Multiple Email Entity Azure Activity
Query
// This query assumes a feed of threat indicators is ingested/synchronized periodically, and each synchronization ingests new indicators and only old indicators that have been modified.
// Active threat indicators in Sentinel are renovated as ThreatIntelligenceIndicator events every ~12 days.
let query_frequency = 1h;
let query_period = 14d;
let query_wait = 0h;
let table_query_lookback = 14d;
let _TIBenignProperty =
_GetWatchlist('ID-TIBenignProperty')
| where Notes has_any ("[SourceEmailAddress]")
| project IndicatorId, BenignProperty
;
let _TIExcludedSources = toscalar(
_GetWatchlist('Activity-ExpectedSignificantActivity')
| where Activity == "ThreatIndicatorSource"
| summarize make_list(Auxiliar)
);
let _EmailAddressRegex = toscalar(
_GetWatchlist('RegEx-SingleRegularExpressions')
| where UseCase == "EmailAddress"
| project RegEx
);
let _ExternalEmailAddressRegex = toscalar(
_GetWatchlist('RegEx-SingleRegularExpressions')
| where UseCase == "ExternalEmailAddress"
| project RegEx
);
let _TITableMatch = (table_start: datetime, table_end: datetime, only_new_ti: boolean, ti_start: datetime = datetime(null)) {
// Scheduled Analytics rules have a query period limit of 14d
let _Indicators =// materialize(
ThreatIntelligenceIndicator
| where TimeGenerated > ago(query_period)
// Take the earliest TimeGenerated and the latest column info
| summarize hint.strategy=shuffle
minTimeGenerated = min(TimeGenerated),
arg_max(TimeGenerated, Active, Description, ActivityGroupNames, IndicatorId, ThreatType, DomainName, Url, ExpirationDateTime, ConfidenceScore, AdditionalInformation, ExternalIndicatorId, EmailSenderAddress)
by IndicatorId
// Remove inactive or expired indicators
| where not(not(Active) or ExpirationDateTime < now())
// Pick indicators that contain the desired entity type
| where isnotempty(EmailSenderAddress)
| extend EmailAddress = tolower(EmailSenderAddress)
// Remove indicators from specific sources
| where not(AdditionalInformation has_any (_TIExcludedSources) or Description has_any (_TIExcludedSources))
// Remove excluded indicators with benign properties
| join kind=leftanti _TIBenignProperty on IndicatorId, $left.EmailAddress == $right.BenignProperty
// Deduplicate indicators by EmailAddress column, equivalent to using join kind=innerunique afterwards
| summarize hint.strategy=shuffle
minTimeGenerated = min(minTimeGenerated),
take_any(*)
by EmailAddress
// If we want only new indicators, remove indicators received previously
| where not(only_new_ti and minTimeGenerated < ti_start)
//)
;
//let _IndicatorsLength = toscalar(_Indicators | summarize count());
//let _IndicatorsPrefilter = toscalar(
// _Indicators
// | extend AuxiliarField = tostring(split(EmailAddress, ".")[-1])
// | summarize make_set_if(AuxiliarField, isnotempty(AuxiliarField))
//);
//let _IndicatorsPrefilterLength = array_length(_IndicatorsPrefilter);
let _TableEvents =
AzureActivity
| where ingestion_time() between (table_start .. table_end)
// Filter events that may contain indicators
| where isnotempty(Caller)
//| where not(_IndicatorsPrefilterLength < 10000 and not(Caller has_any (_IndicatorsPrefilter))) // valid TLD ~1500 , "has_any" limit 10000
| extend EmailAddress = tolower(Caller)
| where EmailAddress matches regex _EmailAddressRegex
| extend EmailAddress = case(
EmailAddress has "#EXT#", replace_regex(EmailAddress, _ExternalEmailAddressRegex, @"\2@\3"),
EmailAddress startswith "live.com#" or EmailAddress startswith "urn:spo:guest#", replace_regex(EmailAddress, strcat(@"(?:live\.com#|urn:spo:guest#)", _EmailAddressRegex), @"\2@\3"),
EmailAddress
)
//| where not(_IndicatorsLength < 1000000 and not(EmailAddress in (toscalar(_Indicators | summarize make_list(EmailAddress))))) // "in" limit 1.000.000
| project-rename AzureActivity_TimeGenerated = TimeGenerated
;
_Indicators
| join kind=inner hint.strategy=shuffle _TableEvents on EmailAddress
// Take only a single event by key columns
//| summarize hint.strategy=shuffle take_any(*) by EmailAddress, Caller
| project
AzureActivity_TimeGenerated,
Description, ActivityGroupNames, IndicatorId, ThreatType, DomainName, Url, ExpirationDateTime, ConfidenceScore, AdditionalInformation, EmailSenderAddress,
CategoryValue, Level, ResourceProviderValue, _ResourceId, Caller, CallerIpAddress, OperationNameValue, ActivityStatusValue, HTTPRequest, Properties, CorrelationId
};
union// isfuzzy=true
// Match current table events all indicators available
_TITableMatch(ago(query_frequency + query_wait), ago(query_wait), false),
// Match past table events new indicators since last query execution
_TITableMatch(ago(table_query_lookback + query_wait), ago(query_frequency + query_wait), true, ago(query_frequency))
| summarize arg_max(AzureActivity_TimeGenerated, *) by IndicatorId, Caller
| extend
timestamp = AzureActivity_TimeGenerated,
IPCustomEntity = CallerIpAddress,
AccountCustomEntity = EmailSenderAddressExplanation
This query is designed to identify and correlate threat indicators with Azure activity logs. Here's a simplified breakdown of what it does:
-
Setup and Configuration:
- The query defines several parameters and helper functions to manage the time frames and data sources it will work with, such as
query_frequency,query_period, andquery_wait.
- The query defines several parameters and helper functions to manage the time frames and data sources it will work with, such as
-
Data Preparation:
- It retrieves and processes threat indicators from a threat intelligence feed. These indicators are filtered to exclude inactive or expired ones and those from certain sources or with benign properties.
- It also compiles regular expressions to identify email addresses and external email addresses.
-
Indicator Filtering:
- The query filters threat indicators to include only those with email addresses and excludes those from specific sources or with benign properties.
-
Azure Activity Matching:
- It retrieves Azure activity logs within a specified time frame and filters them to include only those with email addresses matching the threat indicators.
- The query processes these logs to normalize email addresses and match them against the threat indicators.
-
Correlation and Output:
- The query correlates the threat indicators with Azure activity logs, looking for matches based on email addresses.
- It outputs a summarized list of matched events, including details like the time of the activity, the threat description, and associated entities like IP addresses and email addresses.
-
Final Output:
- The results are summarized to show the most recent activity for each indicator and caller, and additional information is extended for further analysis.
In essence, this query is used to detect and analyze potential security threats by correlating threat intelligence data with Azure activity logs, focusing on email-based indicators.
Details

Jose Sebastián Canós
Released: December 13, 2023
Tables
ThreatIntelligenceIndicatorAzureActivity
Keywords
ThreatIntelligenceIndicatorAzureActivityEmailSenderAddressCallerEmailAddressIndicatorIdActivityGroupNamesThreatTypeDomainNameUrlExpirationDateTimeConfidenceScoreAdditionalInformationCallerIpAddressOperationNameValueActivityStatusValueHTTPRequestPropertiesCorrelationId
Operators
lethas_anyprojecttoscalarwheresummarizemake_listisnotemptyextendjoinkindleftantitake_anybymatchesregexcasereplace_regexproject-renameunionarg_max