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.
- 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 EvasionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
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
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/id-protection/concept-identity-protection-risks#unfamiliar-sign-in-properties
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/architecture/security-operations-user-accounts#unusual-sign-ins
- github.comhttps://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/azure/identity_protection/azure_identity_protection_unfamilar_sign_in.yml
Changelog
v5- v5Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v4Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v3Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v2Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v1No 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.
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