Detection rules › Panther

Dropbox Many Deletes

Status
Experimental
Severity
medium
Group by
actor.user.email
Log types
Dropbox.TeamEvent
Tags
Dropbox, Impact, Data Destruction
Reference
https://help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/delete-files
Source
github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Detects when a Dropbox user deletes more than 10 distinct files within 60 minutes. This may indicate accidental or malicious bulk deletion of team files. The threshold should be tuned to your environment.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
ImpactT1485 Data Destruction

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: dropbox_many_deletes.py
RuleID: "Dropbox.BulkDeletes"
DisplayName: "Dropbox Many Deletes"
Status: Experimental
Enabled: false
Severity: Medium
DedupPeriodMinutes: 60
Threshold: 11
LogTypes:
  - Dropbox.TeamEvent
Description: >
  Detects when a Dropbox user deletes more than 10 distinct files within 60 minutes.
  This may indicate accidental or malicious bulk deletion of team files.
  The threshold should be tuned to your environment.
Reference: https://help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/delete-files
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0040:T1485
Tags:
  - Dropbox
  - Impact
  - Data Destruction
Runbook: |
  1. Query Dropbox.TeamEvent for all file_delete events by actor:user:email in the 2 hours around this alert to identify the full list of assets[0]:path:contextual values deleted
  2. Check involve_non_team_member and origin:geo_location:ip_address to determine if the deletions originated from an unexpected user or location, and assess whether the deleted files were shared with external parties
  3. Search for other suspicious activity by this user in the past 24 hours, including bulk downloads prior to deletion, external sharing events, or login anomalies
Tests:
  - Name: File Deleted
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      actor:
        user:
          email: alice@company.com
          _tag: team_member
      event_type:
        _tag: file_delete
      assets:
        - path:
            contextual: /alice/report.pdf
      involve_non_team_member: false
      origin:
        geo_location:
          ip_address: 1.2.3.4
  - Name: File Deleted - Non-Team Member Involved
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      actor:
        user:
          email: alice@company.com
          _tag: team_member
      event_type:
        _tag: file_delete
      assets:
        - path:
            contextual: /shared/contract.docx
      involve_non_team_member: true
      origin:
        geo_location:
          ip_address: 5.6.7.8
  - Name: Non-Delete Event
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      actor:
        user:
          email: alice@company.com
          _tag: team_member
      event_type:
        _tag: file_download
      assets:
        - path:
            contextual: /alice/report.pdf
      involve_non_team_member: false

Detection logic

Condition

event_type._tag eq "file_delete"

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.

FieldKindValues
event_type._tageq
  • file_delete

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.

FieldSource
useractor.user.email
involve_non_team_member
ip_addressorigin.geo_location.ip_address