Analyzing Azure Activity Logs for Threats
When to Use
- When investigating security incidents that require analyzing azure activity logs for threats
- When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
- When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
- When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques
Prerequisites
- Familiarity with security operations concepts and tools
- Access to a test or lab environment for safe execution
- Python 3.8+ with required dependencies installed
- Appropriate authorization for any testing activities
Instructions
Use azure-monitor-query to execute KQL queries against Azure Log Analytics workspaces,
detecting suspicious admin operations and sign-in anomalies.
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.monitor.query import LogsQueryClient
from datetime import timedelta
credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
client = LogsQueryClient(credential)
response = client.query_workspace(
workspace_id="WORKSPACE_ID",
query="AzureActivity | where OperationNameValue has 'MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/ROLEASSIGNMENTS/WRITE' | take 10",
timespan=timedelta(hours=24),
)
Key detection queries:
- Role assignment changes (privilege escalation)
- Resource group and subscription modifications
- Key vault secret access from new IPs
- Network security group rule changes
- Conditional access policy modifications
Examples
# Detect new Global Admin role assignments
query = '''
AuditLogs
| where OperationName == "Add member to role"
| where TargetResources[0].modifiedProperties[0].newValue has "Global Administrator"
'''
