RetailShield

A retail threat detection and incident response content pack for Microsoft Sentinel.

RetailShield provides KQL analytics rules, Azure Logic App playbooks, and a Sentinel workbook — all purpose-built for the retail threat landscape and deployable directly on top of a Microsoft Sentinel workspace.

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Table of Contents

1. What this is / What this is not
2. Why retail needs its own rules
3. Architecture
4. Content overview
5. MITRE ATT&CK coverage
6. Folder structure
7. Quick start
8. Contributing
9. Author
10. License

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What this is / What this is not

This IS	A content pack for Microsoft Sentinel — KQL detection rules, Logic App playbooks, and a workbook that you deploy into your existing Sentinel workspace
This IS	Opinionated detection logic tuned to retail-specific TTPs: POS RAM scraping, gift card fraud, supply chain compromise, AI voice fraud, MFA fatigue
This IS	Mapped to MITRE ATT&CK and linked to automated response playbooks so alerts trigger containment actions
This IS NOT	A standalone SIEM, SOC platform, or replacement for Microsoft Sentinel
This IS NOT	A generic threat detection library — rules are explicitly tuned for retail environments
This IS NOT	A managed service — you own the deployment and tuning in your own Azure tenant

Microsoft Sentinel is the SIEM/SOAR platform. RetailShield is the retail-specific content that runs on top of it.

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Why retail needs its own rules

Retail is the most breach-targeted industry in the UK and globally. The consequences are no longer just reputational — they are existential.

Incident	Organisation	Impact
Supply-chain ransomware (2025)	Marks & Spencer	£300 M operating-profit loss; online sales suspended for weeks
Coordinated social engineering (2025)	Co-op	Customer data exfiltrated; stores disrupted
Data exfiltration via third-party (2018)	Nike	1.4 TB of customer & IP data exposed
Point-of-Sale malware	Multiple UK retailers	Millions of payment cards compromised
Insider fraud	Retail sector average	£1,000+ loss per employee per year (CIFAS 2024)

Retailers face a unique attack surface: fragmented POS networks, seasonal workforce spikes, large third-party supplier ecosystems, and high-volume transaction data that masks malicious activity. Generic Sentinel rules produce alert fatigue without retail-specific context.

RetailShield closes that gap.

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Architecture

                      RETAILSHIELD
    Retail-specific threat detection & automated response
             built natively for Microsoft Sentinel

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. RETAIL DATA SOURCES                                          │
│ POS/Till · Identity (Azure AD) · Email/M365 · Network/Firewall │
│ Endpoints · Supply Chain & Suppliers                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INGESTION → Microsoft Sentinel Log Analytics Workspace          │
│ Standard tables + custom POS table (HMAC-SHA256 signed)         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2. DETECTION — 20 KQL rules mapped to MITRE ATT&CK             │
│                                                                 │
│ Retail-specific (14): gift-card fraud · POS void/refund ·      │
│ credential stuffing · MFA fatigue · phishing · ransomware ·    │
│ supplier compromise · data exfil · AI voice fraud · POS        │
│ anomaly · privileged role abuse · after-hours · impossible      │
│ travel · TLS downgrade (PCI)                                    │
│                                                                 │
│ Generic SOC (6): brute force · bulk file access · C2 beacon ·  │
│ DNS exfil · RDP lateral movement · suspicious PowerShell        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
               Sentinel correlates alerts → INCIDENT (IP · account · host)
                                │
                                ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3. AUTOMATED RESPONSE & MITIGATION — 8 Logic App playbooks     │
│                                                                 │
│  ┌────────────────┐  ┌────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐  │
│  │    STEP 1      │──▶    STEP 2      │──▶     STEP 3       │  │
│  │   Triage &     │  │   Contain /    │  │  UK Compliance   │  │
│  │    Enrich      │  │    Mitigate    │  │    Assistant     │  │
│  │                │  │                │  │                  │  │
│  │  classify +    │  │   block IP ·   │  │  NCSC 24h +      │  │
│  │  severity ·    │  │ disable acct · │  │  ICO 72h tracking│  │
│  │  threat-intel  │  │ isolate host   │  │  · drafts report │  │
│  │ (VT/AbuseIPDB) │  │   (Defender)   │  │  (assists human) │  │
│  └────────────────┘  └────────────────┘  └──────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

MODULES: [Threat Detection: LIVE] [Compliance Centre: LIVE] [Vulnerability Scanner: LIVE]
         [Loss Prevention: PLANNED] [ChainShield: PLANNED]

Validated in a controlled lab · published methodology (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20608262) · avg ~22 min MTTD
A Sentinel-native content pack — not a standalone SIEM.

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Content overview

Content type	Count	Description
KQL Analytics Rules	13 retail + 6 generic	Scheduled analytics rules covering POS fraud, ransomware, exfiltration, identity abuse, supply chain, voice fraud
Logic App Playbooks	3	Triage & classify, threat-intel enrichment (AbuseIPDB / VirusTotal), containment (block IP / disable account / isolate host)
Sentinel Workbook	1	Live incident feed, TTP heatmap, analyst KPIs
Watchlists	5	RetailIOCWatchlist, RetailApprovedSenders, AbuseIPDBWatchlist, RetailSupplierAccounts, RetailServiceAccounts
Hunting Queries	Planned	Proactive threat hunting queries for retail TTPs

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MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Retail rules

Tactic	Technique ID	Technique Name	Detection Rule	Playbook
Initial Access	T1566.001	Spearphishing Attachment	retail/phishing_detection.kql	quarantine_email
Collection	T1056.001	Input Capture — Keylogging	retail/pos_anomaly.kql	suspend_terminal
Collection	T1056.001	Input Capture — Keylogging	retail/pos_void_refund.kql	notify_soc
Impact	T1657	Financial Theft	retail/gift_card_fraud.kql	notify_soc
Reconnaissance	T1598	Phishing for Information	retail/ai_voice_fraud.kql	notify_soc
Credential Access	T1621	MFA Request Generation	retail/mfa_fatigue.kql	block_ip
Credential Access	T1110.004	Credential Stuffing	retail/credential_stuffing.kql	block_ip
Persistence	T1078	Valid Accounts	retail/after_hours_access.kql	notify_soc
Exfiltration	T1048	Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol	retail/data_exfiltration.kql	data_exfil_contain
Impact	T1486	Data Encrypted for Impact	retail/ransomware_indicator.kql	isolate_endpoint
Initial Access	T1195	Supply Chain Compromise	retail/supply_chain_anomaly.kql	notify_soc
Initial Access	T1199 / T1078	Trusted Relationship / Valid Accounts	retail/supplier_impossible_travel.kql	notify_soc
Persistence	T1098 / T1078	Account Manipulation / Valid Accounts	retail/privileged_role_addition.kql	notify_soc

Generic rules

Tactic	Technique ID	Technique Name	Detection Rule	Playbook
Credential Access	T1110	Brute Force	generic/brute-force-login.kql	—
Collection	T1005	Data from Local System	generic/bulk-file-access.kql	—
Command and Control	T1041	Exfiltration Over C2 Channel	generic/c2-beacon.kql	—
Exfiltration	T1048	Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol	generic/dns-exfil.kql	—
Lateral Movement	T1021.001	Remote Desktop Protocol	generic/rdp-lateral-movement.kql	—
Execution	T1059.001	Command and Scripting Interpreter — PowerShell	generic/suspicious-powershell.kql	—

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Folder structure

RetailShield/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── ci.yml                          # GitHub Actions CI pipeline
│
├── detection-rules/
│   ├── retail/                             # Retail-specific KQL analytics rules
│   │   ├── phishing_detection.kql          # RS-PHI-001 — T1566.001 — High
│   │   ├── pos_anomaly.kql                 # RS-POS-001 — T1056.001 — High
│   │   ├── pos_void_refund.kql             # RS-POS-002 — T1056.001 — High
│   │   ├── gift_card_fraud.kql             # RS-GCF-001 — T1657    — High
│   │   ├── ai_voice_fraud.kql              # RS-VOI-001 — T1598    — High
│   │   ├── mfa_fatigue.kql                 # RS-MFA-001 — T1621    — High
│   │   ├── credential_stuffing.kql         # RS-CRD-001 — T1110.004 — High
│   │   ├── after_hours_access.kql          # RS-AHA-001 — T1078    — Medium
│   │   ├── data_exfiltration.kql           # RS-EXF-001 — T1048    — Critical
│   │   ├── ransomware_indicator.kql        # RS-RAN-001 — T1486    — Critical
│   │   ├── supply_chain_anomaly.kql        # RS-SUP-001 — T1195    — High
│   │   ├── supplier_impossible_travel.kql  # RS-SUP-002 — T1199    — Medium
│   │   └── privileged_role_addition.kql    # RS-PRA-001 — T1098    — High
│   ├── generic/                            # General-purpose SOC rules
│   │   ├── brute-force-login.kql           # GEN-001 — T1110
│   │   ├── bulk-file-access.kql            # GEN-002 — T1005
│   │   ├── c2-beacon.kql                   # GEN-003 — T1041
│   │   ├── dns-exfil.kql                   # GEN-004 — T1048
│   │   ├── rdp-lateral-movement.kql        # GEN-005 — T1021.001
│   │   └── suspicious-powershell.kql       # GEN-006 — T1059.001
│   └── README.md                           # Rule index with MITRE mapping
│
├── logic-apps/
│   ├── triage-classify/
│   │   └── workflow.json                   # Auto-triage and severity classification
│   ├── threat-intel-enrich/
│   │   └── workflow.json                   # IOC enrichment (AbuseIPDB, VirusTotal)
│   ├── containment/
│   │   ├── workflow.json                   # Block IP / Disable account / Isolate host
│   │   └── README.md
│   └── DEPLOYMENT.md                       # Step-by-step Logic App deployment guide
│
├── sentinel/
│   ├── workbooks/
│   │   └── retailshield-workbook.json      # Sentinel Workbook ARM template
│   ├── watchlists/
│   │   └── retail-ioc-watchlist.csv        # Sample IOC watchlist
│   ├── data-connectors/
│   │   └── connectors.json                 # Data connector definitions
│   └── README.md
│
├── docs/
│   ├── architecture.md
│   ├── threat-model.md
│   └── onboarding.md
│
├── scripts/
│   ├── validate_kql.py                     # KQL rule static validator (used by CI)
│   ├── validate_logicapps.py               # Logic App JSON validator (used by CI)
│   ├── retail_log_generator.py             # Sample retail log generator for testing
│   └── cve_scanner.py                      # CVE scanner utility
│
├── tests/
│   ├── detection-rules/
│   │   └── test_kql_rules.py
│   └── playbooks/
│       └── test_playbook_schema.py
│
├── CONTENT_PACK.md                         # How RetailShield maps to a Sentinel Solution
├── requirements.txt                        # Python dependencies for CI and tests
└── README.md                               # This file

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Quick start

Prerequisites

Requirement	Version
Azure Subscription	Active, with Microsoft Sentinel workspace
Azure CLI	Latest
Git	2.40+
Python 3.11+	Only needed to run the local test suite

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/tft444/retailshield.git
cd retailshield
git checkout dev

2. Deploy KQL analytics rules to Sentinel

Rules are deployed manually through the Microsoft Sentinel Analytics blade. There is no automated deployment script at this time.

For each .kql file in detection-rules/retail/ (and optionally detection-rules/generic/):

1. In the Azure Portal, open your Sentinel workspace → Analytics → + Create → Scheduled query rule
2. Set the rule name and description using the // Rule ID and // Title comments at the top of the file
3. Paste the full contents of the .kql file into the Set rule query box
4. Set Run query every and Lookup data from the last to match the // Frequency comment in the file
5. Set severity from the // Severity comment
6. Under Automated response, attach the relevant Logic App playbook (see the // PlaybookTrigger comment)
7. Save and enable the rule

Repeat for each rule you want to enable.

3. Deploy Logic App playbooks

See logic-apps/DEPLOYMENT.md for the full step-by-step guide.

az login
az account set --subscription "<YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_ID>"

az deployment group create \
  --resource-group "<RESOURCE_GROUP>" \
  --template-file logic-apps/triage-classify/workflow.json

4. Run tests

pip install -r requirements.txt
pytest tests/ -v

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss proposed changes, then submit a pull request against the dev branch.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
3. Commit with clear messages
4. Push and open a pull request against dev

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Author

Tanvir Farhad
Security Engineer — ShieldTech Ltd, London

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License

MIT © 2025 Tanvir Farhad — ShieldTech Ltd