> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/analytics-alerts/alerts-by-name/suspicious-objects-encryption-in-an-aws-bucket.md).

# Suspicious objects encryption in an AWS bucket

### Synopsis

| Field                | Value                                                            |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Activation Period    | 14 Days                                                          |
| Training Period      | 30 Days                                                          |
| Test Period          | 1 Hour                                                           |
| Deduplication Period | 1 Day                                                            |
| Required Data        | AWS Audit Log                                                    |
| Detection Modules    | Cloud                                                            |
| Detector Tags        | Cloud Data Asset Protection Tampering, Data Detection & Response |
| ATT\&CK Tactic       | Impact (TA0040)                                                  |
| ATT\&CK Technique    | Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486)                                |
| Severity             | High                                                             |

### Description

An AWS KMS key from a non-organization account was used to encrypt multiple objects in a bucket for the first time. This may indicate an attacker attempting to perform a ransomware attack against the organization's cloud environment.

### Attacker's Goals

* Gain monetary compensation in exchange for decryption or the decryption key.
* Permanently deny access to important storage objects.

### Investigative actions

* Check if the external KMS service is a legit encryption service.
* Check if the identity performed enumeration activity to detect insecure S3 buckets, which are configured without the versioning and MFA Delete mechanisms.
* Detect additional buckets that were encrypted using the same external KMS service.
* Disable the identity from which the external service was configured.
* Enable versioning on every critical bucket.
* Enable MFA Delete on every critical bucket.


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