Suspicious IAM Access Key Creation for Persistence (via cloudtrail)

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1098.001Additional Cloud Credentials
Priv Esc
- T1098.001Additional Cloud Credentials
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of a new IAM access key, a cloud account-manipulation technique attackers use to establish durable programmatic access to an AWS account after compromising a principal. Adding access keys for persistence is tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report cloud coverage. Detecting the CreateAccessKey call surfaces a potential backdoor credential being minted.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1098.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious AWS Administrator Policy Attachment via CloudTrail (via aws)

Suspicious AWS Inline Policy Granting Full S3 Access

Suspicious GCP Service Account Key Creation for Persistence (via gcp.audit)

Malicious Credential Added to an Azure AD Application (via auditlogs)

Suspicious AWS Long-Term Access Key Creation for Persistence via CloudTrail (via aws)

Suspicious Credential Added to Existing Application for OAuth Persistence in Entra ID (via azure auditlogs)

Suspicious IAM Policy Attachment Granting AdministratorAccess

Suspicious Credential Added to Application or Service Principal in Entra ID (via azure)

Okta System Log: New Identity Provider Created via system.idp.lifecycle.create

Suspicious IAM Access Key Creation for Persistence (via cloudtrail)

Pivot detection · T1098.001 · 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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