Azure Entra sign-in risk: Unfamiliar sign-in properties

Alerts on Azure risk events where sign-in properties are marked unfamiliar compared to a user’s historical patterns.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v5

Product: azure
Service: riskdetection
Author: Mark Morowczynski '@markmorow', Gloria Lee, '@gleeiamglo' (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2023-09-03
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
- T1078Valid Accounts
Execution
Persistence
- T1078Valid Accounts
Priv Esc
- T1078Valid Accounts
Defense Evasion
- T1078Valid Accounts
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Azure Entra risk events where the sign-in has unfamiliar properties compared to the user’s historical sign-ins. Attackers may use new devices, locations, browsers, or other session characteristics to evade behavioral baselines, making this signal valuable for stealthy access attempts. The detection relies on risk telemetry from the Azure risk detection service, matching events labeled with the unfamiliar features risk type.

Reporting behind it

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Azure Entra sign-in risk: Unfamiliar sign-in properties

Pivot detection · T1078 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v4
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v3
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

azure-risk-detection-unfamiliar-sign-in-properties-events-128faeef

title: "Azure Entra sign-in risk: Unfamiliar sign-in properties"
id: 06095211-82fc-4b9c-9f03-4a417e94b580
status: test
description: This rule flags Azure Entra risk events where the sign-in has unfamiliar properties compared to the user’s historical sign-ins. Attackers may use new devices, locations, browsers, or other session characteristics to evade behavioral baselines, making this signal valuable for stealthy access attempts. The detection relies on risk telemetry from the Azure risk detection service, matching events labeled with the unfamiliar features risk type.
references:
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/id-protection/concept-identity-protection-risks#unfamiliar-sign-in-properties
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/architecture/security-operations-user-accounts#unusual-sign-ins
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/azure/identity_protection/azure_identity_protection_unfamilar_sign_in.yml
author: Mark Morowczynski '@markmorow', Gloria Lee, '@gleeiamglo', Huntrule Team
date: 2023-09-03
tags:
  - attack.stealth
  - attack.t1078
  - attack.persistence
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.initial-access
logsource:
  product: azure
  service: riskdetection
detection:
  selection:
    riskEventType: unfamiliarFeatures
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - User changing to a new device, location, browser, etc.
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 128faeef-79dd-44ca-b43c-a9e236a60f49
    type: derived

Convert

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