Effective Threat Investigation for SOC Analysts (eBook)
314 Seiten
Packt Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-83763-875-8 (ISBN)
Effective threat investigation requires strong technical expertise, analytical skills, and a deep understanding of cyber threats and attacker techniques. It's a crucial skill for SOC analysts, enabling them to analyze different threats and identify security incident origins. This book provides insights into the most common cyber threats and various attacker techniques to help you hone your incident investigation skills.
The book begins by explaining phishing and email attack types and how to detect and investigate them, along with Microsoft log types such as Security, System, PowerShell, and their events. Next, you'll learn how to detect and investigate attackers' techniques and malicious activities within Windows environments. As you make progress, you'll find out how to analyze the firewalls, flows, and proxy logs, as well as detect and investigate cyber threats using various security solution alerts, including EDR, IPS, and IDS. You'll also explore popular threat intelligence platforms such as VirusTotal, AbuseIPDB, and X-Force for investigating cyber threats and successfully build your own sandbox environment for effective malware analysis.
By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to analyze popular systems and security appliance logs that exist in any environment and explore various attackers' techniques to detect and investigate them with ease.
Detect and investigate various cyber threats and techniques carried out by malicious actors by analyzing logs generated from different sourcesPurchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBookKey FeaturesUnderstand and analyze various modern cyber threats and attackers' techniquesGain in-depth knowledge of email security, Windows, firewall, proxy, WAF, and security solution logsExplore popular cyber threat intelligence platforms to investigate suspicious artifactsBook DescriptionEffective threat investigation requires strong technical expertise, analytical skills, and a deep understanding of cyber threats and attacker techniques. It's a crucial skill for SOC analysts, enabling them to analyze different threats and identify security incident origins. This book provides insights into the most common cyber threats and various attacker techniques to help you hone your incident investigation skills. The book begins by explaining phishing and email attack types and how to detect and investigate them, along with Microsoft log types such as Security, System, PowerShell, and their events. Next, you ll learn how to detect and investigate attackers' techniques and malicious activities within Windows environments. As you make progress, you ll find out how to analyze the firewalls, flows, and proxy logs, as well as detect and investigate cyber threats using various security solution alerts, including EDR, IPS, and IDS. You ll also explore popular threat intelligence platforms such as VirusTotal, AbuseIPDB, and X-Force for investigating cyber threats and successfully build your own sandbox environment for effective malware analysis. By the end of this book, you ll have learned how to analyze popular systems and security appliance logs that exist in any environment and explore various attackers' techniques to detect and investigate them with ease.What you will learnGet familiarized with and investigate various threat types and attacker techniquesAnalyze email security solution logs and understand email flow and headersPractically investigate various Windows threats and attacksAnalyze web proxy logs to investigate C&C communication attributesLeverage WAF and FW logs and CTI to investigate various cyber attacksWho this book is forThis book is for Security Operation Center (SOC) analysts, security professionals, cybersecurity incident investigators, incident handlers, incident responders, or anyone looking to explore attacker techniques and delve deeper into detecting and investigating attacks. If you want to efficiently detect and investigate cyberattacks by analyzing logs generated from different log sources, then this is the book for you. Basic knowledge of cybersecurity and networking domains and entry-level security concepts are necessary to get the most out of this book.]]>
Preface
As we continue to rely more on technology, we are exposed to cyber threats that pose a significant risk to our security and privacy. In recent years, cyber-attacks have become increasingly sophisticated, making it more difficult for security professionals to identify and investigate them. This is particularly true for Security Operations Center (SOC) analysts who are responsible for detecting and responding to cyber threats.
Effective Threat Investigation for SOC Analysts is a comprehensive guide to help SOC analysts understand the techniques used by threat actors to achieve their objectives, including initial access, execution, persistence, lateral movement, Command and Control (C&C), and exfiltration. This book also explains how to detect and investigate cyber threats by analyzing most of the possible solutions and system logs that you may receive in your organization’s Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution, including email security logs, Windows event logs, proxy logs, firewall logs, security solution alerts, Web Application Firewall (WAF) logs, and more. By using this book, SOC analysts can gain the knowledge and skills they need to be better prepared to detect and investigate cyber threats in their organizations.
The book covers a range of topics, starting with an in-depth analysis of email-based cyber threats and the importance of email header analysis. It also delves into the specifics of Windows account login and management tracking, the investigation of suspicious Windows process executions, PowerShell attacks, and persistence and lateral movement techniques in the Windows environment by analyzing the various Windows logs.
The book provides valuable insights into how to detect and investigate security incidents using firewall logs, proxy logs, and analyzing suspicious outbound communications, including C&C communications. It also covers the importance of WAF and application logs in detecting and investigating external threats, including various types of web attacks and suspicious external access to remote services.
In addition, the book guides SOC analysts in detecting and investigating cyber threats using network flows, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)/Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) alerts, network antivirus, and sandbox alerts; also, it teaches the SOC analyst how to investigate Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and antivirus alerts. The book provides an overview of threat intelligence and its importance in investigating cyber threats. It covers several tools and platforms for investigating threats, including VirusTotal, IBM-XForce, AbuseIPDB, and Google.
Finally, the book provides a comprehensive practical guide for SOC analysts on building a malware sandbox environment to investigate suspicious files using static and dynamic malware analysis techniques.
We hope this book will be a valuable resource for SOC analysts and security professionals who are committed to protecting our digital world.
Who this book is for
This book is written for SOC analysts, incident responders, incident handlers, cybersecurity analysts, cybersecurity professionals, and anyone interested in investigating cyber threats. You should have a basic understanding of cybersecurity concepts, IT infrastructure, and network protocols.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Investigating Email Threats, provides an in-depth analysis of email-based cyber threats and the techniques used by threat actors to gain initial access. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy of secure email gateway logs and how to use them to investigate suspicious emails.
Chapter 2, Email Flow and Header Analysis, provides an in-depth analysis of email flow and the importance of email header analysis for investigating email-based cyber threats. It then explores the different email authentication techniques, such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and the investigation of email headers of spoofed messages.
Chapter 3, Introduction to Windows Event Logs, discusses the different types of Windows event logs. It then provides an overview of the various tools and techniques that SOC analysts can use to analyze Windows event logs effectively.
Chapter 4, Tracking Accounts Login and Management, explores the critical role of account and login event tracking in detecting and investigating security incidents. It then delves into the specifics of account and group management tracking and the types of events that should be monitored for security purposes.
Chapter 5, Investigating Suspicious Process Execution Using Windows Event Logs, provides a comprehensive overview of Windows processes and different types of processes, and a solid understanding of how to investigate suspicious process executions by using the Windows event logs.
Chapter 6, Investigating PowerShell Event Logs, provides an overview of PowerShell, and how it could be used by attackers to carry out malicious activity on a system. It then delves into the specifics of PowerShell execution tracking events and how they can be used to identify suspicious activity.
Chapter 7, Investigating Persistence and Lateral Movement Using Windows Event Logs, explores attackers’ persistence and lateral movement techniques to maintain access to a compromised system and move laterally across a network and explains how these techniques can be detected and investigated using Windows event logs.
Chapter 8, Network Firewall Logs Analysis, delves into the anatomy of firewall logs and provides a solid understanding of their structure and how to effectively use them to detect and investigate security incidents.
Chapter 9, Investigating Cyber Threats by Using Firewall Logs, covers how to use firewall logs for detecting and investigating security incidents, including four major types of attacks: reconnaissance, lateral movement, C&C, and Denial of Service (DoS).
Chapter 10, Web Proxy Log Analysis, delves into the value of proxy logs in detecting and investigating security incidents. It provides an overview of the anatomy of proxy logs and the various types of information provided in them.
Chapter 11, Investigating Suspicious Outbound Communications (C&C Communications) by Using Proxy Logs, focuses on the key attributes and techniques of suspicious outbound communications, including C&C communications, and provides valuable insights into investigating such activities by analyzing web proxy logs.
Chapter 12, Investigating External Threats, provides insights into various types of web attacks and suspicious external access to remote services. It also covers WAF and application logs and their value in detecting and investigating such attacks.
Chapter 13, Investigating Network Flows and Security Solutions Alerts, guides SOC analysts in investigating cyber threats using network flows, IPS/IDS alerts, network antivirus, and sandbox alerts. Furthermore, the chapter explores the techniques to investigate alerts generated by EDR and antivirus solutions.
Chapter 14, Threat Intelligence in an SOC Analyst’s Day, provides an overview of threat intelligence and its importance in investigating cyber threats. It also covers several tools and platforms for investigating threats, including VirusTotal, IBM-XForce, AbuseIPDB, and Google.
Chapter 15, Malware Sandboxing – Building a Malware Sandbox, provides a comprehensive practical guide for SOC analysts on developing an on-premises sandbox environment to investigate suspicious files using static and dynamic malware analysis techniques. It covers the required tools for analysis, the preparation of guest VMs, various analysis tools in action, and a demo lab for better understanding.
To get the most out of this book
It is essential to have an operating system installed with VMware, which should include both Windows and Ubuntu 18.04 VMs, as well as a reliable internet connection to test external sources and download the necessary tools for each chapter.
| Software/hardware covered in the book | Operating system requirements |
| VMware | Windows, macOS, or Linux |
| Microsoft Event Viewer | Ubuntu 18.04 |
| Event Log... |
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 25.8.2023 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Informatik ► Betriebssysteme / Server ► Windows |
| Informatik ► Netzwerke ► Sicherheit / Firewall | |
| Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Web / Internet | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-83763-875-6 / 1837638756 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-83763-875-8 / 9781837638758 |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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