Book Image

The Foundations of Threat Hunting

By : Chad Maurice, Jeremy Thompson, William Copeland
Book Image

The Foundations of Threat Hunting

By: Chad Maurice, Jeremy Thompson, William Copeland

Overview of this book

Threat hunting is a concept that takes traditional cyber defense and spins it onto its head. It moves the bar for network defenses beyond looking at the known threats and allows a team to pursue adversaries that are attacking in novel ways that have not previously been seen. To successfully track down and remove these advanced attackers, a solid understanding of the foundational concepts and requirements of the threat hunting framework is needed. Moreover, to confidently employ threat hunting in a business landscape, the same team will need to be able to customize that framework to fit a customer’s particular use case. This book breaks down the fundamental pieces of a threat hunting team, the stages of a hunt, and the process that needs to be followed through planning, execution, and recovery. It will take you through the process of threat hunting, starting from understanding cybersecurity basics through to the in-depth requirements of building a mature hunting capability. This is provided through written instructions as well as multiple story-driven scenarios that show the correct (and incorrect) way to effectively conduct a threat hunt. By the end of this cyber threat hunting book, you’ll be able to identify the processes of handicapping an immature cyber threat hunt team and systematically progress the hunting capabilities to maturity.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Part 1: Preparation – Why and How to Start the Hunting Process
9
Part 2: Execution – Conducting a Hunt
14
Part 3: Recovery – Post-Hunt Activity

Scenario A – internal threat hunt

After an initial discussion with the chief executive officer (CEO) of Widget Makers Inc., the team lead was able to select a five-member on-site team that would be able to best operate within the constraints provided while still achieving the organization's goals. The teams agreed upon a list of deliverables for their inaugural threat hunt, as follows:

  • Initial team roster and itemized equipment required for the establishment of the internal team
  • Real-time feedback on any identified threats during the course of the threat hunt
  • Leadership and technical debrief, along with a written report of the threat hunt, each objective, and recommendations for follow-on actions
  • Technical debrief and report of the threat hunt for system administrators, to include specific actions taken and recommendations for follow-on activity

The internal hunt team will consist of the following:

  • 1x team lead: This individual will not...