↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleLow
User Account Created Using Incorrect Naming Format
Description
'This query looks for accounts being created where the name does not match a defined pattern.
Attackers may attempt to add accounts as a means of establishing persistant access to an environment, looking for anomalies in created accounts may help identify illegitimately created accounts.
Created accounts should be investigated to ensure they were legitimated created.
The user_regex field in the query needs to be populated with the expected pattern for the environment before deployment.
Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-user-accounts#accounts-not-following-naming-policies'
- Rule type
- Scheduled
- Version
- 1.1.0
- 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.
// Add the environments expected username format regex below before deploying
let user_regex = "";
AuditLogs
| where OperationName =~ "Add user"
| where Result =~ "success"
| extend userAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetails[0].value)
| extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
| extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
| extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
| extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
| extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
| extend InitiatedBy = tostring(iff(isnotempty(InitiatingUserPrincipalName),InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAppName))
| extend AddedUser = tostring(TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName)
| where AddedUser matches regex user_regex
| extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
| extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(AddedUser, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(AddedUser, "@")[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
ee55dc85-d2da-48c1-a6c0-3eaee62a8d56
Additional source files 1
Detections/AuditLogs/UserAccountCreatedUsingIncorrectNamingFormat.yamlsource ↗GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING
Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC