Microsoft Sentinel is an innovative, scalable, cloud-native security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution. It facilitates quick responses to incidents and proactively improves security posture by integrating various data collection sources. Therefore, mastering how to respond to incidents in Microsoft Sentinel is a crucial part of the SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst examination.
Responding to Incidents in Microsoft Sentinel
The following steps guide you in responding to an incident in Microsoft Sentinel:
- Identification and Investigation: The first step is to identify the incident. Microsoft Sentinel enables you to view all the active incidents in the “Incidents” page. When you click on a specific incident, you can view its details such as severity, status, alert count, entities, tactics, incident URL, and tags.
- Threat Assessment: The next step is to analyze the threat. Microsoft Sentinel provides predefined analytics rules that help in identifying known threats. For unknown ones, you can use custom queries for more in-depth investigation.
- Incidents Response: In order to respond to the incident, you can set up automated responses using playbooks. Playbooks are collections of procedures that can be run from Microsoft Sentinel. They can automatically respond to an alert and take actions such as sending an email or SMS, or even blocking a malicious IP address.
Microsoft Sentinel Automation Options
| # | Automation Options | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Scheduled Query Rules (SQRs) | These rules run at specified intervals, and if the results match certain criteria, an alert is triggered. |
| 2. | Analytics rules based on Microsoft Security alerts | These rules are automatically created and maintained by Microsoft based on known security threats. |
| 3. | Fusion rules | Multiple low-fidelity anomalies are combined to generate high-fidelity security incidents |
| 4. | Machine Learning Behavior Analytics (MLBA) rules | Uses advanced machine learning algorithms to identify anomalies in behaviour |
Each automation option has its unique benefits. Therefore, understanding them will enable you to deal with various scenarios that may arise during the evaluation of incidents in Microsoft Sentinel.
Playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel
Playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel are powered by Azure Logic Apps, which means they include built-in templates and connectors, such as Office 365, Azure Security Center, ServiceNow, and Jira, among others.
Here is an example of a PLAYBOOK that sends an email when an incident is created:
trigger:
- type: Microsoft Sentinel – Incident creation
actions:
- type: Send an email
parameters:
- to: "securityteam@example.com"
- subject: "Microsoft Sentinel incident: #{IncidentNumber}"
- body: "An incident have been created on Microsoft Sentinel. Details: #{IncidentDetails}"
The SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst examination will ask questions related to automated responses to incidents, and thus requires a detailed understanding of Playbooks and their applications.
In conclusion, understanding how to effectively respond to incidents in Microsoft Sentinel is vital for anyone preparing to take the SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst exam. The platform’s capabilities to streamline security processes and automate responses can greatly aid your organization in detecting, investigating, and responding to security incidents more efficiently.
Practice Test
True or False: Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-based security information and event management (SIEM) solution.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel aims to streamline the collection and analysis of large volumes of security alert or log data.
Multiple select: Which of the following are core capabilities of Microsoft Sentinel?
- a) Threat intelligence
- b) Advanced analytics
- c) Editing capabilities
- d) Automation and orchestration
Answer: a), b), d)
Explanation: While Microsoft Sentinel does not offer editing abilities, it excels at threat intelligence, advanced analytics, and automated response with orchestration.
True or False: You can customize Microsoft Sentinel to better suit the needs of your organization.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel allows customization to accommodate different types of organizations and their specific needs.
Single select: What tool does Microsoft Sentinel use for automation and orchestration?
- a) Logic Apps
- b) Microsoft Defender
- c) Azure Sentinel
- d) Power BI
Answer: a) Logic Apps
Explanation: Logic Apps are used in Microsoft Sentinel for automation and orchestration.
True or False: Microsoft Sentinel is only compatible with other Microsoft products.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel is designed to work with most software solutions, not just Microsoft products.
Multiple select: In Microsoft Sentinel, how can you respond to incidents?
- a) Investigating alerts
- b) Tracking the user activity
- c) Examining entity behavior
- d) Looking at related telemetry
Answer: a), c), d)
Explanation: Responding to incidents in Microsoft Sentinel involves investigating alerts, examining entity behavior, and looking at related telemetry.
True or False: In Microsoft Sentinel, an incident is a collection of related alerts
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Incidents in Microsoft Sentinel indeed group together relevant alerts.
Single select: How does Microsoft Sentinel help in reducing false positives?
- a) By ignoring ad-hoc alerts
- b) By enabling rigorous authentication procedures
- c) By enabling multi-factor authentication
- d) By leveraging machine learning and advanced analytics
Answer: d) By leveraging machine learning and advanced analytics
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel uses machine learning and advanced analytics to help reduce false positives.
True or False: Every alert in Microsoft Sentinel automatically creates an incident.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Not every alert will automatically create an incident. Alerts are grouped into incidents based on specific criteria.
Multiple select: What are the statuses an incident can have in Microsoft Sentinel?
- a) New
- b) Closed
- c) Active
- d) Expiring
Answer: a), b), c)
Explanation: The statuses an incident can have in Microsoft Sentinel are New, Active, and Closed. There is no status called “Expiring”.
Single select: Microsoft Sentinel uses which of the following for automating responses to incidents?
- a) Playbooks
- b) Use cases
- c) Data connectors
- d) Workbooks
Answer: a) Playbooks
Explanation: Playbooks are automated procedures in Microsoft Sentinel used to respond to incidents.
True or False: In relation to Microsoft Sentinel, a playbook is a sequence of procedures to respond to a potential threat.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: A playbook is indeed a sequence of procedures, usually automated, to respond to a potential threat in Microsoft Sentinel.
Multiple select: Data connectors in Microsoft Sentinel can access data from which of the following?
- a) Microsoft 365 Defender
- b) Azure Apps
- c) Amazon Web Services
- d) Non-Microsoft solutions
Answer: a), c), d)
Explanation: Using data connectors, Microsoft Sentinel can access and incorporate data from various sources include Microsoft-based solutions, other cloud platforms, and non-Microsoft solutions.
True or False: You can write custom expressions to filter incidents in Microsoft Sentinel.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel allows custom expressions including Kusto Query Language (KQL) which can be used to filter incidents.
Single select: In Microsoft Sentinel, you can use ___________ to track and analyze behavior across your organization.
- a) Microsoft Analytics
- b) User entity behavior analytics (UEBA)
- c) Microsoft Defender
- d) Power BI
Answer: b) User entity behavior analytics (UEBA)
Explanation: UEBA in Microsoft Sentinel provides insights into abnormalities and potential threats across your organization.
Interview Questions
What is the primary purpose of Microsoft Sentinel?
Microsoft Sentinel is a scalable, cloud-native, security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution. It delivers intelligent security analytics and threat intelligence across an enterprise, providing a single solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response.
What is an incident in Microsoft Sentinel?
In Microsoft Sentinel, an incident is a collection of related alerts, combined to represent a single active threat within an organization. An incident can gather alerts pertaining to different entities or to the same entity.
How are incidents created in Microsoft Sentinel?
Incidents are created in Microsoft Sentinel using analytics rules. These rules, based on specific conditions or detections, automatically create an incident when they are met. Users can also manually create incidents.
How are incidents mitigated using Microsoft Sentinel?
Incidents are mitigated using playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel. A playbook is a collection of procedures that can be run from Microsoft Sentinel in response to an alert or incident.
What is the function of Microsoft Sentinel’s inbuilt AI?
Microsoft Sentinel’s inbuilt AI helps in reducing noise from legitimate alerts, boosts threat hunting capabilities, helps in threat intelligence and provides state of the art investigation capabilities resulting in faster response to attacks.
What scripting language is broadly used in creating custom analytics rules in Microsoft Sentinel?
Kusto Query Language (KQL) is used for creating custom analytics rules in Microsoft Sentinel.
What are entities in Microsoft Sentinel?
Entities in Microsoft Sentinel indicate who or what has triggered an alert or who or what might be affected, like accounts, hosts, IP addresses, and more.
What is threat intelligence and how does Microsoft Sentinel use this?
Threat Intelligence is data that is collected, processed, and analyzed to understand a threat actor’s motives, targets, and attack behaviors. Microsoft Sentinel uses threat intelligence feeds to enhance its threat detection capabilities.
What is the role of Logic Apps in Microsoft Sentinel?
Logic Apps in Microsoft Sentinel provide automated workflows and responses to identified incidents. They are a part of the Security Orchestration Automated Response (SOAR) capabilities of Microsoft Sentinel.
How can you manage access and roles in Microsoft Sentinel?
Access and roles in Microsoft Sentinel are managed through Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). You can assign specific permissions to users based on their job function or responsibilities.
What happens if a playbook in Microsoft Sentinel does not run correctly?
If a playbook doesn’t run correctly in Microsoft Sentinel, the incident would still be created but the appropriate response actions might not be executed. Administrators should regularly review playbook performance and status to ensure effective incident response.
How can you integrate Microsoft Sentinel with third-party solutions?
Microsoft Sentinel can integrate with third-party solutions via data connectors, allowing the ingestion of security data from a wide range of sources.
Can you manually close incidents in Microsoft Sentinel and when would this be appropriate?
Yes, you can manually close incidents in Microsoft Sentinel if the investigation finds the incident to be a false positive or if the threat identified by the incident has been mitigated.
Can you modify existing incidents in Microsoft Sentinel?
Yes, you can modify existing incidents in Microsoft Sentinel, including changing severity, status, and owner. This can be done manually by operators or automatically by playbooks.
What components of Microsoft Sentinel can be automated with machine learning?
Several aspects of Microsoft Sentinel can be automated with machine learning, including anomaly detection, user and entity behavioral analytics, and threat intelligence.
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