Proofpoint Phishing Email Detected

Status: Experimental
Severity: high
Group by: quarantineFolder, sender
Log types: Proofpoint.Event
Tags: Proofpoint, Email Security, Phishing, Credential Theft, Initial Access:Phishing, Credential Access:Phishing for Information
Reference: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/solutions/protect-against-phishing
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

This rule alerts when Proofpoint detects phishing attempts in email. It triggers when emails are quarantined with the phish rule, have a high phish score (90+), or contain active phishing threats in the threats map.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Reconnaissance	`T1598` Phishing for Information
Initial Access	`T1566` Phishing

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: proofpoint_phishing_detected.py
RuleID: "Proofpoint.PhishingDetected"
DisplayName: "Proofpoint Phishing Email Detected"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - Proofpoint.Event
Status: Experimental
Tags:
  - Proofpoint
  - Email Security
  - Phishing
  - Credential Theft
  - Initial Access:Phishing
  - Credential Access:Phishing for Information
Severity: High
Description: >
  This rule alerts when Proofpoint detects phishing attempts in email.
  It triggers when emails are quarantined with the phish rule, have a
  high phish score (90+), or contain active phishing threats in the
  threats map.
Runbook: |
  1. Check if users clicked on malicious links within the last 4 hours and force password reset immediately if credentials may be compromised
  2. Block the sender domain/URL within 15 minutes and notify affected users
  3. Report to anti-phishing authorities within 24 hours and share IOCs with threat intelligence platforms
Reference: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/solutions/protect-against-phishing
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0001:T1566 # Initial Access: Phishing
    - TA0006:T1598 # Credential Access: Phishing for Information
Tests:
  - Name: Phishing Quarantine Rule
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T10:00:00Z"
      sender: "fake-security@examp1e.com"
      senderIP: "192.0.2.100"
      fromAddress:
        - "fake-security@examp1e.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "employee@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "employee@company.com"
      subject: "Urgent: Verify Your Account"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 95
      spamScore: 20
      impostorScore: 0
      quarantineFolder: "Phish"
      quarantineRule: "phish"
      messageID: "<phish123@examp1e.com>"
      headerFrom: "Security Team <fake-security@examp1e.com>"
      threatsInfoMap:
        - threatType: "url"
          classification: "phish"
          threatStatus: "active"
          threat: "http://fake-login.example.com/verify"
          threatID: "phish-threat-001"
          threatUrl: "https://threatinsight.proofpoint.com/threat/details"
  - Name: High Phish Score
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T11:30:00Z"
      sender: "support@paypa1.com"
      senderIP: "198.51.100.150"
      fromAddress:
        - "support@paypa1.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "user@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "user@company.com"
      subject: "Action Required: Confirm Your Payment"
      malwareScore: 5
      phishScore: 90
      spamScore: 30
      impostorScore: 10
      messageID: "<phish456@paypa1.com>"
      headerFrom: "PayPal Support <support@paypa1.com>"
  - Name: Active Phishing Threat in Threats Map
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T13:00:00Z"
      sender: "admin@company-login.net"
      senderIP: "203.0.113.200"
      fromAddress:
        - "admin@company-login.net"
      toAddresses:
        - "victim@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "victim@company.com"
      subject: "Password Reset Required"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 75
      spamScore: 15
      impostorScore: 5
      messageID: "<cred-phish@company-login.net>"
      threatsInfoMap:
        - threatType: "url"
          classification: "phish"
          threatStatus: "active"
          threat: "http://malicious-site.com/login"
          threatID: "phish-url-789"
  - Name: Legitimate Email - No Alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T14:00:00Z"
      sender: "colleague@company.com"
      senderIP: "203.0.113.50"
      fromAddress:
        - "colleague@company.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "employee@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "employee@company.com"
      subject: "Meeting Tomorrow"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 0
      spamScore: 0
      impostorScore: 0
      messageID: "<meeting123@company.com>"
  - Name: Low Phish Score - No Alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T15:00:00Z"
      sender: "newsletter@marketing.com"
      senderIP: "198.51.100.50"
      fromAddress:
        - "newsletter@marketing.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "user@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "user@company.com"
      subject: "Weekly Newsletter"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 25
      spamScore: 40
      impostorScore: 0
      messageID: "<newsletter@marketing.com>"
  - Name: Borderline Phish Score Below Threshold - No Alert
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      messageTime: "2026-01-08T15:30:00Z"
      sender: "borderline@external.com"
      senderIP: "198.51.100.75"
      fromAddress:
        - "borderline@external.com"
      toAddresses:
        - "user@company.com"
      recipient:
        - "user@company.com"
      subject: "Check This Out"
      malwareScore: 0
      phishScore: 89
      spamScore: 20
      impostorScore: 0
      messageID: "<borderline89@external.com>"

Detection logic

Condition

quarantineRule eq "phish" or quarantineFolder eq "Phish" or phishScore ge "90" or threatsInfoMap array_any

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
`phishScore`	ge	`90`
`quarantineFolder`	eq	`Phish`
`quarantineRule`	eq	`phish`

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
`sender`
`senderIP`
`recipients`	`recipient`
`subject`
`messageID`
`quarantineFolder`
`quarantineRule`
`malwareScore`
`phishScore`

`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)