T1213 Google Chronicle · YARA-L

Detect Data from Information Repositories in Google Chronicle

Adversaries may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information. Information repositories are tools that allow for storage of information, typically to facilitate collaboration or information sharing between users, and can store a wide variety of data that may aid adversaries in further objectives, such as Credential Access, Lateral Movement, or Defense Evasion. Targets include SharePoint, Confluence, code repositories, CRM systems, databases, and messaging platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. Adversaries may harvest credentials, network diagrams, system architecture documentation, PII, or source code from these repositories. Cloud-native services (AWS RDS, ElasticSearch, Redis) may also be improperly secured, enabling unauthenticated access to sensitive data stores.

MITRE ATT&CK

Tactic
Collection
Technique
T1213 Data from Information Repositories
Canonical reference
https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1213/

YARA-L Detection Query

Google Chronicle (YARA-L)
yaral
rule t1213_data_from_information_repositories {
  meta:
    author = "Argus Detection Engineering"
    description = "Detects bulk file access/download from SharePoint or OneDrive exceeding 50 operations per hour, sensitive keyword searches, and bulk external sharing — indicators of adversarial data mining from information repositories (T1213)"
    mitre_attack_tactic = "Collection"
    mitre_attack_technique = "T1213"
    mitre_attack_subtechnique = "T1213.002"
    severity = "HIGH"
    confidence = "MEDIUM"
    created = "2024-01-01"
    version = "1.0"

  events:
    $e.metadata.event_type = "USER_RESOURCE_ACCESS"
    $e.metadata.product_name = /(?i)sharepoint|onedrive|office 365/
    $e.target.application = /(?i)sharepoint|onedrive/
    $e.metadata.product_event_type = /(?i)FileDownloaded|FileSyncDownloadedFull|FileAccessed|FilePreviewed|FileSyncUploadedFull/
    $e.principal.user.userid = $user
    $e.metadata.event_timestamp.seconds > 0

  match:
    $user over 1h

  outcome:
    $operation_count = count_distinct($e.metadata.product_event_type)
    $unique_files = count_distinct($e.target.url)
    $source_ips = array_distinct($e.principal.ip)
    $risk_level = if($operation_count >= 500, "Critical",
                   if($operation_count >= 200, "High",
                   if($operation_count >= 50, "Medium", "Low")))

  condition:
    #e >= 50
}

// Companion rule for sensitive keyword searches:
// rule t1213_sensitive_keyword_search {
//   meta:
//     description = "Detects sensitive keyword searches in SharePoint indicative of credential or architecture harvesting"
//     mitre_attack_technique = "T1213"
//   events:
//     $e.metadata.event_type = "USER_RESOURCE_ACCESS"
//     $e.metadata.product_name = /(?i)sharepoint/
//     $e.metadata.product_event_type = "SearchQueryPerformed"
//     $e.target.resource.name = /(?i)password|credential|secret|vpn|api.key|private.key|connection.string|network.diagram|architecture|payroll|salary/
//     $e.principal.user.userid = $user
//   match:
//     $user over 1h
//   condition:
//     #e >= 3
// }
high severity medium confidence

Chronicle YARA-L 2.0 rule detecting data mining from SharePoint/OneDrive information repositories. Triggers on 50 or more file access/download events within a rolling 1-hour window per user using UDM normalized fields. A companion rule variant covers sensitive keyword searches. Maps to MITRE ATT&CK T1213.002 (SharePoint).

Data Sources

Google Chronicle with Microsoft Office 365 log ingestionChronicle UDM normalization for O365 Management Activity

Required Tables

USER_RESOURCE_ACCESS UDM events

False Positives & Tuning

  • Automated ETL or reporting pipelines that programmatically access large sets of SharePoint documents on a scheduled basis for business intelligence reporting
  • Onboarding workflows where new employees or contractors perform initial bulk synchronization of shared document libraries to local devices
  • Third-party document management integrations (DocuSign, Adobe Sign, Salesforce) that access SharePoint files in bulk during contract processing or CRM synchronization workflows
Download portable Sigma rule (.yml)

Other platforms for T1213


Testing Methodology

Validate this detection against 4 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.

  1. Test 1Bulk SharePoint Document Download via PnP PowerShell

    Expected signal: OfficeActivity events: Operation=FileDownloaded for each downloaded file, Workload=SharePoint, UserId=authenticated user UPN, ClientIP=executing machine IP. Azure AD SigninLogs: interactive authentication event for the SharePoint OAuth flow. Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create for powershell.exe with PnP module loading.

  2. Test 2SharePoint Sensitive Keyword Search via REST API

    Expected signal: OfficeActivity events: Operation=SearchQueryPerformed for each API search call, with SearchQuery field containing the sensitive keyword, Workload=SharePoint, UserId=authenticated user. Multiple events in quick succession for each term searched.

  3. Test 3Confluence REST API Page Enumeration and Export

    Expected signal: Confluence access logs (atlassian-confluence.log): GET requests to /wiki/rest/api/space and /wiki/rest/api/search endpoints with user authentication. If Confluence audit logging is enabled: search events appear in Administration > Audit Log. Network proxy logs: HTTP requests to the Confluence FQDN with search query parameters visible in URL.

  4. Test 4Microsoft Teams Message Export via Graph API

    Expected signal: OfficeActivity events: Operation=MessageRead or similar Teams audit events, Workload=MicrosoftTeams. Azure AD SigninLogs: token acquisition for Graph API with Teams scopes. AuditLogs: Microsoft Graph API calls for Team and ChannelMessage read operations. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps: Graph API activity anomaly if CASB is configured.

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