Threat Huntmediumexperimental

Inbox Rules Creation Or Update Activity in O365

Detects inbox rule creation or update via O365 Audit logs, a technique commonly observed in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks to hide emails. The usage of inbox rules can be a sign of a compromised mailbox, where an attacker is attempting to evade detections by suppressing or redirecting incoming emails. Analysts should review these rules in context, validate whether they reflect normal user behavior, and correlate with other indicators such as unusual login activity or recent mailbox rule modifications.

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Open this Sigma rule in the converter with the YAML preloaded and ready for backend selection.

Launch
Marco Pedrinazzi (InTheCyber)Created Fri Jan 09d3577be1-42c9-44a7-b56e-2e8de97349d3cloud
Hunting Hypothesis
Log Source
Microsoft 365audit
ProductMicrosoft 365← raw: m365
Serviceaudit← raw: audit

Definition

Requirements: The 'Parameters' field is a list of dict. A correct mapping to the 'Value' field inside is recommended to avoid greedy search

Detection Logic
Detection Logic1 selector
detection:
    selection:
        Operation:
            - 'New-InboxRule'
            - 'Set-InboxRule'
        Parameters|contains:
            - 'DeleteMessage'
            - 'MarkAsRead'
            - 'MoveToFolder'
            - 'SubjectOrBodyContainsWords'
    condition: selection
False Positives

Legitimate inbox rules created by users or administrators to manage email flow such as filtering, organizing, or automating email handling.

Rule Metadata
Rule ID
d3577be1-42c9-44a7-b56e-2e8de97349d3
Status
experimental
Level
medium
Type
Threat Hunt
Created
Fri Jan 09
Path
rules-threat-hunting/cloud/m365/audit/microsoft365_susp_inbox_rule_creation_or_update_activity.yml
Raw Tags
attack.defense-evasionattack.t1564.008attack.exfiltrationattack.collectionattack.t1114.003detection.threat-hunting
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