Detection rules › Splunk

Zscaler Behavior Analysis Threat Blocked

Status
production
Severity
low
Group by
action, dest, deviceowner, src, threatname, url, user
Author
Rod Soto, Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk
Source
github.com/splunk/security_content

The following analytic identifies threats blocked by the Zscaler proxy based on behavior analysis. It leverages web proxy logs to detect entries where actions are blocked and threat names and classes are specified. This detection is significant as it highlights potential malicious activities that were intercepted by Zscaler's behavior analysis, providing early indicators of threats. If confirmed malicious, these blocked threats could indicate attempted breaches or malware infections, helping security teams to understand and mitigate potential risks in their environment.

Known false positives

  • False positives are limited to Zscalar configuration.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Initial Access

Rule body

name: Zscaler Behavior Analysis Threat Blocked
id: 289ad59f-8939-4331-b805-f2bd51d36fb8
version: 10
creation_date: '2024-04-17'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Rod Soto, Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic identifies threats blocked by the Zscaler proxy based on behavior analysis. It leverages web proxy logs to detect entries where actions are blocked and threat names and classes are specified. This detection is significant as it highlights potential malicious activities that were intercepted by Zscaler's behavior analysis, providing early indicators of threats. If confirmed malicious, these blocked threats could indicate attempted breaches or malware infections, helping security teams to understand and mitigate potential risks in their environment.
data_source: []
search: |-
    `zscaler_proxy` action=blocked threatname!="None" threatclass="Behavior Analysis"
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY action deviceowner user
           threatname url src
           dest
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `zscaler_behavior_analysis_threat_blocked_filter`
how_to_implement: You must install the latest version of Zscaler Add-on from Splunkbase. You must be ingesting Zscaler events into your Splunk environment through an ingester. This analytic was written to be used with the "zscalernss-web" sourcetype leveraging the Zscaler proxy data. This enables the integration with Splunk Enterprise Security. Security teams are encouraged to adjust the detection parameters, ensuring the detection is tailored to their specific environment.
known_false_positives: False positives are limited to Zscalar configuration.
references:
    - https://help.zscaler.com/zia/nss-feed-output-format-web-logs
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: src
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: Potential Adware Behavior Analysis Threat from dest -[$dest$] on $src$ for user-[$user$].
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
          message: Potential Adware Behavior Analysis Threat from dest -[$dest$] on $src$ for user-[$user$].
threat_objects:
    - field: url
      type: url
analytic_story:
    - Zscaler Browser Proxy Threats
asset_type: Web Server
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1566
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: web
security_domain: threat

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

`zscaler_proxy` action=blocked threatname!="None" threatclass="Behavior Analysis"

Stage 2: stats

| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
    BY action deviceowner user
       threatname url src
       dest

Stage 3: search

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

Stage 4: search

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

Stage 5: search

| `zscaler_behavior_analysis_threat_blocked_filter`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.