SNS Topic Message Publish by Rare User

Last updated 7 months ago on 2025-01-07
Created 7 months ago on 2025-01-07

About

Identifies when an SNS topic message is published by a rare user in AWS. Adversaries may publish messages to SNS topics for phishing campaigns, data exfiltration, or lateral movement within the AWS environment. SNS topics are used to send notifications and messages to subscribed endpoints such as applications, devices or email addresses, making them a valuable target for adversaries to distribute malicious content or exfiltrate sensitive data. This is a [New Terms](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/rules-ui-create.html#create-new-terms-rule) rule that only flags when this behavior is observed for the first time on a user in the last 14 days.
Tags
Domain: CloudData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWS SNSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Lateral MovementTactic: ExfiltrationLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Lateral Movement (TA0008)(opens in a new tab or window)

Exfiltration (TA0010)(opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
New users or roles may legitimately publish messages to SNS topics for authorized purposes. Ensure that the action is authorized before taking action.
License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
New Terms Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
filebeat-*logs-aws.cloudtrail-*
Related Integrations

aws(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
event.dataset:"aws.cloudtrail"
    and event.provider:"sns.amazonaws.com"
    and event.action:"Publish"
    and event.outcome:"success"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect SNS Topic Message Publish by Rare User in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).