Suspicious activity indicating a potential abuse of a cloud-native email service

Cortex XSIAM Analytics Alert Reference by Alert name

Product

Cortex XSIAM

Last date published

2026-01-04

Synopsis

Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	3 Hours
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	Requires one of the following data sources: AWS Audit Log OR Azure Audit Log
Detection Modules	Cloud
Detector Tags
ATT&CK Tactic	Execution (TA0002)
ATT&CK Technique	User Execution (T1204)
Severity	Low

Description

A cloud identity performed a sequence of activities which might indicate an intent to abuse the email service to send phishing or spam.

Attacker's Goals

Adversaries may use cloud-based email services to send phishing or spread malware, abusing legitimate email domains.

Investigative actions

Check if the identity intended to preform these actions, or look for signs that the user account is compromised (e.g. abnormal logins, unusual activity).

Variations

Suspicious activity indicating a potential abuse of a cloud-native email service involving discovery, weaponization, and impact

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic	Execution (TA0002)
ATT&CK Technique	User Execution (T1204)
Severity	High

Description

A cloud identity performed a sequence of activities which might indicate an intent to abuse the email service to send phishing or spam.
The behavior that was observed included discovery operations, attack preparation and actual email sending.
These activities might indicate an intent to abuse the email service to send phishing or spam.

Attacker's Goals

Adversaries may use cloud-based email services to send phishing or spread malware, abusing legitimate email domains.

Investigative actions

Check if the identity intended to preform these actions, or look for signs that the user account is compromised (e.g. abnormal logins, unusual activity).

Suspicious activity indicating a potential abuse of a cloud-native email service involving discovery and weaponization

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic	Execution (TA0002)
ATT&CK Technique	User Execution (T1204)
Severity	Medium

Description

A cloud identity performed a sequence of activities which might indicate an intent to abuse the email service to send phishing or spam.
The behavior that was observed included discovery operations and attack weaponization.
These activities might indicate an intent to abuse the email service to send phishing or spam.

Attacker's Goals

Adversaries may use cloud-based email services to send phishing or spread malware, abusing legitimate email domains.

Investigative actions

Check if the identity intended to preform these actions, or look for signs that the user account is compromised (e.g. abnormal logins, unusual activity).