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AWSCloudTrail - S3 bucket suspicious ransomware activity

Description

Detects a ransomware-like sequence where objects are read from an S3 bucket and then overwritten using an external KMS key. This pattern can indicate malicious encryption and potential data denial in the bucket.
Rule type
Scheduled
Version
1.0.2
Declared status
Available
Query frequency
1h
Query period
1h
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.

let timeframe = 1h;
let lookback = 2h;
// The attacker downloads the object(s) from the compromised bucket
let GetObject = AWSCloudTrail
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(lookback)
| where EventName == "GetObject" and isempty(ErrorCode) and isempty(ErrorMessage)
| extend bucketName = tostring(parse_json(RequestParameters).bucketName), keyName = tostring(parse_json(RequestParameters).key)
| project-rename StartTime = TimeGenerated;
// Then, the attacker overwrites the same object(s) but encrypted with his own key
let PutObject = AWSCloudTrail
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(timeframe)
| where EventName == "PutObject" and isempty(ErrorCode) and isempty(ErrorMessage)
| extend bucketName = tostring(parse_json(RequestParameters).bucketName), keyName = tostring(parse_json(RequestParameters).key)
| extend kmsId = tostring(parse_json(RequestParameters).["x-amz-server-side-encryption-aws-kms-key-id"])
| where tostring(kmsId) !has tostring(RecipientAccountId) and kmsId <> "";
PutObject
| join kind=inner 
(
   GetObject
)
on $left.bucketName == $right.bucketName, $left.keyName == $right.keyName
| where TimeGenerated > StartTime
| extend UserIdentityArn = iif(isempty(UserIdentityArn), tostring(parse_json(Resources)[0].ARN), UserIdentityArn)
| extend UserName = tostring(split(UserIdentityArn, '/')[-1])
| extend AccountName = case( UserIdentityPrincipalid == "Anonymous", "Anonymous", isempty(UserIdentityUserName), UserName, UserIdentityUserName)
| extend AccountName = iif(AccountName contains "@", tostring(split(AccountName, '@', 0)[0]), AccountName),
  AccountUPNSuffix = iif(AccountName contains "@", tostring(split(AccountName, '@', 1)[0]), "")

Declared entities

AccountIP

Related content

Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.

Source provenance

GitHub

Displayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.

Source identifier
b442b9e2-5cc4-4129-a85b-a5ef38a9e5f0
Additional source files 2Solutions/Amazon Web Services/Analytic Rules/AWS_S3Ransomware.yamlsource ↗Solutions/Amazon Web Services/Data/Solution_AmazonWebServices.jsonsolution-membership ↗
GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING

Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC

GSTEP sync dates, separate from the source content’s publication dates.