Detection rules › Panther

Gsuite Mail forwarded to external domain

Severity
medium
Log types
GSuite.ActivityEvent
Tags
GSuite, Collection:Email Collection
Reference
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10957?hl=en&sjid=864417124752637253-EU
Source
github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

A user has configured mail forwarding to an external domain

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
CollectionT1114 Email Collection

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: gsuite_external_forwarding.py
RuleID: "GSuite.ExternalMailForwarding"
DisplayName: "Gsuite Mail forwarded to external domain"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - GSuite.ActivityEvent
Tags:
  - GSuite
  - Collection:Email Collection
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0009:T1114
Severity: Medium
Description: >
  A user has configured mail forwarding to an external domain
Reference: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10957?hl=en&sjid=864417124752637253-EU
Runbook: >
  Follow up with user to remove this forwarding rule if not allowed.
SummaryAttributes:
  - p_any_emails
Tests:
  - Name: Forwarding to External Address - applicationName = user_accounts
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "id": { "applicationName": "user_accounts", "customerId": "D12345" },
        "actor": { "email": "homer.simpson@.springfield.io" },
        "type": "email_forwarding_change",
        "name": "email_forwarding_out_of_domain",
        "parameters":
          { "email_forwarding_destination_address": "HSimpson@gmail.com" },
      }

  - Name: Forwarding to External Address - applicationName = login
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "id": { "applicationName": "login", "customerId": "D12345" },
        "actor": { "email": "homer.simpson@springfield.io" },
        "type": "email_forwarding_change",
        "name": "email_forwarding_out_of_domain",
        "parameters": { "email_forwarding_destination_address": "HSimpsone@gmail.com" }
      }

  - Name: Non Forwarding Event
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "id": { "applicationName": "user_accounts", "customerId": "D12345" },
        "actor": { "email": "homer.simpson@.springfield.io" },
        "type": "2sv_change",
        "name": "2sv_enroll",
      }
  - Name: ListObject Type
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "actor":
          { "email": "user@example.io", "profileId": "118111111111111111111" },
        "id":
          {
            "applicationName": "drive",
            "customerId": "D12345",
            "time": "2022-12-20 17:27:47.080000000",
            "uniqueQualifier": "-7312729053723258069",
          },
        "ipAddress": "12.12.12.12",
        "kind": "admin#reports#activity",
        "name": "rename",
        "parameters":
          {
            "actor_is_collaborator_account": null,
            "billable": true,
            "doc_id": "1GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG",
            "doc_title": "Document Title- Found Here",
            "doc_type": "presentation",
            "is_encrypted": null,
            "new_value": ["Document Title- Found Here"],
            "old_value": ["Document Title- Old"],
            "owner": "user@example.io",
            "owner_is_shared_drive": null,
            "owner_is_team_drive": null,
            "primary_event": true,
            "visibility": "private",
          },
        "type": "access",
      }

Detection logic

Condition

id.applicationName in ["user_accounts", "login"]
name eq "email_forwarding_out_of_domain"

This rule also runs imperative logic the parser cannot express as a filter; the conditions above are the structured part it could extract.

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
id.applicationNamein
  • login
  • user_accounts
nameeq
  • email_forwarding_out_of_domain

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
emailactor.email
email_forwarding_destination_addressparameters.email_forwarding_destination_address