            , TargetUsername
        ),
    UPNSuffix = iif(
        TargetUsername contains "@"
        , tostring(split(TargetUsername, '@', 1)[0])
        , ""
    )
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: TargetUserName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: Name
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: UPNSuffix
version: 1.2.5
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Ofer Shezaf
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Network" ]

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let timeframe = ago(3h);
let threshold = 2;

Stage 1: `source`

imAuthentication

Stage 2: `where`

| where TimeGenerated > timeframe

Stage 3: `where`

| where EventType == 'Logon'
    and EventResult == 'Success'

Stage 4: `where`

| where isnotempty(SrcGeoCountry)

Stage 5: `summarize`

| summarize
    StartTime        = min(TimeGenerated)
    , EndTime        = max(TimeGenerated)
    , Vendors        = make_set(EventVendor, 128)
    , Products       = make_set(EventProduct, 128)
    , NumOfCountries = dcount(SrcGeoCountry)
    , Countries      = make_set(SrcGeoCountry, 128)
    by TargetUserId, TargetUsername, TargetUserType

Threshold: ge 2

Stage 6: `where`

| where NumOfCountries >= threshold

Stage 7: `where`

| where TargetUserType !in ("Application", "Service", "System", "Other", "Machine", "ServicePrincipal")

Stage 8: `extend`

| extend
  Name = iif(
      TargetUsername contains "@"
          , tostring(split(TargetUsername, '@', 0)[0])
          , TargetUsername
      ),
  UPNSuffix = iif(
      TargetUsername contains "@"
      , tostring(split(TargetUsername, '@', 1)[0])
      , ""
  )

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`TargetUserType`	in	`Application`, `Machine`, `Other`, `Service`, `ServicePrincipal`, `System`

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
`EventResult`	eq	`Success` transforms: `cased` corpus 2 (kusto 2)
`EventType`	eq	`Logon` transforms: `cased` corpus 2 (kusto 2)
`NumOfCountries`	ge	`2` transforms: `cased` corpus 3 (kusto 3)
`SrcGeoCountry`	is_not_null	(no value, null check)
`TimeGenerated`	gt	`timeframe` 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
`Countries`	`summarize`
`EndTime`	`summarize`
`NumOfCountries`	`summarize`
`Products`	`summarize`
`StartTime`	`summarize`
`TargetUserId`	`summarize`
`TargetUserType`	`summarize`
`TargetUsername`	`summarize`
`Vendors`	`summarize`
`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)

User login from different countries within 3 hours (Uses Authentication Normalization)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `where`

Stage 8: `extend`

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

User login from different countries within 3 hours (Uses Authentication Normalization)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: summarize

Stage 6: where

Stage 7: where

Stage 8: extend

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `where`

Stage 8: `extend`