Analytics Informational
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Single account excessively locked out

A user has been locked out an unusually high number of times within a short timeframe. This could indicate an attempt to gain unauthorized access to the user's account.

Module:
Identity Analytics
Data source:
Windows Event Collector, XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)
ATT&CK tactics: Credential Access (TA0006)
ATT&CK techniques: Brute Force (T1110) Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003)
Attacker's goals:

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

Investigative actions:

Investigate the associated authentication attempts and login failures (e.g. 4740, 4625, 4776 events). Check if there were any successful authentications (event ID 4624). Determine if any programs have stored outdated credentials, causing account lockouts. Check recent user activity for unusual behavior, such as logins from unfamiliar locations or devices. Confirm whether the user's credentials have been compromised or leaked. Review if the account is enrolled in multifactor authentication (MFA). Find the computer responsible for the lockouts and verify if it exists on the domain. Monitor services that may be running with a user's credentials.

Test period:
1 Hour
Deduplication:
1 Day
1 variation:
  • Single suspicious account excessively locked out Low (parent: Informational)