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AWS EC2 CreateKeyPair by New Principal from Non-Cloud AS Organization

Identifies the first time a given IAM principal successfully creates an EC2 key pair when the request is sourced from a network whose autonomous system organization is not attributed to common cloud or hyperscaler…

Description

Identifies the first time a given IAM principal successfully creates an EC2 key pair when the request is sourced from a network whose autonomous system organization is not attributed to common cloud or hyperscaler providers in your GeoIP data. Adversaries may call CreateKeyPair to stage SSH access material before launching or accessing instances. A new terms baseline on `user_identity.arn` suppresses repeated noise from the same principal while still surfacing the initial suspicious creation from an unusual egress label.

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
ContainersESXiIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 3 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.

Log source category
event_index

Known benign triggers

  • Engineers creating key pairs from home ISP, corporate VPN, or colocation AS names will match until baselined. GeoIP databases vary by vendor; organization labels may differ slightly from the excluded strings (for example alternate Amazon or Google legal names). Tune exclusions on `source.as.organization.name` or principal ARN after validation.

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