Cyber Threat Hunting

• Proactive Cyber Threat Hunting:

  • Importance of integrating proactive cyber threat hunting into SOC operations to mitigate future attacks.

  • Organizations need intelligence to protect against both internal and external threats.

  • Insights gained from threat hunting become part of the organization's cybersecurity strategy and tactics.

• Global Cyber Trends and Challenges:

  • Cyber threats are varied, with sources including nation-states, transnational criminals, and cybercriminals.

  • The Internet of Things (IoT) increases cybersecurity challenges as more devices become wireless and IP-enabled.

  • Organizations face challenges due to cyber skill shortages and increasing complexity in managing cybersecurity.

• Dwell Time and Vulnerability:

  • Average dwell time for a vulnerability or threat within a network is around 191 days, highlighting the need for improved detection and response.

• Threat Actor Sophistication:

  • Threat actors are highly resourceful and sophisticated, often having more time, money, and resources than defenders.

  • They operate like businesses, providing services such as Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) and Malware as a Service (MaaS).

• Data as a Critical Asset:

  • Data is a critical asset in cybersecurity, used to identify and track various forms of criminal activities, including cybercrime, terrorism, and financial crimes.

  • Effective data analysis is essential for identifying threats and responding appropriately.

• SOC Challenges:

  • The need to increase the speed and accuracy of response in SOCs.

  • Traditional SOCs (Tier 1, Tier 2) focus on known threats, but the greatest damage often comes from the 20% of unknown threats.

  • The need to evolve SOC operations to address these unknown threats through more advanced techniques, including cognitive and intelligence-led approaches.

• Intelligent-Led Cognitive SOC:

  • Moving towards an Intelligent-Led Cognitive SOC is crucial for dealing with emerging and unknown threats.

  • This involves incorporating advanced analytics and cognitive technologies to improve threat detection and response.