Techniques
Sample rules
Azure Service Principal Authentication from Multiple Countries
- source: elastic
- technicques:
- T1078
Description
Detects when an Azure service principal authenticates from multiple countries within a short time window, which may indicate stolen credentials being used from different geographic locations. Service principals typically authenticate from consistent locations tied to their deployment infrastructure. Authentication from multiple countries in a brief period suggests credential compromise, particularly when the source countries do not align with the organization’s expected operating regions. This pattern has been observed in attacks using stolen CI/CD credentials, phished service principal secrets, and compromised automation accounts.
Detection logic
FROM logs-azure.signinlogs-* metadata _id, _index
| WHERE event.dataset == "azure.signinlogs"
AND azure.signinlogs.category == "ServicePrincipalSignInLogs"
AND azure.signinlogs.properties.status.error_code == 0
AND source.geo.country_iso_code IS NOT NULL
AND azure.signinlogs.properties.service_principal_id IS NOT NULL
AND NOT azure.signinlogs.properties.app_owner_tenant_id IN (
"f8cdef31-a31e-4b4a-93e4-5f571e91255a",
"72f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47"
)
| EVAL
Esql.source_ip_string = TO_STRING(source.ip),
Esql.source_ip_country_pair = CONCAT(Esql.source_ip_string, " - ", source.geo.country_name)
| STATS
Esql.source_geo_country_iso_code_count_distinct = COUNT_DISTINCT(source.geo.country_iso_code),
Esql.source_geo_country_name_values = VALUES(source.geo.country_name),
Esql.source_geo_city_name_values = VALUES(source.geo.city_name),
Esql.source_ip_values = VALUES(source.ip),
Esql.source_ip_country_pair_values = VALUES(Esql.source_ip_country_pair),
Esql.source_network_org_name_values = VALUES(`source.as.organization.name`),
Esql.resource_display_name_values = VALUES(azure.signinlogs.properties.resource_display_name),
Esql.app_id_values = VALUES(azure.signinlogs.properties.app_id),
Esql.app_owner_tenant_id_values = VALUES(azure.signinlogs.properties.app_owner_tenant_id),
Esql.source_ip_count_distinct = COUNT_DISTINCT(source.ip),
Esql.source_geo_city_name_count_distinct = COUNT_DISTINCT(source.geo.city_name),
Esql.source_network_org_name_count_distinct = COUNT_DISTINCT(`source.as.organization.name`),
Esql.timestamp_first_seen = MIN(@timestamp),
Esql.timestamp_last_seen = MAX(@timestamp),
Esql.event_count = COUNT(*)
BY azure.signinlogs.properties.service_principal_id, azure.signinlogs.properties.app_display_name
| WHERE Esql.source_geo_country_iso_code_count_distinct >= 2
| KEEP *