Unusual access to the AD Sync credential files

Synopsis

Field	Value
Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)
Detection Modules	Cloud
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK Technique	Credentials from Password Stores (T1555)
Severity	Informational

Description

The AD Sync credential files were accessed in an unusual way.

Attacker's Goals

• Extracting and decrypting stored Azure AD and Active Directory credentials from Azure AD Connect servers.

Investigative actions

• See whether this was a legitimate action.
• Follow the causality chain/user/host activities.
• Follow unusual actions of the AD Sync user.
• Check for remote SMB connections to the agent.
• Check for unusual Azure AD authentications.
• Check if this happened on other endpoints.
• Check for unusual logins.

Variations

Suspicious process access to the AD Sync credential files

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK Technique	Credentials from Password Stores (T1555)
Severity	Medium

Description

The AD Sync credential files were accessed in an unusual way.

Attacker's Goals

• Extracting and decrypting stored Azure AD and Active Directory credentials from Azure AD Connect servers.

Investigative actions

• See whether this was a legitimate action.
• Follow the causality chain/user/host activities.
• Follow unusual actions of the AD Sync user.
• Check for remote SMB connections to the agent.
• Check for unusual Azure AD authentications.
• Check if this happened on other endpoints.
• Check for unusual logins.

An abnormal process accessed the AD Sync credential files

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK Technique	Credentials from Password Stores (T1555)
Severity	Low

Description

The AD Sync credential files were accessed in an unusual way.

Attacker's Goals

• Extracting and decrypting stored Azure AD and Active Directory credentials from Azure AD Connect servers.

Investigative actions

• See whether this was a legitimate action.
• Follow the causality chain/user/host activities.
• Follow unusual actions of the AD Sync user.
• Check for remote SMB connections to the agent.
• Check for unusual Azure AD authentications.
• Check if this happened on other endpoints.
• Check for unusual logins.