Control: 2.3.1 Ensure the Account Provisioning Activity report is reviewed at least weekly

Description

The Account Provisioning Activity report details any account provisioning that was attempted by an external application.

If the organization doesn't usually use a third party provider to manage accounts, any entry on the list is likely illicit. However, if the organization uses a third party provider, it is recommended to monitor transaction volumes and look for new or unusual third party applications that may be managing users. If anything unusual is observed, the provider should be contacted to determine the legitimacy of the action.

Remediation

To review the Account Provisioning Activity report:

1. Navigate to Microsoft 365 Defender https://security.microsoft.com.
2. Click on Audit.
3. Set Activities to Added user for User administration activities.
4. Set Start Date and End Date.
5. Click Search.
6. Review.

To review Account Provisioning Activity report using PowerShell:

1. Connect to Exchange Online using Connect-ExchangeOnline.
2. Run the following Exchange Online PowerShell command:

$startDate = ((Get-date).AddDays(-7)).ToShortDateString()
$endDate = (Get-date).ToShortDateString()
Search-UnifiedAuditLog -StartDate $startDate -EndDate $endDate | Where-Object
{ $_.Operations -eq "add user." }

3. Review the output.