Analyzing Azure Activity Logs for Threats

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:

1. Role assignment changes (privilege escalation)
2. Resource group and subscription modifications
3. Key vault secret access from new IPs
4. Network security group rule changes
5. 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"
'''