Detection of Adversary Use of Unused or Unsupported Cloud Regions (IaaS)

ID: DET0247
Domains: Enterprise
Analytics: AN0690
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 October 2025
Last Modified: 21 October 2025

Analytics

AN0690

Detects creation of cloud instances, services, or resources in normally unused or unsupported regions, especially following initial account access or credential use from known regions. Correlates resource provisioning across regions with absence of historical usage and alerting from standard logging services (e.g., GuardDuty not enabled in that region).

Log Sources
Data Component Name Channel
Instance Start (DC0080) CloudTrail:RunInstances RunInstances
Cloud Storage Creation (DC0024) AWS:CloudTrail CreateBucket
User Account Metadata (DC0013) CloudTrail:GetCallerIdentity GetCallerIdentity
Network Connection Creation (DC0082) AWS:VPCFlowLogs High outbound traffic from new region resource
Mutable Elements
Field Description
UnusedRegionList List of regions historically unused by the organization (can vary per tenant/project)
TimeWindow Time interval for correlating activity following account access
AllowedServiceList Whitelist of services allowed in secondary/DR regions
OutboundTrafficThreshold Volume threshold to flag suspicious outbound activity