IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Google Workspace Password Policy Modified

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Google Workspace Password Policy Modified

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Detects when a Google Workspace password policy is modified. An adversary may attempt to modify a password policy in order to weaken an organization’s security controls.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

filebeat-*
logs-google_workspace*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 10 minutes

Searches indices from: now-130m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

Elastic
Cloud
Google Workspace
Continuous Monitoring
SecOps
Identity and Access
Persistence

Version: 15 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Potential false positives

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Password policies may be modified by system administrators. Verify that the configuration change was expected. Exceptions can be added to this rule to filter expected behavior.

Investigation guide

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### Important Information Regarding Google Workspace Event Lag Times
- As per Google's documentation, Google Workspace administrators may observe lag times ranging from minutes up to 3 days between the time of an event's occurrence and the event being visible in the Google Workspace admin/audit logs.
- This rule is configured to run every 10 minutes with a lookback time of 130 minutes.
- To reduce the risk of false negatives, consider reducing the interval that the Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) Filebeat module polls Google's reporting API for new events.
- By default, `var.interval` is set to 2 hours (2h). Consider changing this interval to a lower value, such as 10 minutes (10m).
- See the following references for further information:
  - https://support.google.com/a/answer/7061566
  - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-module-google_workspace.html

Rule query

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event.dataset:google_workspace.admin and event.provider:admin and
event.category:iam and event.action:(CHANGE_APPLICATION_SETTING or
CREATE_APPLICATION_SETTING) and
google_workspace.admin.setting.name:( "Password Management -
Enforce strong password" or "Password Management - Password reset
frequency" or "Password Management - Enable password reuse" or
"Password Management - Enforce password policy at next login" or
"Password Management - Minimum password length" or "Password
Management - Maximum password length" )

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Account Manipulation
- ID: T1098
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/

Rule version history

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Version 15 (8.4.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 13 (8.3.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 11 (8.2.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 7 (8.0.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.dataset:(gsuite.admin or google_workspace.admin) and
event.provider:admin and event.category:iam and
event.action:(CHANGE_APPLICATION_SETTING or
CREATE_APPLICATION_SETTING) and gsuite.admin.setting.name:(
"Password Management - Enforce strong password" or "Password
Management - Password reset frequency" or "Password Management -
Enable password reuse" or "Password Management - Enforce password
policy at next login" or "Password Management - Minimum password
length" or "Password Management - Maximum password length" ) or
google_workspace.admin.setting.name:( "Password Management -
Enforce strong password" or "Password Management - Password reset
frequency" or "Password Management - Enable password reuse" or
"Password Management - Enforce password policy at next login" or
"Password Management - Minimum password length" or "Password
Management - Maximum password length" )

Version 6 (7.15.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 5 (7.14.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.dataset:(gsuite.admin or google_workspace.admin) and
event.provider:admin and event.category:iam and
event.action:(CHANGE_APPLICATION_SETTING or
CREATE_APPLICATION_SETTING) and gsuite.admin.setting.name:( "Password
Management - Enforce strong password" or "Password Management -
Password reset frequency" or "Password Management - Enable password
reuse" or "Password Management - Enforce password policy at next
login" or "Password Management - Minimum password length" or "Password
Management - Maximum password length" )

Version 4 (7.13.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 3 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 2 (7.11.2 release)

Formatting only

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