Classification:

attack

Tactic:

TA0006-credential-access

Technique:

T1555-credentials-from-password-stores

VIEW RULE IN DATADOG VIEW SIGNALS

Goal

Detect a user attempting to retrieve the encrypted Administrator password for a Windows EC2 instance.

Strategy

This rule allows you to monitor CloudTrail and detect if an attacker has attempted to retrieve the encrypted Administrator password for a Windows EC2 instance using the GetPasswordData API call.

Triage and response

1. Determine if {{@userIdentity.session_name}} should have made a {{@evt.name}} API call.
2. If the API call was not made by the user:

• Rotate user credentials.
• Determine what other API calls were made by the user.

3. If the API call was made by the user:

• Determine if this user should be accessing this EC2 instance.
• If Yes, advise the user to speak with the instance owner to resolve the error.
• If No, see if other API calls were made by the user and determine if they warrant further investigation.