huntrule

Okta Admin Console: New admin console activity via policy.evaluate_sign_on heuristics

Alerts when Okta policy evaluation shows POSITIVE debug heuristics for activity targeting the Okta Admin Console.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v4
Product
okta
Service
okta
Author
kelnage (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2023-09-07
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Defense Evasion

  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 Okta events where a policy decision for sign-on is evaluated against the target “Okta Admin Console” and the event’s debug heuristics indicate a “POSITIVE” behavior. Attackers may use the Admin Console for privilege escalation or persistence, and these signals can help surface newly identified or atypical admin-console-related activity. Telemetry relies on Okta system log fields including eventType, target.displayName, and debugContext.debugData values containing the marker strings.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1078.004 — drag to rearrange
Malicious AWS Cross-Account AssumeRole With Suspicious Session Names via CloudTrail (via aws)
Suspicious Okta SSO Access to Many Applications in Short Window
Suspicious Microsoft Entra Device Code Authentication Flow
Suspicious M365 Password Spraying via Azure PowerShell AppId from Quad7 Botnet
Suspicious AWS Instance Access or Export via SSH Key or Export Task
Suspicious Azure OpenAI Model Enumeration and Deployment Creation (via azure)
Suspicious Azure Cognitive Services Account Key Enumeration via ListKeys (via azure)
Malicious Business Email Compromise OAuth Application Sign-In via Entra ID Service Principal (via azure)
Suspicious AWS API Call from TruffleHog Credential Scanner User Agent
Okta Admin Console: New admin console activity via policy.evaluate_sign_on heuristics
Pivot detection · T1078.004 · 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.