diff --git a/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es.py b/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es.py
index 2ee0c0145..f03ed683b 100644
--- a/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es.py
+++ b/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es.py
@@ -6,14 +6,14 @@
 # Elastic License 2.0.
 
 
-from datetime import datetime
 from time import gmtime, strftime
 import hashlib
 import ipaddress
 import re
+import uuid
 import requests,json
 from elastalert.alerts import Alerter, DateTimeEncoder
-from elastalert.util import EAException, elastalert_logger
+from elastalert.util import EAException, elastalert_logger, lookup_es_key, ts_to_dt
 
 import urllib3
 urllib3.disable_warnings(urllib3.exceptions.InsecureRequestWarning)
@@ -26,53 +26,44 @@ class SecurityOnionESAlerter(Alerter):
     required_options = set(['detection_title', 'sigma_level'])
     optional_fields = ['sigma_category', 'sigma_product', 'sigma_service', 'sigma_correlation']
 
-    count_labels = {
-        'event_count': '%count% events',
-        'value_count': '%count% distinct values',
-        'event_type_count': '%count% correlated rules matched',
-        'value_sum': 'total %count%',
-        'value_avg': 'average %count%',
-        'value_percentile': 'percentile %count%',
-        'value_median': 'median %count%',
+    # count column and default summary per correlation type
+    correlation_counts = {
+        'event_count': ('event_count', '%count% events'),
+        'value_count': ('value_count', '%count% distinct values'),
+        'temporal': ('event_type_count', '%count% correlated rules matched'),
+        'value_sum': ('value_sum', 'total %count%'),
+        'value_avg': ('value_avg', 'average %count%'),
+        'value_percentile': ('value_percentile', 'percentile %count%'),
+        'value_median': ('value_median', 'median %count%'),
     }
     placeholder = re.compile(r'%([^%\s]+)%')
     # group-by fields copied into ECS related.*
     related_users = {'user.name', 'winlog.event_data.TargetUserName', 'winlog.event_data.SubjectUserName'}
     related_hosts = {'host.name', 'host.hostname', 'winlog.computer_name'}
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def lookup(doc, dotted):
-        """ Resolve a dotted path; ES|QL columns arrive nested. """
-        node = doc
-        for part in dotted.split('.'):
-            if not isinstance(node, dict) or part not in node:
-                return None
-            node = node[part]
-        return node
-
     def query_keys(self):
         """ compound_query_key holds the list; query_key is flattened to a string. """
         return self.rule.get('compound_query_key') or ([self.rule['query_key']] if self.rule.get('query_key') else [])
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def is_correlation(match):
-        """ Only correlation rows carry window_start, from the ES|QL stats. """
-        return 'window_start' in match
+    def is_correlation(self):
+        return bool(self.rule.get('sigma_correlation'))
 
     def alert_id(self, match):
-        """ Stable id: window end + group values for correlations, source _id otherwise. """
-        if self.is_correlation(match):
+        """ Stable id: window end + group values for correlations, source _id otherwise; random without one. """
+        if self.is_correlation():
             # ungrouped rows have a hashed _id that changes with the count
-            values = ''.join(f"|{self.lookup(match, k)}" for k in self.query_keys())
-            key = f"{self.rule['detection_public_id']}|{self.to_dt(match['@timestamp']).isoformat()}{values}"
+            values = ''.join(f"|{lookup_es_key(match, k)}" for k in self.query_keys())
+            key = f"{self.rule['detection_public_id']}|{ts_to_dt(match['@timestamp']).isoformat()}{values}"
+        elif match.get('_id'):
+            key = f"{self.rule['detection_public_id']}|{match['_id']}"
         else:
-            key = f"{self.rule['detection_public_id']}|{match.get('_id')}"
+            return uuid.uuid4().hex
 
         return hashlib.sha256(key.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
 
     def group(self, match):
         """ Group-by values joined as ElastAlert joins them for the realert silence key. """
-        return ', '.join(str(self.lookup(match, k)) for k in self.query_keys())
+        return ', '.join(str(lookup_es_key(match, k)) for k in self.query_keys())
 
     def related_bucket(self, key):
         if key == 'ip' or key.endswith('.ip'):
@@ -98,7 +89,10 @@ class SecurityOnionESAlerter(Alerter):
             bucket = self.related_bucket(key)
             if not bucket:
                 continue
-            value = self.lookup(match, key)
+            # a lowercased group carries its original spellings, which keyword searches need
+            value = lookup_es_key(match, f"{key}_spellings")
+            if value is None:
+                value = lookup_es_key(match, key)
             for v in value if isinstance(value, list) else [value]:
                 if v is None or (bucket == 'ip' and not self.valid_ip(str(v))):
                     continue
@@ -133,21 +127,16 @@ class SecurityOnionESAlerter(Alerter):
                 return f"{seconds // size} {unit}s"
         return f"{seconds} second{'' if seconds == 1 else 's'}"
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def to_dt(value):
-        # ES|QL gives ISO strings; ElastAlert parses @timestamp, except on a retried alert.
-        return value if isinstance(value, datetime) else datetime.fromisoformat(value)
-
     def summary(self, match):
         """ One-line correlation summary; None for single-event rules. """
-        if not self.is_correlation(match):
+        if not self.is_correlation():
             return None
 
-        start = self.to_dt(match['window_start'])
-        end = self.to_dt(match['@timestamp'])
-        name = next((f for f in self.count_labels if f in match), None)
+        column, label = self.correlation_counts.get(self.rule['sigma_correlation'], (None, '%count%'))
+        start = ts_to_dt(match['window_start'])
+        end = ts_to_dt(match['@timestamp'])
         values = {
-            'count': self.format_count(match.get(name)),
+            'count': self.format_count(match.get(column)),
             'start': start.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC'),
             'end': end.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC'),
             'duration': self.format_duration(int((end - start).total_seconds())),
@@ -156,12 +145,12 @@ class SecurityOnionESAlerter(Alerter):
         template = self.rule.get('summary_template')
         if not template:
             groups = ', '.join(f"{k} %{k}%" for k in self.query_keys())
-            template = f"{self.count_labels.get(name, '%count%')}{' for ' + groups if groups else ''} in %duration%"
+            template = f"{label} for {groups} in %duration%" if groups else f"{label} in %duration%"
 
         def fill(m):
             if m[1] in values:
                 return values[m[1]]
-            value = self.lookup(match, m[1])
+            value = lookup_es_key(match, m[1])
             # unknown placeholders stay visible so typos show
             return m[0] if value is None else self.format_value(value)
 
@@ -169,76 +158,81 @@ class SecurityOnionESAlerter(Alerter):
 
     def alert(self, matches):
         for match in matches:
-            timestamp = strftime("%Y-%m-%d"'T'"%H:%M:%S"'.000Z', gmtime())
-            # Start building the rule dict
-            rule_info = {
-                "name": self.rule['detection_title'],
-                "uuid": self.rule['detection_public_id']
+            self.write(self.alert_id(match), self.payload(match))
+
+    def payload(self, match):
+        timestamp = strftime("%Y-%m-%d"'T'"%H:%M:%S"'.000Z', gmtime())
+        # Start building the rule dict
+        rule_info = {
+            "name": self.rule['detection_title'],
+            "uuid": self.rule['detection_public_id']
+        }
+
+        # Add optional fields if they are present in the rule
+        for field in self.optional_fields:
+            rule_key = field.split('_')[-1]  # Assumes field format "sigma_<key>"
+            if field in self.rule:
+                rule_info[rule_key] = self.rule[field]
+
+        event_info = {
+            "kind": "alert",
+            "severity": self.rule['event.severity'],
+            "module": self.rule['event.module'],
+            "dataset": self.rule['event.dataset'],
+            "severity_label": self.rule['sigma_level']
+        }
+
+        reason = self.summary(match)
+        if reason:
+            event_info["reason"] = reason
+
+        # Construct the payload with the conditional rule_info
+        payload = {
+            "tags": ["alert"],
+            "rule": rule_info,
+            "event": event_info,
+            "sigma_level": self.rule['sigma_level'],
+            "event_data": self.event_data(match),
+            "@timestamp": timestamp
+        }
+
+        keys = self.query_keys()
+        if keys and self.is_correlation():
+            payload["labels"] = {
+                "correlation_group_by": ', '.join(keys),
+                "correlation_group": self.group(match),
             }
+            related = self.related(match)
+            if related:
+                payload["related"] = related
 
-            # Add optional fields if they are present in the rule
-            for field in self.optional_fields:
-                rule_key = field.split('_')[-1]  # Assumes field format "sigma_<key>"
-                if field in self.rule:
-                    rule_info[rule_key] = self.rule[field]
+        return payload
 
-            event_info = {
-                "kind": "alert",
-                "severity": self.rule['event.severity'],
-                "module": self.rule['event.module'],
-                "dataset": self.rule['event.dataset'],
-                "severity_label": self.rule['sigma_level']
-            }
-
-            reason = self.summary(match)
-            if reason:
-                event_info["reason"] = reason
-
-            # Construct the payload with the conditional rule_info
-            payload = {
-                "tags": ["alert"],
-                "rule": rule_info,
-                "event": event_info,
-                "sigma_level": self.rule['sigma_level'],
-                "event_data": self.event_data(match),
-                "@timestamp": timestamp
-            }
-
-            keys = self.query_keys()
-            if keys and self.is_correlation(match):
-                payload["labels"] = {
-                    "correlation_group_by": ', '.join(keys),
-                    "correlation_group": self.group(match),
-                }
-                related = self.related(match)
-                if related:
-                    payload["related"] = related
-            alert_id = self.alert_id(match)
-            # _create returns 409 on a repeat id; EAException makes ElastAlert retry
-            url = (f"https://{self.rule['es_host']}:{self.rule['es_port']}"
-                   f"/logs-detections.alerts-so/_create/{alert_id}")
-            response = self.put_alert(url, payload)
+    def write(self, alert_id, payload):
+        # _create returns 409 on a repeat id; EAException makes ElastAlert retry
+        url = (f"https://{self.rule['es_host']}:{self.rule['es_port']}"
+               f"/logs-detections.alerts-so/_create/{alert_id}")
+        response = self.put_alert(url, payload)
+        if response.status_code == 400:
+            # mapping rejections come from event_data; retry with it as unindexed text
+            rejection = response.text[:500]
+            response = self.put_alert(url, self.without_event_data(payload, rejection))
             if response.status_code == 400:
-                # mapping rejections come from event_data; retry with it as unindexed text
-                rejection = response.text[:500]
-                payload = self.without_event_data(payload, rejection)
-                response = self.put_alert(url, payload)
-                if response.status_code == 400:
-                    elastalert_logger.error("Dropping alert %s for rule %s, rejected by Elasticsearch even without its event data: %s; first rejection: %s",
-                                            alert_id, self.rule['detection_public_id'], response.text[:500], rejection)
-                    continue
-                elastalert_logger.warning("Stored alert %s for rule %s with its event data as text, rejected by Elasticsearch: %s",
-                                          alert_id, self.rule['detection_public_id'], rejection)
-            if response.status_code != 409 and not response.ok:
-                raise EAException(f"Unable to write alert: {response.status_code} {response.text[:500]}")
+                elastalert_logger.error("Dropping alert %s for rule %s, rejected by Elasticsearch even without its event data: %s; first rejection: %s",
+                                        alert_id, self.rule['detection_public_id'], response.text[:500], rejection)
+                return
+            elastalert_logger.warning("Stored alert %s for rule %s with its event data as text, rejected by Elasticsearch: %s",
+                                      alert_id, self.rule['detection_public_id'], rejection)
+        if response.status_code != 409 and not response.ok:
+            raise EAException(f"Unable to write alert: {response.status_code} {response.text[:500]}")
 
     def put_alert(self, url, payload):
         creds = None
         if 'es_username' in self.rule and 'es_password' in self.rule:
             creds = (self.rule['es_username'], self.rule['es_password'])
         try:
-            return requests.put(url, data=json.dumps(payload, cls=DateTimeEncoder),
-                                headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"}, verify=False, auth=creds)
+            return requests.put(url, data=json.dumps(payload, cls=DateTimeEncoder), headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
+                                verify=False, auth=creds, timeout=self.rule.get('es_conn_timeout', 20))
         except requests.RequestException as e:
             raise EAException(f"Unable to write alert: {e}")
 
diff --git a/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es_test.py b/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es_test.py
index 5cc2c5043..0e56c45ab 100644
--- a/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es_test.py
+++ b/salt/elastalert/files/modules/so/securityonion-es_test.py
@@ -30,12 +30,24 @@ except ImportError:
     class EAException(Exception):
         pass
 
+    def lookup_es_key(doc, term):
+        for part in term.split('.'):
+            if not isinstance(doc, dict) or part not in doc:
+                return None
+            doc = doc[part]
+        return doc
+
+    def ts_to_dt(value):
+        return value if isinstance(value, datetime) else datetime.fromisoformat(value)
+
     alerts = types.ModuleType('elastalert.alerts')
     alerts.Alerter = Alerter
     alerts.DateTimeEncoder = DateTimeEncoder
     util = types.ModuleType('elastalert.util')
     util.EAException = EAException
     util.elastalert_logger = logging.getLogger('elastalert')
+    util.lookup_es_key = lookup_es_key
+    util.ts_to_dt = ts_to_dt
     package = types.ModuleType('elastalert')
     package.alerts = alerts
     package.util = util
@@ -56,9 +68,12 @@ BASE_RULE = {
     'event.dataset': 'sigma.alert',
     'es_host': 'manager',
     'es_port': 9200,
+    'es_conn_timeout': 55,
     'summary_template': '%count% failed network logons to %host.name% from %source.ip% in %duration%',
 }
 
+PLAIN_RULE = {k: v for k, v in BASE_RULE.items() if k not in ('sigma_correlation', 'summary_template')}
+
 
 def correlation_match():
     return {
@@ -82,6 +97,7 @@ class TestSecurityOnionESAlerter(unittest.TestCase):
         with patch.object(es.requests, 'put', return_value=response) as put:
             alerter.alert([match])
         self.assertEqual(put.call_count, 1)
+        self.assertEqual(put.call_args.kwargs['timeout'], 55)
         return json.loads(put.call_args.kwargs['data']), put.call_args.args[0]
 
     def test_compound_query_key_left_out_of_event_data(self):
@@ -131,9 +147,21 @@ class TestSecurityOnionESAlerter(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertNotIn('related', payload)
 
+    def test_related_uses_original_spellings(self):
+        rule = dict(BASE_RULE, query_key='user.name', summary_template=None)
+        match = {'event_count': 3, 'window_start': '2026-09-30T16:49:52+00:00', '@timestamp': '2026-09-30T16:50:00+00:00',
+                 'user': {'name': 'admin', 'name_spellings': ['Admin', 'admin', 'ADMIN']}}
+
+        payload, _ = self.send(rule, match)
+
+        # the group shows the lowercased value; related.user finds every spelling
+        self.assertEqual(payload['labels']['correlation_group'], 'admin')
+        self.assertEqual(payload['related'], {'user': ['Admin', 'admin', 'ADMIN']})
+        self.assertEqual(payload['event']['reason'], '3 events for user.name admin in 8 seconds')
+
     def test_plain_rule_has_no_correlation_fields(self):
         # a query_key alone, as from an override, does not make a correlation
-        rule = dict(BASE_RULE, query_key='user.name')
+        rule = dict(PLAIN_RULE, query_key='user.name')
         # ElastAlert parses @timestamp for EQL hits
         match = {'@timestamp': datetime(2026, 9, 30, 16, 50, tzinfo=timezone.utc), '_id': 'abc',
                  'process': {'name': 'whoami.exe'}, 'user': {'name': 'josh'}}
@@ -148,6 +176,8 @@ class TestSecurityOnionESAlerter(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(payload['event_data'], dict(match, **{'@timestamp': '2026-09-30T16:50:00+00:00'}))
         self.assertTrue(url.endswith('/' + alerter.alert_id(match)))
         self.assertNotEqual(alerter.alert_id(match), alerter.alert_id(dict(match, _id='abd')))
+        # without an _id, never deduplicated
+        self.assertNotEqual(alerter.alert_id({'_id': None}), alerter.alert_id({'_id': None}))
 
     def test_ungrouped_correlation_id_ignores_row_hash(self):
         rule = dict(BASE_RULE, summary_template=None)
@@ -164,6 +194,14 @@ class TestSecurityOnionESAlerter(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(payload['event']['reason'], '3,561 events in 2 minutes')
         self.assertNotIn('labels', payload)
 
+    def test_temporal_count_column(self):
+        rule = dict(BASE_RULE, sigma_correlation='temporal', summary_template=None)
+        match = {'event_type_count': 2, 'window_start': '2026-09-30T16:49:52+00:00', '@timestamp': '2026-09-30T16:50:00+00:00'}
+
+        payload, _ = self.send(rule, match)
+
+        self.assertEqual(payload['event']['reason'], '2 correlated rules matched in 8 seconds')
+
     def test_grouped_correlation_id_unchanged(self):
         """ Ids of alerts already written must not change. """
         rule = dict(BASE_RULE, compound_query_key=['host.name', 'source.ip'], query_key='host.name,source.ip')
@@ -202,7 +240,7 @@ class TestSecurityOnionESAlerter(unittest.TestCase):
         match = {'@timestamp': '2026-09-30T16:50:00+00:00', '_id': 'abc'}
 
         # no EAException, so no retry
-        payloads = self.send_responses(dict(BASE_RULE), match, [rejected, rejected])
+        payloads = self.send_responses(PLAIN_RULE, match, [rejected, rejected])
 
         self.assertEqual(len(payloads), 2)
 
diff --git a/salt/soc/defaults.yaml b/salt/soc/defaults.yaml
index 005c2e9eb..2f8af8713 100644
--- a/salt/soc/defaults.yaml
+++ b/salt/soc/defaults.yaml
@@ -2803,7 +2803,7 @@ soc:
               # Sigma correlation rule; requires ES|QL (useEsql).
               # The first document is the correlation (id, title, severity); the documents after it are the rules it refers to, all in this Detection.
               #
-              # Supported types: event_count, value_count, temporal, value_sum, value_avg, value_percentile, value_median.
+              # Supported types: event_count, value_count, temporal, value_sum, value_avg, value_percentile.
               # Correlation Guide: https://sigmahq.io/docs/meta/correlations.html
               # Logsources: https://sigmahq.io/docs/basics/log-sources.html
 
diff --git a/salt/soc/files/soc/sigma_pipelines/sigma_esql_pipeline.yml b/salt/soc/files/soc/sigma_pipelines/sigma_esql_pipeline.yml
index 18b3a9f63..ace10725f 100644
--- a/salt/soc/files/soc/sigma_pipelines/sigma_esql_pipeline.yml
+++ b/salt/soc/files/soc/sigma_pipelines/sigma_esql_pipeline.yml
@@ -475,3 +475,10 @@ transformations:
       - type: logsource
         product: kratos
 
+# SOC reads a correlation's group-by columns, as mapped by the pipelines, from this output
+postprocessing:
+    - id: esql_correlation_group_by
+      type: template
+      template: '{{ {"query": query, "group_by": rule.group_by} | tojson }}'
+      rule_conditions:
+      - type: is_sigma_correlation_rule
diff --git a/salt/soc/soc_soc.yaml b/salt/soc/soc_soc.yaml
index fe2cad90a..2e4438d96 100644
--- a/salt/soc/soc_soc.yaml
+++ b/salt/soc/soc_soc.yaml
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ soc:
             advanced: True
             forcedType: bool
           esqlCaseInsensitive:
-            description: "Match string values case-insensitively when converting Sigma rules. Applies to ES|QL only"
+            description: "Match string values case-insensitively when converting Sigma rules, and group correlation values regardless of case. Applies to ES|QL only"
             global: True
             advanced: True
             forcedType: bool
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ soc:
             forcedType: int
             helpLink: sigma
           esqlCorrelationAllowanceSeconds:
-            description: "Extra seconds of arrivals each correlation run re-reads beyond its timespan, so a burst whose events arrive spread out is still counted together. ES|QL only."
+            description: "Extra seconds of arrivals each correlation run re-reads beyond its timespan, so a burst whose events arrive spread out is still counted together. Correlations below a threshold (lt, lte, eq, neq) and value_avg or value_percentile correlations count only the timespan ending this much plus esqlQueryDelaySeconds ago, so they alert this much later. ES|QL only."
             global: True
             advanced: True
             forcedType: int