Suspicious EC2 Key Pair Import via aws (via cloudtrail)

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Execution
Persistence
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Priv Esc
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Defense Evasion
- T1078.004Cloud Accounts
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the AWS ImportKeyPair API call used to upload an attacker-controlled public key so newly launched instances can be accessed. During the SugarCRM cloud intrusion the actor combined ImportKeyPair with RunInstances to establish attacker-usable compute, making an unexpected key import an early sign of cloud resource abuse and persistence.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious EC2 Key Pair Import via aws (via cloudtrail)

Pivot detection · T1078.004 · 9 related

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

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