↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleMedium
Suspicious VM Instance Creation Activity Detected
Description
'This detection identifies high-severity alerts across various Microsoft security products, including Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Entra ID, and correlates them with instances of Google Cloud VM creation. It focuses on instances where VMs were created within a short timeframe of high-severity alerts, potentially indicating suspicious activity.'
- Rule type
- Scheduled
- Version
- 1.0.4
- Query frequency
- 1d
- Query period
- 1d
- Trigger
- gt 0
Declared MITRE coverage
Declared sources
Metadata from the source file. No dependencies inferred from KQL.
Connectors
Data types
KQL query
Original query, unchanged.
// Filter alerts from specific Microsoft security products with medium and high severity
SecurityAlert
| where ProductName in ("Microsoft 365 Defender", "Azure Active Directory", "Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection", "Microsoft Cloud App Security", "Azure Active Directory Identity Protection", "Microsoft Defender ATP")
| where AlertSeverity has_any ("Medium", "High")
// Parse JSON entities and extend AlertTimeGenerated
| extend Entities = parse_json(Entities), AlertTimeGenerated=TimeGenerated
// Extract and process IP entities
| mv-apply Entity = Entities on
(
where Entity.Type == 'ip'
| extend EntityIp = tostring(Entity.Address)
)
// Extract and process account entities
| mv-apply Entity = Entities on
(
where Entity.Type == 'account'
| extend AccountObjectId = tostring(Entity.AadUserId)
)
// Filter out records with empty EntityIp
| where isnotempty(EntityIp)
// Summarize data and create sets of entities and system alert IDs
| summarize Entitys=make_set(Entity), SystemAlertIds=make_set(SystemAlertId)
by
AlertName,
ProductName,
AlertSeverity,
EntityIp,
Tactics,
Techniques,
ProviderName,
AlertTime= bin(AlertTimeGenerated, 1d),
AccountObjectId
// Join with GCPAuditLogs for VM instance creation
| join kind=inner (
GCPAuditLogs
| where ServiceName == "compute.googleapis.com" and MethodName endswith "instances.insert"
| extend
GCPUserUPN= tostring(parse_json(AuthenticationInfo).principalEmail),
GCPUserIp = tostring(parse_json(RequestMetadata).callerIp),
GCPUserUA= tostring(parse_json(RequestMetadata).callerSuppliedUserAgent),
VMStatus = tostring(parse_json(Response).status),
VMOperation=tostring(parse_json(Response).operationType),
VMName= tostring(parse_json(Request).name),
VMType = tostring(split(parse_json(Request).machineType, "/")[-1])
| where GCPUserUPN !has "gserviceaccount.com"
| where VMOperation == "insert" and isnotempty(GCPUserIp) and GCPUserIp != "private"
| project
GCPOperationTime=TimeGenerated,
VMName,
VMStatus,
MethodName,
GCPUserUPN,
ProjectId,
GCPUserIp,
GCPUserUA,
VMOperation,
VMType
)
on $left.EntityIp == $right.GCPUserIp
// Join with IdentityInfo to enrich user identity details
| join kind=inner (IdentityInfo
| distinct AccountObjectId, AccountUPN, JobTitle
)
on AccountObjectId
// Calculate the time difference between the alert and VM creation for further analysis
| extend TimeDiff= datetime_diff('day', AlertTime, GCPOperationTime),Name = split(GCPUserUPN, "@")[0], UPNSuffix = split(GCPUserUPN, "@")[1]
Declared entities
Related content
Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.
Source provenance
GitHubDisplayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.
- Commit
9800e51↗- Source identifier
1cc0ba27-c5ca-411a-a779-fbc89e26be83
Additional source files 1
Detections/MultipleDataSources/SuspiciousVMInstanceCreationActivity.yamlsource ↗GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING
Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC