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Incident Handling Process

Security Incident handling has become a vital part of each organization's defensive strategy, as attacks constantly evolve and successful compromises are becoming a daily occurrence. In this module, we will review the process of handling an incident from the very early stage of detecting a suspicious event, to confirming a compromise and responding to it.

4.74

Created by Slavi Parpulev

Fundamental General

Summary

Incident handling is a clearly defined set of procedures to manage and respond to security incidents in a computer or network environment. This module introduces the overall process of handling security incidents and walks through each stage of the incident handling process. Important key points and implementation details will also be provided regarding all stages of the incident handling process. This module is also aligned with NIST's Computer "Security Incident Handling Guide", since it is one of the most widely used and referenced resources on the matter.

The fundamentals of monitoring and SIEM, as well as the majority of SOC-related and investigation-related topics, will be covered in separate modules and in a highly hands-on manner. This module focuses solely on the procedural aspect of incident handling, hence the lack of hands-on exercises.

This module is broken into sections and there are no accompanying hands-on exercises as the focus is understanding the different stages of the incident handling process from a handler's perspective.

You can start and stop the module at any time and pick up where you left off. There is no time limit or "grading," but you must complete all of the quiz assessments to receive the maximum number of cubes and have this module marked as complete in any paths you have chosen.

The module is classified as "Fundamental" but assumes an understanding of information security fundamentals and common attack principles.

A firm grasp of the following module can be considered prerequisites for successful completion of this module:

  • Penetration Testing Process

Incident Handling

Incident Handling Definition & Scope

Incident handling (IH) has become an important part of an organization's defensive capability against cybercrime. While protective measures are constantly being implemented to prevent or lower the amount of security incidents, an incident handling capability is undeniably a necessity for any organization that cannot afford a compromise of its data confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Some organizations choose to implement this capability in-house, while others rely on third-party providers to support them, continuously or when needed. Before we dive into the world of security incidents, let's define some terms and establish a common understanding of them.

An event is an action occurring in a system or network. Examples of events are:

  • A user sending an email
  • A mouse click
  • A firewall allowing a connection request

An incident is an event with a negative consequence. One example of an incident is a system crash. Another example is unauthorized access to sensitive data. Incidents can also occur due to natural disasters, power failures, etc.

There is no single definition for what an IT security incident is, and therefore it varies between organizations. We define an IT security incident as an event with a clear intent to cause harm that is performed against a computer system. Examples of incidents are:

  • Data theft
  • Funds theft
  • Unauthorized access to data
  • Installation and usage of malware and remote access tools

Incident handling is a clearly defined set of procedures to manage and respond to security incidents in a computer or network environment.

It is important to note that incident handling is not limited to intrusion incidents alone.

Other types of incidents, such as those caused by malicious insiders, availability issues, and loss of intellectual property, also fall within the scope of incident handling. A comprehensive incident handling plan should address various types of incidents and provide appropriate measures to identify, contain, eradicate, and recover from them to restore normal business operations as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Bear in mind that it may not be immediately clear that an event is an incident, until an initial investigation is performed. With that being said, there are some suspicious events that should be treated as incidents unless proven otherwise.

Incident Handling's Value & Generic Notes

IT security incidents frequently involve the compromise of personal and business data, and it is therefore crucial to respond quickly and effectively. In some incidents, the impact may be limited to a few devices, while in others a large part of the environment can be compromised. A great benefit of having an incident handling team (often referred to as an incident response team) handle events is that a trained workforce will respond systematically, and therefore appropriate actions will be taken. In fact, the objective of such teams is to minimize the theft of information or the disruption of services that the incident is causing. This is achieved by performing investigations and remediation steps, which we will discuss more in depth shortly. Overall, the decisions that are taken before, during, and after an incident will affect its impact.

Because different incidents will have different impacts on the organization, we need to understand the importance of prioritization. Incidents with greater severity will require immediate attention and resources to be allocated for them, while others rated lower may also require an initial investigation to understand whether it is in fact an IT security incident that we are dealing with.

The incident handling team is led by an incident manager. This role is often assigned to a SOC manager, CISO/CIO, or third-party (trusted) vendor, and this person usually has the ability to direct other business units as well. The incident manager must be able to obtain information or have the mandate to require any employee in the organization to perform an activity in a timely manner, if necessary. The incident manager is the single point of communication who tracks the activities taken during the investigation and their status of completion.

One of the most widely used resources on incident handling is NIST's Computer Security Incident Handling Guide. The document aims to assist organizations in mitigating the risks from computer security incidents by providing practical guidelines on responding to incidents effectively and efficiently.

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Sections

Relevant Paths

This module progresses you towards the following Paths

SOC Analyst image

SOC Analyst

The SOC Analyst Job Role Path is for newcomers to information security who aspire to become professional SOC analysts. This path covers core security monitoring and security analysis concepts and provides a deep understanding of the specialized tools, attack tactics, and methodology used by adversaries. Armed with the necessary theoretical background and multiple practical exercises, students will go through all security analysis stages, from traffic analysis and SIEM monitoring to DFIR activities and reporting. Upon completing this job role path, you will have obtained the practical skills and mindset necessary to monitor enterprise-level infrastructure and detect intrusions at an intermediate level. The SOC Analyst Prerequisites skill path can be considered prerequisite knowledge to be successful while working through this job role path.

Medium Path Sections 165 Sections
Required: 1220
Reward: +260
Path Modules
Incident Handling Process
Fundamental
Path Sections 9 Sections
Reward: +10
Security Incident handling has become a vital part of each organization's defensive strategy, as attacks constantly evolve and successful compromises are becoming a daily occurrence. In this module, we will review the process of handling an incident from the very early stage of detecting a suspicious event, to confirming a compromise and responding to it.
Security Monitoring & SIEM Fundamentals
Easy
Path Sections 11 Sections
Reward: +20
This module provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and the Elastic Stack. It demystifies the essential workings of a Security Operation Center (SOC), explores the application of the MITRE ATT&CK framework within SOCs, and introduces SIEM (KQL) query development. With a focus on practical skills, students will learn how to develop SIEM use cases and visualizations using the Elastic Stack.
Windows Event Logs & Finding Evil
Mini-Module
Medium
Path Sections 6 Sections
Reward: +20
This module covers the exploration of Windows Event Logs and their significance in uncovering suspicious activities. Throughout the course, we delve into the anatomy of Windows Event Logs and highlight the logs that hold the most valuable information for investigations. The module also focuses on utilizing Sysmon and Event Logs for detecting and analyzing malicious behavior. Additionally, we delve into Event Tracing for Windows (ETW), explaining its architecture and components, and provide ETW-based detection examples. To streamline the analysis process, we introduce the powerful Get-WinEvent cmdlet.
Introduction to Threat Hunting & Hunting With Elastic
Mini-Module
Medium
Path Sections 6 Sections
Reward: +20
This module initially lays the groundwork for understanding Threat Hunting, ranging from its basic definition, to the structure of a threat hunting team. The module also dives into the threat hunting process, highlighting the interrelationships between threat hunting, risk assessment, and incident handling. Furthermore, the module elucidates the fundamentals of Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI). It expands on the different types of threat intelligence and offers guidance on effectively interpreting a threat intelligence report. Finally, the module puts theory into practice, showcasing how to conduct threat hunting using the Elastic stack. This practical segment uses real-world logs to provide learners with hands-on experience.
Understanding Log Sources & Investigating with Splunk
Mini-Module
Medium
Path Sections 6 Sections
Reward: +20
This module provides a comprehensive introduction to Splunk, focusing on its architecture and the creation of effective detection-related SPL (Search Processing Language) searches. We will learn to investigate with Splunk as a SIEM tool and develop TTP-driven and analytics-driven SPL searches for enhanced threat detection and response. Through hands-on exercises, we will learn to identify and understand the ingested data and available fields within Splunk. We will also gain practical experience in leveraging Splunk's powerful features for security monitoring and incident investigation.
Windows Attacks & Defense
Medium
Path Sections 16 Sections
Reward: +20
Microsoft Active Directory (AD) has been, for the past 20+ years, the leading enterprise domain management suite, providing identity and access management, centralized domain administration, authentication, and much more. Throughout those years, the more integrated our applications and data have become with AD, the more exposed to a large-scale compromise we have become. In this module, we will walk through the most commonly abused and fruitful attacks against Active Directory environments that allow threat actors to perform horizontal and vertical privilege escalations in addition to lateral movement. One of the module's core goals is to showcase prevention and detection methods against the covered Active Directory attacks.
Intro to Network Traffic Analysis
Medium
Path Sections 15 Sections
Reward: +10
Network traffic analysis is used by security teams to monitor network activity and look for anomalies that could indicate security and operational issues. Offensive security practitioners can use network traffic analysis to search for sensitive data such as credentials, hidden applications, reachable network segments, or other potentially sensitive information "on the wire." Network traffic analysis has many uses for attackers and defenders alike.
Intermediate Network Traffic Analysis
Easy
Path Sections 18 Sections
Reward: +20
Through network traffic analysis, this module sharpens skills in detecting link layer attacks such as ARP anomalies and rogue access points, identifying network abnormalities like IP spoofing and TCP handshake irregularities, and uncovering application layer threats from web-based vulnerabilities to peculiar DNS activities.
Working with IDS/IPS
Medium
Path Sections 11 Sections
Reward: +20
This module offers an in-depth exploration of Suricata, Snort, and Zeek, covering both rule development and intrusion detection. We'll guide you through signature-based and analytics-based rule development, and you'll learn to tackle encrypted traffic. The module features numerous hands-on examples, focusing on the detection of prevalent malware such as PowerShell Empire, Covenant, Sliver, Cerber, Dridex, Ursnif, and Patchwork. We also dive into detecting attacking techniques like DNS exfiltration, TLS/HTTP Exfiltration, PsExec lateral movement, and beaconing through IDS/IPS.
Introduction to Malware Analysis
Hard
Path Sections 9 Sections
Reward: +20
This module offers an exploration of malware analysis, specifically targeting Windows-based threats. The module covers Static Analysis utilizing Linux and Windows tools, Malware Unpacking, Dynamic Analysis (including malware traffic analysis), Reverse Engineering for Code Analysis, and Debugging using x64dbg. Real-world malware examples such as WannaCry, DoomJuice, Brbbot, Dharma, and Meterpreter are analyzed to provide practical experience.
JavaScript Deobfuscation
Easy
Path Sections 11 Sections
Reward: +10
This module will take you step-by-step through the fundamentals of JavaScript Deobfuscation until you can deobfuscate basic JavaScript code and understand its purpose.
YARA & Sigma for SOC Analysts
Easy
Path Sections 11 Sections
Reward: +20
This Hack The Box Academy module covers how to create YARA rules both manually and automatically and apply them to hunt threats on disk, live processes, memory, and online databases. Then, the module switches gears to Sigma rules covering how to build Sigma rules, translate them into SIEM queries using "sigmac", and hunt threats in both event logs and SIEM solutions. It's all hands-on, using real-world malware and techniques.
Introduction to Digital Forensics
Medium
Path Sections 8 Sections
Reward: +20
Dive into Windows digital forensics with Hack The Box Academy's "Introduction to Digital Forensics" module. Gain mastery over core forensic concepts and tools such as FTK Imager, KAPE, Velociraptor, and Volatility. Dive deep into memory forensics, disk image analysis, and rapid triaging procedures. Learn to construct timelines from MFT, USN Journals, and Windows event logs while getting hands-on with key artifacts like MFT, USN Journal, Registry Hives, Prefetch Files, ShimCache, Amcache, BAM, and SRUM data.
Detecting Windows Attacks with Splunk
Medium
Path Sections 23 Sections
Reward: +20
This Hack The Box Academy module is focused on pinpointing attacks on Windows and Active Directory. Utilizing Splunk as the cornerstone for investigation, this training will arm participants with the expertise to adeptly identify Windows-based threats leveraging Windows Event Logs and Zeek network logs. Furthermore, participants will benefit from actual PCAP files associated with the discussed Windows and Active Directory attacks, enhancing their understanding of the respective attack patterns and techniques.
Security Incident Reporting
Mini-Module
Easy
Path Sections 5 Sections
Reward: +10
Tailored to provide a holistic understanding, this Hack The Box Academy module ensures participants are adept at identifying, categorizing, and documenting security incidents with utmost accuracy and professionalism. The module meticulously breaks down the elements of a robust incident report and then presents participants with a real-world incident report, offering practical insights into the application of the concepts discussed.