CHAIN-182 — Log Analytics retention shorter than incident timeline

Summary

Severity: High · Likelihood: High · Logic: ALL

Why this chain matters

Log Analytics workspace retention is 30 days; the industry average incident dwell time is 180+ days. By the time an intrusion is detected, the logs covering the initial compromise are already rotated out.

Component rules

This chain fires when its trigger conditions are met by the following rules. Click any rule to see its detection logic and compliance mappings.

Rule ID	Role
zt_vis_010	Trigger
zt_vis_011	Trigger

Attack walkthrough

Step 1 — Maintain quiet presence for 90 days before noisy activity.

Actor: Attacker
MITRE ATT&CK: T1070.001
Enabled by: zt_vis_010

Attacker gain: Initial compromise data aged out of workspace.

Step 2 — Cannot determine patient zero or initial vector.

Actor: IR team
MITRE ATT&CK: T1070.001
Enabled by: zt_vis_011

Attacker gain: Incomplete IR scope.

Blast radius

Initial access	Time-driven log loss.
Max privilege	Forensic blindness.
Data at risk	IR scoping integrity
Services at risk	Every system relying on this workspace for IR

How the logic works

The chain fires only when every rule above has at least one finding in the current scan. Missing any one rule breaks the chain — so remediating any single step disrupts the attack path.