AWS Backup Recovery Point Deleted by Unusual User

Description

Identifies when an unusual user deletes an AWS Backup recovery point via DeleteRecoveryPoint. A recovery point is a stored backup of a protected resource (EBS, RDS, DynamoDB, EFS, S3, and others). Deleting recovery points removes the ability to restore the associated data and is a core anti-recovery technique used in ransomware and data-destruction attacks to ensure victims cannot recover without paying or rebuilding. Routine lifecycle expirations are performed by the AWS Backup service itself; deletion by a non-service principal is rare and should be reviewed. This is a New Terms rule that uses "cloud.account.id", "user.name", and "aws.cloudtrail.flattened.request_parameters.backupVaultName" to alert on the first time a given identity in an account successfully deletes a recovery point from a specific backup vault within the history window.

Detection logic

Its licence does not clear it for publishing here

Sunturai publishes a detection's own text where the licence it arrived under has been reviewed and permits it, and Elastic License 2.0 has not. The query as its source wrote it, its canonical form and the hash that pins this revision are in the workspace record.

Detection requirements

Platform: Containers ESXi IaaS Linux macOS Network Devices Windows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
Log source category: event_index

Known benign triggers

Backup, platform, or infrastructure-as-code teams may delete recovery points during retention cleanup, migration, or decommissioning. Verify the principal in "aws.cloudtrail.user_identity.arn", the affected recovery point and vault in "aws.cloudtrail.request_parameters", and whether the deletion aligns with an approved change. Known administration roles can be excluded after validation.

References

Links the source published beside this detection. Reference is the link the source wrote, unmodified. Class is decided by this catalogue from the host and path, not stated by the source. Cited by counts published detections citing the same resource, including this one, and the sources beneath it count the repositories this catalogue ingests, which is not the same as independent research.
Reference	Class	Cited by
docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-backup/latest/devguide/API_DeleteRecoveryPoint.html	Product documentation	Only this detection cites it
docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-backup/latest/devguide/vault-lock.html	Product documentation	2

Detection rules

AWS Backup Recovery Point Deleted by Unusual User

Description

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Known benign triggers

MITRE ATT&CK mappings

References

From the source

Licence

Authorship

Detection rules