Elastic Security Detection Rules

AWS SNS Rare Protocol Subscription by User

Last updated 6 days ago on 2025-09-09
Created 10 months ago on 2024-11-01

About

Identifies when a use subscribes to an SNS topic using a new protocol type (ie. email, http, lambda, etc.). SNS allows users to subscribe to recieve topic messages across a broad range of protocols like email, sms, lambda functions, http endpoints, and applications. Adversaries may subscribe to an SNS topic to collect sensitive information or exfiltrate data via an external email address, cross-account AWS service or other means. This rule identifies a new protocol subscription method for a particular user.
Tags
Domain: CloudData Source: AWSData Source: Amazon Web ServicesData Source: AWS SNSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExfiltrationTactic: CollectionTactic: ImpactLanguage: kuery
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Exfiltration Over Web Service (T1567)(opens in a new tab or window)

Collection (TA0009)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Data from Cloud Storage (T1530)(opens in a new tab or window)

Impact (TA0040)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Resource Hijacking (T1496)(opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Legitimate users may subscribe to SNS topics for legitimate purposes. Ensure that the subscription 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: "Subscribe"
    and event.outcome: "success"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect AWS SNS Rare Protocol Subscription by 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).