Description

This rule detects messages impersonating employees, from unsolicited senders attempting to reroute payroll or alter payment details.

References

No references.

Sublime Security
Created Aug 17th, 2023 • Last updated Jun 18th, 2026
Source
type.inbound
// ensure the display name contains a space to avoid single named process accounts eg. 'billing, payment'
and strings.contains(sender.display_name, " ")
and (
  sender.display_name in~ $org_display_names
  or subject.base in~ $org_display_names
)
and length(attachments) == 0
and length(body.links) < 10
and (
  length(body.current_thread.text) < 800
  or (
    any(map(filter(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
                   .name == "disclaimer"
            ),
            .text
        ),
        (length(body.current_thread.text) - length(.)) < 800
    )
  )
)
and (
  sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $org_domains
  or sender.email.domain.root_domain in $free_email_providers
)
and 1 of (
  regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
                  '(?:pay\s?(?:roll|check|date|day)|direct deposit|(?:acct|account) rephrase|paid.{0,50}problems|\bACH\b|\bdd\b|gehalt|salario|salary|employee self[-\s]?service|\bESS\b.{0,30}(?:portal|access|log[-\s]?in)|access.{0,30}(?:HR|employee).{0,30}portal)'
  ),
  regex.icontains(subject.subject,
                  '(?:pay\s?(?:roll|check|date|day)|direct deposit|(?:acct|account) rephrase|paid.{0,50}problems|\bACH\b|\bdd\b|gehalt|salario|salary|employee self[-\s]?service|\bESS\b.{0,15}portal)'
  )
)

// sender profile negations
and (
  not profile.by_sender_email().solicited
  or profile.by_sender().any_messages_malicious_or_spam
)
and not profile.by_sender().any_messages_benign

// negate highly trusted sender domains unless they fail DMARC authentication
and (
  (
    sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
    and (
      any(distinct(headers.hops, .authentication_results.dmarc is not null),
          strings.ilike(.authentication_results.dmarc, "*fail")
      )
    )
  )
  or sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
)

// negate legitimate conversations
and not (
  (
    length(headers.references) > 0
    or headers.in_reply_to is not null
    or (
      any(headers.hops,
          any(.fields,
              strings.ilike(.name, "x-autoreply")
              and strings.ilike(.value, "yes")
          )
      )
    )
  )
  // previous thread present
  and (
    (
      (subject.is_forward or subject.is_reply)
      and length(body.previous_threads) >= 1
    )
    // automatic reply structure
    or (
      strings.istarts_with(subject.base, "automatic reply")
      or strings.istarts_with(subject.base, "out of office")
    )
  )
)

// ignore personal <> work emails
and not (
  length(recipients.to) == 1
  and sender.email.domain.valid
  and all(headers.reply_to, .email.email == sender.email.email)
  and sender.display_name == mailbox.display_name
)

// topic negations
and not any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).topics,
            .name == "Advertising and Promotions"
)
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