Microsoft Sentinel is a comprehensive cloud-based Security Information Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration Automated Response (SOAR) solution developed by Microsoft. It aids organizations in collecting, detecting, investigating, and responding to security threats. A critical aspect of the Sentinel system is triaging incidents – a process of analyzing alerts, performing an early investigation, and prioritizing security incidents based on severity, potential impact, and other criteria.
When it comes to the SC-200: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certification exam, gaining in-depth knowledge about triaging incidents in Microsoft Sentinel becomes indispensable.
Understanding Incidents in Microsoft Sentinel
Before diving into the process of incident triaging, it is crucial to comprehend the nature of incidents in the Sentinel environment. Incidents in Sentinel signify aggregations of notable suspicious activities that require a focused investigation. These incidents are predominantly generated from diverse data sources, and are triggered based upon the analytics rules constructed in Sentinel.
Incident Triage in Microsoft Sentinel
The core objective of triaging incidents in Microsoft Sentinel is to determine the seriousness of potential security incidents and then subsequently, prioritize and assign tasks to the respective SOC analysts to manage the threat more efficiently.
Following are the key stages involved in triaging incidents:
- Incident Generation: The process commences with alert generation, based on the analytics rules designed in Sentinel. These rules are correlated to diverse data sources and cloud or on-premise infrastructures.
- Incident Analysis: Here, the security analyst digs deep to gain a better understanding of the incident characteristics, sources, and targets. Analysts delve into individual alerts that are part of the incidents for initial assessment.
- Threat Verification: This stage aims at eliminating false positives. If a security analyst determines that a particular alert does not pose a threat, it can be disregarded or de-prioritized.
- Incident Prioritization: At this stage, the threats are ranked according to their potential damage, scope, or urgency. Essential factors determining the priority include the potential business impact, the number of affected resources, and the vulnerability of the targeted systems.
- Incident Assignment and Response: After analyzing and prioritizing the incidents, they are assigned to the respective SOC analysts. These incidents may also be grouped for a comprehensive, coordinated response.
How to Triage an Incident in Microsoft Sentinel
In the Sentinel dashboard, users can navigate to the “Incidents” tab to view the created incidents. Here, the status, severity, and other particulars of the incidents are present. An example of a simplified process to triage an incident would be:
- Open the Microsoft Sentinel dashboard and navigate to the Incidents tab.
- Select an incident to triage. In the incident page, study the Alert details, including entities and tactics.
- Check out the timeline of the incident.
- Investigate further by going deeper into the alert events, entities, and bookmarks.
- Ascertain the severity and potential impact of the incident, then accordingly prioritize it.
- Assign the incident to a SOC analyst for a detailed investigation and responses.
Ultimately, efficient incident triage can streamline the system response, reduce redundancy, minimize the response time, and significantly decrease the potential risk. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of triaging incidents in Microsoft Sentinel is vital for anyone preparing for the SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certification exam.
Practice Test
True or False: Triage in Microsoft Sentinel refers to the process of prioritizing security alerts and incidents based on their importance and urgency.
Answer: True
Explanation: Triage is an important part of incident response in Microsoft Sentinel. It helps to prioritize and manage security alerts and incident handling.
What type of data can be used to triage incidents in Microsoft Sentinel?
- A. Machine data
- B. Network data
- C. Threat intelligence data
- D. All of the above.
Answer: D. All of the above.
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel uses a variety of data types for triage, including machine data, network data, and threat intelligence data.
True or False: An analyst should always close incidents immediately after they are resolved.
Answer: False
Explanation: Closing an incident should be followed by other tasks such as documenting what was learned and using the information to improve future responses.
In Microsoft Sentinel, what does the term “Incident” imply?
- A. A single alert
- B. A group of related alerts
- C. A network outage
- D. A hardware failure
Answer: B. A group of related alerts.
Explanation: In the context of Microsoft Sentinel, an “Incident” can be a group of related alerts that needs to be investigated together.
True or False: Microsoft Sentinel allows the automation of triage incidents.
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel provides features such as Playbooks to automate the triage process based on criteria defined by you.
Which of these is NOT a severity level in Microsoft Sentinel incidents?
- A. High
- B. Medium
- C. Critical
- D. Low
- E. Neutral
Answer: E. Neutral
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel uses four severity levels – High, Medium, Low, and Critical, to classify incidents.
What is the primary purpose of Triage in Microsoft Sentinel?
- A. Identify false positives
- B. Classify incidents based on their severity
- C. Both A and B
- D. Neither A nor B
Answer: C. Both A and B
Explanation: The purpose of triage is to identify false positives and classify incidents based on their severity, which helps in prioritizing responses.
True or False: Analysts can manually change the severity level of incidents.
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel provides the flexibility for analysts to manually adjust the severity level of incidents if needed.
Which of these is NOT commonly used in the Triage process in Microsoft Sentinel?
- A. Log search
- B. Machine learning algorithms
- C. Manual scripting
- D. Real-time texting.
Answer: D. Real-time texting.
Explanation: Real-time texting is not directly used in the Triage process, while log search, machine learning algorithms, and manual scripting are common techniques used.
True or False: While using Microsoft Sentinel, segregating incidents according to their attributes is unnecessary.
Answer: False
Explanation: It’s essential to segregate incidents based on attributes like severity, status, and related alerts for effective triage and incident handling.
True or False: Triage in Microsoft Sentinel cannot be customized according to the organizational needs.
Answer: False
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel allows customization of triage processes based on the specific needs and priorities of the organization.
Which of the following does NOT characterize a low-severity incident in Microsoft Sentinel?
- A. Single-factor authentication attempts from unfamiliar locations
- B. Mass deletion of users
- C. Suspicious email forwarding rules
- D. Incident is not time-sensitive
Answer: B. Mass deletion of users
Explanation: A mass deletion of users typically signifies a high-severity incident, not a low-severity one.
True or False: Low-severity incidents should be ignored in Microsoft Sentinel’s triage process.
Answer: False
Explanation: Although low-severity incidents are less urgent than high-severity ones, they should not be ignored as they may provide valuable context for more serious incidents.
Incidents in Microsoft Sentinel are always investigated individually.
- A. True
- B. False
Answer: B. False
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel often groups related alerts into single incidents. This allows for a broader investigation and efficient response to threats.
In Microsoft Sentinel, what is an “Alert”?
- A. A single incident.
- B. A security event that requires attention.
- C. A threat intelligence report.
- D. A non-security event.
Answer: B. A security event that requires attention.
Explanation: An “Alert” in the context of Microsoft Sentinel is a security event that has been identified as requiring attention.
Interview Questions
What is 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 the enterprise, providing a single solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response.
What is the primary purpose of triage in Microsoft Sentinel?
The primary purpose of triage in Microsoft Sentinel is analyzing and prioritizing security alerts and incidents. This involves investigating incidents, identifying false positives, and focusing on the most critical threats to the organization.
How is the priority of an incident determined in Microsoft Sentinel?
The priority of an incident in Microsoft Sentinel is determined by the highest alert severity that is associated with the incident. The severity levels include Informational, Low, Medium, High, and Critical.
On what basis does Microsoft Sentinel aggregate alerts into incidents?
Microsoft Sentinel aggregates alerts into incidents based on common entities like hosts, accounts, IP addresses, and more. Using these entities, Sentinel combines related alerts across multiple devices and users to construct a comprehensive incident.
What are Playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel, and what is their role in incident triage?
Playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel are collections of alert trigger responses or procedures, defined in Azure Logic Apps. They automate your incident response and reduce the time and effort required in triage. Depending on the alert, playbooks can do things like blocking potentially malicious IPs, disabling user accounts, or collecting forensic data.
How can Microsoft Sentinel help identify false positives?
Microsoft Sentinel uses multiple sophisticated AI models and algorithms to correlate alerts into meaningful incidents, effectively reducing the noise and helping to identify false positives. You can also tune your analytics rules or filters to reduce false positives based on your organization’s needs and experiences.
What is proactive hunting in Microsoft Sentinel?
Proactive hunting in Microsoft Sentinel is the ability to hunt for existing threats in your environment that may not necessarily trigger alerts. It involves using KQL queries to sift through accumulated data and locate anomalies or suspicious patterns.
What type of queries does Microsoft Sentinel use for data searching and threat hunting?
Microsoft Sentinel uses Kusto Query Language (KQL) for data searching and threat hunting. KQL is used to retrieve, filter, and analyze data from insight logs.
Does Microsoft Sentinel have a capability for Visualizing incident investigation data?
Yes, Microsoft Sentinel offers investigation graphs to provide a visual representation of the relationships between entities (like hosts, accounts, and IP addresses) in an incident and the alerts triggered by these entities.
Can you merge incidents in Microsoft Sentinel?
Yes, you can merge incidents in Microsoft Sentinel. This is beneficial when separate incidents are discovered to be related, as merging helps to streamline investigations and provide a unified view of the threat.
What is advanced multistage attack detection in Microsoft Sentinel?
Advanced multistage attack detection in Microsoft Sentinel uses fusion technology to correlate low and medium fidelity alerts across Microsoft products into high fidelity incidents, increasing the detection capability for complex, multistage attacks.
What is the role of Sentinel’s built-in machine learning?
Sentinel’s built-in machine learning identifies complex threats that may be missed by individual alert rules. Its fusion technology can correlate a series of low fidelity anomalies to detect a high fidelity security incident.
What is the benefit of integration between Microsoft Sentinel and other Microsoft 365 security services?
The integration enhances the visibility to detect threats from different services, reduces complexity by bringing together related alerts into a single platform, and improves efficiency in managing and responding to these threats.
What is needed to create an incident in Microsoft Sentinel?
To create an incident in Microsoft Sentinel, you need one or more alerts that are triggered based on your analytics rules.
Can I manually create incidents in Microsoft Sentinel?
No, you cannot manually create incidents in Microsoft Sentinel. Incidents are automatically created when one or more alerts, based on your analytics rules, are triggered.