Effective Threat Investigation for SOC Analysts: The ultimate guide to examining various threats and attacker techniques using security logs

by Mostafa Yahia

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781837638758
Publisher:	Packt Publishing
Publication date:	08/25/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	314
File size:	28 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mostafa Yahia is a skilled and motivated threat investigator and hunter with a wealth of experience investigating and hunting down various cyber threats. He is a proven leader in building and leading cybersecurity-managed services such as SOC and threat-hunting services. Mostafa holds a bachelor's degree in computer science, which he earned in 2016, and has furthered his education by earning multiple industry-recognized certifications, including GCFA, GCIH, CCNA, and IBM QRadar. In addition to his professional work, Mostafa also shares his knowledge through free courses and lessons on his YouTube channel. Currently, he serves as the senior lead for cyber defence services in an MSSP company, overseeing SOC, TH, DFIR, and CA services.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Investigating Email Threats
2. Email Flow and Header Analysis
3. Introduction to Windows Event Logs
4. Tracking Accounts Login and Management
5. Investigating Suspicious Process Execution Using Windows Event Logs
6. Investigating PowerShell Event Logs
7. Investigating Persistence and Lateral Movement Using Windows Event Logs
8. Network Firewall Logs Analysis
9. Investigating Cyber Threats by Using the Firewall Logs
10. Web Proxy Logs Analysis
11. Investigating Suspicious Outbound Communications (C&C Communications) by Using Proxy Logs
12. Investigating External Threats
13. Investigating Network Flows and Security Solutions Alerts
14. Threat Intelligence in a SOC Analyst's Day
15. Malware Sandboxing – Building a Malware Sandbox