T1619

Cloud Storage Object Discovery

This detection identifies adversary enumeration of cloud storage objects across AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, and GCP Cloud Storage. Attackers use native cloud APIs (e.g., ListObjectsV2 for S3, List Blobs for Azure) to survey accessible buckets and containers, typically as a precursor to data staging or exfiltration. The detection looks for anomalous listing activity including high-volume object enumeration, access from unexpected identities or IPs, enumeration across multiple buckets in short time windows, and listing operations performed by service principals or IAM roles outside their expected behavioral baseline. Tools such as Pacu and Peirates are known to automate these enumeration workflows.

Microsoft Sentinel / Defender
kusto
let LookbackWindow = 1h;
let HighVolumeThreshold = 50;
let UniqueBucketThreshold = 5;
// AWS S3 enumeration via CloudTrail
let AWSS3Discovery = AWSCloudTrail
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(LookbackWindow)
| where EventName in ("ListBuckets", "ListObjects", "ListObjectsV2", "ListObjectVersions", "ListMultipartUploads", "GetBucketAcl", "GetBucketPolicy", "GetBucketLocation")
| extend UserIdentity = coalesce(UserIdentityArn, UserIdentityUserName, UserIdentityPrincipalid)
| summarize
    OperationCount = count(),
    UniqueBuckets = dcount(tostring(RequestParameters)),
    Operations = make_set(EventName),
    SourceIPs = make_set(SourceIpAddress),
    AWSRegions = make_set(AWSRegion),
    FirstSeen = min(TimeGenerated),
    LastSeen = max(TimeGenerated)
    by UserIdentity, UserIdentityType, UserAgent, bin(TimeGenerated, 10m)
| where OperationCount > HighVolumeThreshold or UniqueBuckets > UniqueBucketThreshold
| extend Platform = "AWS", Severity = iff(OperationCount > 200 or UniqueBuckets > 20, "High", "Medium")
| project TimeGenerated, Platform, UserIdentity, UserIdentityType, UserAgent, OperationCount, UniqueBuckets, Operations, SourceIPs, AWSRegions, FirstSeen, LastSeen, Severity;
// Azure Blob Storage enumeration
let AzureBlobDiscovery = StorageBlobLogs
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(LookbackWindow)
| where OperationName in ("ListBlobs", "ListContainers", "GetContainerProperties", "GetBlobServiceProperties", "ListBlobsFlatSegment", "ListBlobsHierarchySegment")
| summarize
    OperationCount = count(),
    UniqueContainers = dcount(Uri),
    Operations = make_set(OperationName),
    SourceIPs = make_set(CallerIpAddress),
    Accounts = make_set(AccountName),
    FirstSeen = min(TimeGenerated),
    LastSeen = max(TimeGenerated)
    by AuthenticationType, RequesterObjectId, UserAgentHeader, bin(TimeGenerated, 10m)
| where OperationCount > HighVolumeThreshold or UniqueContainers > UniqueBucketThreshold
| extend
    Platform = "Azure",
    Severity = iff(OperationCount > 200 or UniqueContainers > 20, "High", "Medium"),
    UserIdentity = coalesce(RequesterObjectId, "Anonymous"),
    UserAgent = UserAgentHeader,
    AWSRegions = dynamic([])
| project TimeGenerated, Platform, UserIdentity, AuthenticationType, UserAgent, OperationCount, UniqueContainers, Operations, SourceIPs, Accounts, FirstSeen, LastSeen, Severity;
// Union and surface results
AWSS3Discovery
| union AzureBlobDiscovery
| sort by OperationCount desc
high severity medium confidence

Data Sources

AWS CloudTrail (via Microsoft Sentinel AWSCloudTrail connector) Azure Storage Analytics / Diagnostic Logs (StorageBlobLogs)

Required Tables

AWSCloudTrail StorageBlobLogs

False Positives

  • Legitimate cloud-native backup solutions (e.g., Veeam, AWS Backup, Azure Backup) that enumerate storage objects on a schedule
  • Data lake or ETL pipeline services (Azure Data Factory, AWS Glue) that list objects as part of normal pipeline execution
  • Security posture management tools (Prisma Cloud, Wiz, AWS Security Hub) performing periodic storage inventory scans
  • DevOps CI/CD pipelines that sync or audit S3/Blob content as part of deployment workflows
  • Cloud cost optimization tools (CloudHealth, Spot.io) enumerating storage for billing analysis

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