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AWS EnableRegion Command Monitoring

Detects the use of the EnableRegion command in AWS CloudTrail logs. While AWS has 30+ regions, some of them are enabled by default, others must be explicitly enabled in each account separately. There may be situations where security monitoring does not cover some new AWS regions. Monitoring the EnableRegion command is important for identifying potential persistence mechanisms employed by adversaries, as enabling additional regions can facilitate continued access and operations within an AWS environment.

Detection Query

selection:
  eventName: EnableRegion
  eventSource: account.amazonaws.com
condition: selection

Author

Ivan Saakov, Sergey Zelenskiy

Created

2025-10-19

Data Sources

awscloudtrail

Platforms

aws

References

Tags

attack.persistence

Raw Content

title: AWS EnableRegion Command Monitoring
id: a5ffb6ea-c784-4e01-b30a-deb6e58ca2ab
status: experimental
description: |
    Detects the use of the EnableRegion command in AWS CloudTrail logs.
    While AWS has 30+ regions, some of them are enabled by default, others must be explicitly enabled in each account separately.
    There may be situations where security monitoring does not cover some new AWS regions.
    Monitoring the EnableRegion command is important for identifying potential persistence mechanisms employed by adversaries, as enabling additional regions can facilitate continued access and operations within an AWS environment.
references:
    - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/API_EnableRegion.html
    - https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/2.14.0/reference/account/enable-region.html
author: Ivan Saakov, Sergey Zelenskiy
date: 2025-10-19
tags:
    - attack.persistence
logsource:
    product: aws
    service: cloudtrail
detection:
    selection:
        eventName: 'EnableRegion'
        eventSource: 'account.amazonaws.com'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of the EnableRegion command by authorized administrators.
level: medium