Unfamiliar IAM user retrieved a decrypted AWS Systems Manager parameter

Goal

Detect when an IAM user retrieves a decrypted AWS Systems Manager parameter.

Strategy

This rule lets you monitor CloudTrail and detect when an IAM user retrieves a decrypted parameter from AWS Systems Manager using the GetParameters API calls

This rule uses the New Value detection method. Datadog learns the historical behavior of the identities within your environment, then creates a signal when unfamiliar values appear.

Triage & response

  1. Determine if {{@userIdentity.arn}} is expected to perform the {{@evt.name}} API call on the parameter {{@resource.ARN}}.
  2. If the action is legitimate, consider including the user in a suppression list. See Best practices for creating detection rules with Datadog Cloud SIEM for more information.
  3. Otherwise, if the results of the triage indicate that an attacker has taken the action, begin your company’s incident response process and an investigation.