huntrule

Google Workspace Admin API: User Granted Admin Privileges

Flags Google Workspace audit events where a user is granted delegated or admin privileges in the tenant.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v4
Product
gcp
Service
google_workspace.admin
Author
Austin Songer (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-08-23
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Google Workspace admin changes where an account is granted administrative privileges via the Admin API. Such actions can enable privilege escalation and persistent control of the tenant, so timely detection is important. It relies on audit events from admin.googleapis.com indicating either GRANT_ADMIN_PRIVILEGE or GRANT_DELEGATED_ADMIN_PRIVILEGES.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1098 — drag to rearrange
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Suspicious Compute Instance Metadata Modification in GCP
Suspicious Azure AD Authentication Method Registration for Account Takeover (via azure)
Suspicious EC2 Instance Connect SSH Public Key Push (via cloudtrail)
Google Workspace Admin API: User Granted Admin Privileges
Pivot detection · T1098 · 9 related

Changelog

v4
  1. v4
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v3
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  3. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  4. 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.