First VPN access attempt from a country in organization

Cortex XDR Analytics Alert Reference by Alert name

Product

Cortex XDR

Last date published

2024-10-08

Synopsis

Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	Requires one of the following data sources: Palo Alto Networks Global Protect OR Third-Party VPNs
Detection Modules	Identity Analytics
Detector Tags
ATT&CK Tactic	Credential Access (TA0006) Resource Development (TA0042)
ATT&CK Technique	Compromise Accounts (T1586) Brute Force: Password Guessing (T1110.001)
Severity	Informational

Description

A user attempted to connect from an unusual country that no one from this organization has connected from before. This may indicate the account was compromised.

Attacker's Goals

Use an account that was possibly compromised to gain access to the network.

Investigative actions

See whether the service authentication was successful.
Confirm that the activity is benign (e.g. the user has switched locations and providers).
Verify if the country is an approved country to connect from.
Follow further actions done by the user.

Variations

First successful VPN access from a country in organization

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

ATT&CK Technique

Severity

Low

Description

A user successfully connected from an unusual country that no one from this organization has connected from before. This may indicate the account was compromised.

Attacker's Goals

Use an account that was possibly compromised to gain access to the network.

Investigative actions

See whether the service authentication was successful.
Confirm that the activity is benign (e.g. the user has switched locations and providers).
Verify if the country is an approved country to connect from.
Follow further actions done by the user.