Multiple URL Entity Syslog
Query
// This query assumes a feed of threat indicators is ingested/synchronized periodically, and each synchronization ingests new indicators and only old indicators that have been modified.
// Active threat indicators in Sentinel are renovated as ThreatIntelligenceIndicator events every ~12 days.
let query_frequency = 1h;
let query_period = 14d;
let query_wait = 0h;
let table_query_lookback = 2d;
let _TIBenignProperty =
_GetWatchlist('ID-TIBenignProperty')
| where Notes has_any ("[URL]")
| project IndicatorId, BenignProperty
;
let _TIExcludedSources = toscalar(
_GetWatchlist('Activity-ExpectedSignificantActivity')
| where Activity == "ThreatIndicatorSource"
| summarize make_list(Auxiliar)
);
let _URLRegex = toscalar(
_GetWatchlist('RegEx-SingleRegularExpressions')
| where UseCase == "Threat Intelligence Indicator URL"
| project RegEx
);
let _TITableMatch = (table_start: datetime, table_end: datetime, only_new_ti: boolean, ti_start: datetime = datetime(null)) {
// Scheduled Analytics rules have a query period limit of 14d
let _Indicators =// materialize(
ThreatIntelligenceIndicator
| where TimeGenerated > ago(query_period)
// Take the earliest TimeGenerated and the latest column info
| summarize hint.strategy=shuffle
minTimeGenerated = min(TimeGenerated),
arg_max(TimeGenerated, Active, Description, ActivityGroupNames, IndicatorId, ThreatType, DomainName, Url, ExpirationDateTime, ConfidenceScore, AdditionalInformation, ExternalIndicatorId)
by IndicatorId
// Remove inactive or expired indicators
| where not(not(Active) or ExpirationDateTime < now())
// Pick indicators that contain the desired entity type
| where isnotempty(Url)
| extend Url = trim_end(@"\/", Url)
// Remove indicators from specific sources
| where not(AdditionalInformation has_any (_TIExcludedSources) or Description has_any (_TIExcludedSources))
// Remove excluded indicators with benign properties
| join kind=leftanti _TIBenignProperty on IndicatorId, $left.Url == $right.BenignProperty
// Deduplicate indicators by Url column, equivalent to using join kind=innerunique afterwards
| summarize hint.strategy=shuffle
minTimeGenerated = min(minTimeGenerated),
take_any(*)
by Url
// If we want only new indicators, remove indicators received previously
| where not(only_new_ti and minTimeGenerated < ti_start)
//)
;
//let _IndicatorsLength = toscalar(_Indicators | summarize count());
//let _IndicatorsPrefilter = toscalar(
// _Indicators
// | extend AuxiliarField = tostring(split(extract(_URLRegex, 3, Url), ".")[-1])
// | summarize make_set_if(AuxiliarField, isnotempty(AuxiliarField), 10000)
//);
//let _IndicatorsPrefilterLength = array_length(_IndicatorsPrefilter);
let _TableEvents =
Syslog
| where TimeGenerated between (table_start .. table_end)
// Filter events that may contain indicators
| where isnotempty(SyslogMessage)
//| where not(_IndicatorsPrefilterLength < 10000 and not(SyslogMessage has_any (_IndicatorsPrefilter))) // valid TLD ~1500 , "has_any" limit 10000
| extend Urls = todynamic(dynamic_to_json(extract_all(_URLRegex, dynamic([1]), SyslogMessage)))
| mv-expand Url = Urls to typeof(string)
| where isnotempty(Url)
| extend Url = trim_end(@"\/", Url)
//| where not(_IndicatorsLength < 1000000 and not(Url in (toscalar(_Indicators | summarize make_list(Url))))) // "in" limit 1.000.000
| project-rename Syslog_TimeGenerated = TimeGenerated
;
_Indicators
| join kind=inner hint.strategy=shuffle _TableEvents on Url
// Take only a single event by key columns
//| summarize hint.strategy=shuffle take_any(*) by Url, HostName
| project
Syslog_TimeGenerated,
Description, ActivityGroupNames, IndicatorId, ThreatType, DomainName, Url, ExpirationDateTime, ConfidenceScore, AdditionalInformation,
HostName, HostIP, Facility, SeverityLevel, ProcessName, SyslogMessage
};
union// isfuzzy=true
// Match current table events all indicators available
_TITableMatch(ago(query_frequency + query_wait), ago(query_wait), false),
// Match past table events new indicators since last query execution
_TITableMatch(ago(table_query_lookback + query_wait), ago(query_frequency + query_wait), true, ago(query_frequency))
| summarize arg_max(Syslog_TimeGenerated, *) by IndicatorId, HostName
| extend
timestamp = Syslog_TimeGenerated,
HostCustomEntity = HostName,
IPCustomEntity = HostIP,
URLCustomEntity = UrlExplanation
This query is designed to identify and correlate threat indicators with system log events in Microsoft Sentinel. Here's a simplified breakdown of what it does:
-
Setup and Definitions:
- It defines several parameters and helper functions to control the query's behavior, such as how often it runs (
query_frequency), the period it covers (query_period), and how far back it looks for table events (table_query_lookback). - It retrieves lists of benign properties and excluded sources from watchlists to filter out non-threatening indicators.
- It defines several parameters and helper functions to control the query's behavior, such as how often it runs (
-
Threat Indicator Processing:
- It fetches threat indicators from the
ThreatIntelligenceIndicatortable, focusing on active and non-expired indicators that contain URLs. - It filters out indicators from certain sources and those with benign properties.
- It ensures only unique indicators are considered by deduplicating based on the URL.
- It fetches threat indicators from the
-
Syslog Event Processing:
- It extracts URLs from
Syslogevents within specified time frames. - It matches these URLs against the threat indicators to find potential threats.
- It extracts URLs from
-
Correlation and Output:
- It performs two main correlation tasks:
- Matches current syslog events with all available threat indicators.
- Matches past syslog events with new threat indicators since the last query execution.
- It summarizes the results to show the most recent syslog event for each indicator and host combination.
- It extends the output with custom entities for easier analysis in Sentinel.
- It performs two main correlation tasks:
In essence, this query helps identify potential security threats by correlating threat intelligence data with system log events, filtering out known benign or irrelevant indicators, and highlighting the most recent occurrences of these threats.
Details

Jose Sebastián Canós
Released: December 13, 2023
Tables
ThreatIntelligenceIndicatorSyslog
Keywords
ThreatIntelligenceIndicatorSyslogWatchlistActivityGroupNamesIndicatorIdThreatTypeDomainNameUrlExpirationDateTimeConfidenceScoreAdditionalInformationHostNameHostIPFacilitySeverityLevelProcessNameSyslogMessage
Operators
lethas_anyprojecttoscalarwheresummarizemake_listtrim_endjoinkind=leftantion$left$righttake_anybetweenextendtodynamicdynamic_to_jsonextract_allmv-expandproject-renameunionarg_maxby