Azure Automation Account Created

SPLUNK detection rule by Mauricio Velazco, Brian Serocki, Splunk · Apache-2.0

The following analytic detects the creation of a new Azure Automation account within an Azure tenant. It leverages Azure Audit events, specifically the Azure Activity log category, to identify when an account is created or updated. This activity is significant because Azure Automation accounts can be used to automate tasks and orchestrate actions across Azure and on-premise environments. If an attacker creates an Automation account with elevated privileges, they could maintain persistence, execute malicious runbooks, and potentially escalate privileges or execute code on virtual machines, posing a significant security risk.

name: Azure Automation Account Created
id: 860902fd-2e76-46b3-b050-ba548dab576c
version: 14
creation_date: '2022-08-22'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Mauricio Velazco, Brian Serocki, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects the creation of a new Azure Automation account within an Azure tenant. It leverages Azure Audit events, specifically the Azure Activity log category, to identify when an account is created or updated. This activity is significant because Azure Automation accounts can be used to automate tasks and orchestrate actions across Azure and on-premise environments. If an attacker creates an Automation account with elevated privileges, they could maintain persistence, execute malicious runbooks, and potentially escalate privileges or execute code on virtual machines, posing a significant security risk.
data_source:
    - Azure Audit Create or Update an Azure Automation account
search: |-
    `azure_audit` operationName.value="Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/write" status.value=Succeeded
      | dedup object
      | rename claims.ipaddr as src, subscriptionId as vendor_account, operationName.value as signature
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY dest user src
           vendor_account vendor_product object
           object_path signature
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `azure_automation_account_created_filter`
how_to_implement: You must install the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services from Splunkbase (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3110/#/details). You must be ingesting Azure Audit events into your Splunk environment. Specifically, this analytic leverages the Azure Activity log category.
known_false_positives: Administrators may legitimately create Azure Automation accounts. Filter as needed.
references:
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/overview
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-create-standalone-account?tabs=azureportal
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-hybrid-runbook-worker
    - https://www.inversecos.com/2021/12/how-to-detect-malicious-azure.html
    - https://www.netspi.com/blog/technical/cloud-penetration-testing/maintaining-azure-persistence-via-automation-accounts/
    - https://microsoft.github.io/Azure-Threat-Research-Matrix/Persistence/AZT503/AZT503-3/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1136/003/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
finding:
    title: A new Azure Automation account $object$ was created by $user$
    entity:
        field: user
        type: user
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - Azure Active Directory Persistence
asset_type: Azure Tenant
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1136.003
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: audit
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1136.003/azure_automation_account/azure-activity.log
          source: mscs:azure:audit
          sourcetype: mscs:azure:audit
      test_type: unit

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7f73903b-80fd-46a9-93bf-7f7621581342

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