Detection rules › Splunk

Zscaler Scam Destinations Threat Blocked

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

The following analytic identifies blocked scam-related activities detected by Zscaler within a network. It leverages web proxy logs to examine actions flagged as scam threats, focusing on data points such as device owner, user, URL category, destination URL, and IP. This detection is significant for SOC as it helps in the early identification and mitigation of scam activities, ensuring network safety. If confirmed malicious, this activity could indicate attempts to deceive users, potentially leading to data theft or financial loss.

Known false positives

  • False positives are limited to Zscaler configuration.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Initial Access

Rule body

name: Zscaler Scam Destinations Threat Blocked
id: a0c21379-f4ba-4bac-a958-897e260f964a
version: 10
creation_date: '2024-04-17'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Rod Soto, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic identifies blocked scam-related activities detected by Zscaler within a network. It leverages web proxy logs to examine actions flagged as scam threats, focusing on data points such as device owner, user, URL category, destination URL, and IP. This detection is significant for SOC as it helps in the early identification and mitigation of scam activities, ensuring network safety. If confirmed malicious, this activity could indicate attempts to deceive users, potentially leading to data theft or financial loss.
data_source: []
search: |-
    `zscaler_proxy` action=blocked threatname=*scam*
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY action deviceowner user
           urlcategory url src
           dest
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `zscaler_scam_destinations_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 Zscaler configuration.
references:
    - https://help.zscaler.com/zia/nss-feed-output-format-web-logs
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: src
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: Potential Scam Threat from dest -[$dest$] on $src$ for user-[$user$].
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
          message: Potential Scam 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=*scam*

Stage 2: stats

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

Stage 3: search

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

Stage 4: search

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

Stage 5: search

| `zscaler_scam_destinations_threat_blocked_filter`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.