# T1136 - Create Account

## SOC Recommendation
Investigate Create Account activity in the context of Persistence: confirm scope, affected host/identity, and whether it matches expected administrative behaviour before deciding this is benign.

## D3FEND Mappings
| D3FEND Technique | Relationship | Practical SOC Action |
|---|---|---|
| Local Account Monitoring | Detect | Monitor for Local Account Monitoring indicators relevant to this technique. |
| Agent Authentication | Harden | Apply Agent Authentication to reduce this technique's viability before an incident occurs. |
| Account Locking | Evict | Use Account Locking to remove the adversary's foothold once this technique is confirmed. |
| User Account Permissions | Isolate | Apply User Account Permissions to contain the blast radius once this technique is observed. |

## Investigation Steps
1. Review Defender for Endpoint / Defender XDR alerts and timeline for the affected host or identity.
2. Check Sentinel analytics rules and incidents correlated with this technique.
3. Review Entra ID sign-in and audit logs if the technique involves an identity or cloud resource.

## Evidence to Collect
- Host or resource affected
- Account or identity involved
- Timestamp of the activity
- Related process, file, or network artifact
- Any preceding or follow-on alerts

## Response Actions
| Action | Risk | Automation Safe | Approval Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disable the new account immediately | Medium | No | Yes |
| Investigate the creator account for further compromise | Low | No | Yes |
| Confirm with IT whether account creation was authorised | Low | Yes | No |

## KQL
```kql
SecurityEvent
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(5m)
| where EventID in (4720, 4732)
| extend NewAccount = tostring(TargetUserName)
| extend Creator = tostring(SubjectUserName)
| where Creator !in~ ("SYSTEM", "NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM")
| project
    TimeGenerated, Computer, Creator, NewAccount, EventID,
    Activity = iff(EventID == 4720, "Account Created", "Added to Admins Group")
| extend timestamp = TimeGenerated,
         HostCustomEntity = Computer,
         AccountCustomEntity = Creator
| order by TimeGenerated desc
```
```kql
(union isfuzzy=true
(SecurityEvent
| where EventID==4688
| where CommandLine has_any ("New-Mailbox","Update-RoleGroupMember") and CommandLine has "HealthMailbox55x2yq"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName = Computer, AccountName = SubjectUserName, AccountDomain = SubjectDomainName, ProcessName, ProcessNameFullPath = NewProcessName, EventID, Activity, CommandLine, EventSourceName, Type
| extend InitiatingProcessAccount = strcat(AccountDomain, "\\", AccountName)
),
(DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine has_any ("New-Mailbox","Update-RoleGroupMember") and ProcessCommandLine has "HealthMailbox55x2yq"
| extend timestamp = TimeGenerated, AccountDomain = InitiatingProcessAccountDomain, AccountName = InitiatingProcessAccountName
| extend InitiatingProcessAccount = strcat(AccountDomain, "\\", AccountName)
)
)
| extend HostName = tostring(split(DeviceName, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(DeviceName, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(DeviceName, DomainIndex + 1), DeviceName)
```
```kql
// High Severity - Attack Surface - Misconfiguration Detected
let timeFrame = 5m;
CyfirmaASConfigurationAlerts_CL
| where severity == 'Critical' and TimeGenerated between (ago(timeFrame) .. now())
| extend
    Description=description,
    FirstSeen=first_seen,
    LastSeen=last_seen,
    RiskScore=risk_score,
    Domain=sub_domain,
    TopDomain=top_domain,
    NetworkIP=ip,
    AlertUID=alert_uid,
    UID=uid,
    Softwares=software,
    WebAppFirewall=web_app_firewall,
    ClickJackingDefence=click_jacking_defence,
    ContentSecurityPolicy=content_security_policy,
    CookieXssProtection=cookie_xss_protection,
    DataInjectionDefence=data_injection_defence,
    DomainStatus=domain_status,
    MissingEPPCodes=missing_epp_codes,
    SecureCookie=secure_cookie,
    SetCookieHttpsOnly=set_cookie_https_only,
    XFrameOptions=x_frame_options,
    X_XssProtection=x_xss_protection,
    ProviderName='CYFIRMA',
    ProductName='DeCYFIR/DeTCT'
| project
    TimeGenerated,
    Description,
    Domain,
    TopDomain,
    RiskScore,
    FirstSeen,
    LastSeen,
    NetworkIP,
    AlertUID,
    UID,
    Softwares,
    WebAppFirewall,
    ClickJackingDefence,
    ContentSecurityPolicy,
    CookieXssProtection,
    DataInjectionDefence,
    DomainStatus,
    MissingEPPCodes,
    SecureCookie,
    SetCookieHttpsOnly,
    XFrameOptions,
    X_XssProtection,
    ProviderName,
    ProductName
```

## Escalation Criteria
- Create Account activity observed on a privileged account or critical system.
- Activity follows or precedes other suspicious behaviour in the same investigation.
- Automated triage cannot confidently rule out malicious intent.

## False Positive Considerations
- Legitimate administrative or maintenance activity matching this pattern.
- Approved security testing or red team exercise.
- Known benign software producing similar telemetry.

Generated by SOC Response Atlas by Basyrix.