diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/routes/index/get_signals_template.ts b/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/routes/index/get_signals_template.ts
index 5ccde6d3eab9..b676ab5705bf 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/routes/index/get_signals_template.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/routes/index/get_signals_template.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import signalsMapping from './signals_mapping.json';
 import ecsMapping from './ecs_mapping.json';
 
 export const getSignalsTemplate = (index: string) => {
+  const version = 2;
   const template = {
     settings: {
       index: {
@@ -29,8 +30,11 @@ export const getSignalsTemplate = (index: string) => {
         ...ecsMapping.mappings.properties,
         signal: signalsMapping.mappings.properties.signal,
       },
+      _meta: {
+        version,
+      },
     },
-    version: 1,
+    version,
   };
   return template;
 };
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/signals/signal_rule_alert_type.ts b/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/signals/signal_rule_alert_type.ts
index 9436dc9cf8a8..68fdbbeae1d8 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/signals/signal_rule_alert_type.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/security_solution/server/lib/detection_engine/signals/signal_rule_alert_type.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 import { Logger, KibanaRequest } from 'src/core/server';
 
+import { get } from 'lodash';
 import {
   SIGNALS_ID,
   DEFAULT_SEARCH_AFTER_PAGE_SIZE,
@@ -116,6 +117,18 @@ export const signalRulesAlertType = ({
         type,
         exceptionsList,
       } = params;
+      const outputIndexTemplateMapping: unknown = await services.callCluster(
+        'indices.getTemplate',
+        { name: outputIndex }
+      );
+      const signalMappingVersion: number | undefined = get(outputIndexTemplateMapping, [
+        outputIndex,
+        'version',
+      ]);
+      if (signalMappingVersion !== undefined && typeof signalMappingVersion !== 'number') {
+        throw new Error('Found non-numeric value for "version" in output index template');
+      }
+
       const searchAfterSize = Math.min(maxSignals, DEFAULT_SEARCH_AFTER_PAGE_SIZE);
       let hasError: boolean = false;
       let result = createSearchAfterReturnType();
@@ -436,7 +449,16 @@ export const signalRulesAlertType = ({
           });
         } else if (isEqlRule(type)) {
           if (query === undefined) {
-            throw new Error('eql query rule must have a query defined');
+            throw new Error('EQL query rule must have a query defined');
+          }
+          const MIN_EQL_RULE_TEMPLATE_VERSION = 2;
+          if (
+            signalMappingVersion === undefined ||
+            signalMappingVersion < MIN_EQL_RULE_TEMPLATE_VERSION
+          ) {
+            throw new Error(
+              `EQL based rules require an update to version ${MIN_EQL_RULE_TEMPLATE_VERSION} of the detection alerts index mapping`
+            );
           }
           const inputIndex = await getInputIndex(services, version, index);
           const request = buildEqlSearchRequest(