Applied Incident Response

Incident response is critical for the active defense of any network, and incident responders need up-to-date, immediately applicable techniques with which to engage the adversary. Applied Incident Response details effective ways to respond to advanced attacks against local and remote network resources, providing proven response techniques and a framework through which to apply them. As a starting point for new incident handlers, or as a technical reference for hardened IR veterans, this book details the latest techniques for responding to threats against your network, including: Preparing your environment for effective incident response Leveraging MITRE ATT&CK and threat intelligence for active network defense Local and remote triage of systems using PowerShell, WMIC, and open-source tools Acquiring RAM and disk images locally and remotely Analyzing RAM with Volatility and Rekall Deep-dive forensic analysis of system drives using open-source or commercial tools Leveraging Security Onion and Elastic Stack for network security monitoring Techniques for log analysis and aggregating high-value logs Static and dynamic analysis of malware with YARA rules, FLARE VM, and Cuckoo Sandbox Detecting and responding to lateral movement techniques, including pass-the-hash, pass-the-ticket, Kerberoasting, malicious use of PowerShell, and many more Effective threat hunting techniques Adversary emulation with Atomic Red Team Improving preventive and detective controls

Incident response is critical for the active defense of any network, and incident responders need up-to-date, immediately applicable techniques with which to engage the adversary. Applied Incident Response details effective ways to respond to advanced attacks against local and remote network resources, providing proven response techniques and a framework through which to apply them. As a starting point for new incident handlers, or as a technical reference for hardened IR veterans, this book details the latest techniques for responding to threats against your network, including: Preparing your environment for effective incident response Leveraging MITRE ATT&CK and threat intelligence for active network defense Local and remote triage of systems using PowerShell, WMIC, and open-source tools Acquiring RAM and disk images locally and remotely Analyzing RAM with Volatility and Rekall Deep-dive forensic analysis of system drives using open-source or commercial tools Leveraging Security Onion and Elastic Stack for network security monitoring Techniques for log analysis and aggregating high-value logs Static and dynamic analysis of malware with YARA rules, FLARE VM, and Cuckoo Sandbox Detecting and responding to lateral movement techniques, including pass-the-hash, pass-the-ticket, Kerberoasting, malicious use of PowerShell, and many more Effective threat hunting techniques Adversary emulation with Atomic Red Team Improving preventive and detective controls

Learn to identify security incidents and build a series of best practices to stop cyber attacks before they create serious consequences Key FeaturesDiscover Incident Response (IR), from its evolution to implementationUnderstand cybersecurity essentials and IR best practices through real-world phishing incident scenariosExplore the current challenges in IR through the perspectives of leading expertsBook Description Cybercriminals are always in search of new methods to infiltrate systems. Quickly responding to an incident will help organizations minimize losses, decrease vulnerabilities, and rebuild services and processes. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with most organizations gravitating towards remote working and cloud computing, this book uses frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK® and the SANS IR model to assess security risks. The book begins by introducing you to the cybersecurity landscape and explaining why IR matters. You will understand the evolution of IR, current challenges, key metrics, and the composition of an IR team, along with an array of methods and tools used in an effective IR process. You will then learn how to apply these strategies, with discussions on incident alerting, handling, investigation, recovery, and reporting. Further, you will cover governing IR on multiple platforms and sharing cyber threat intelligence and the procedures involved in IR in the cloud. Finally, the book concludes with an “Ask the Experts” chapter wherein industry experts have provided their perspective on diverse topics in the IR sphere. By the end of this book, you should become proficient at building and applying IR strategies pre-emptively and confidently. What you will learnUnderstand IR and its significanceOrganize an IR teamExplore best practices for managing attack situations with your IR teamForm, organize, and operate a product security team to deal with product vulnerabilities and assess their severityOrganize all the entities involved in product security responseRespond to security vulnerabilities using tools developed by Keepnet Labs and BinalyzeAdapt all the above learnings for the cloudWho this book is for This book is aimed at first-time incident responders, cybersecurity enthusiasts who want to get into IR, and anyone who is responsible for maintaining business security. It will also interest CIOs, CISOs, and members of IR, SOC, and CSIRT teams. However, IR is not just about information technology or security teams, and anyone with a legal, HR, media, or other active business role would benefit from this book. The book assumes you have some admin experience. No prior DFIR experience is required. Some infosec knowledge will be a plus but isn’t mandatory.

Using a well-conceived incident response plan in the aftermath of an online security breach enables your team to identify attackers and learn how they operate. But, only when you approach incident response with a cyber threat intelligence mindset will you truly understand the value of that information. With this practical guide, you’ll learn the fundamentals of intelligence analysis, as well as the best ways to incorporate these techniques into your incident response process. Each method reinforces the other: threat intelligence supports and augments incident response, while incident response generates useful threat intelligence. This book helps incident managers, malware analysts, reverse engineers, digital forensics specialists, and intelligence analysts understand, implement, and benefit from this relationship. In three parts, this in-depth book includes: The fundamentals: get an introduction to cyber threat intelligence, the intelligence process, the incident-response process, and how they all work together Practical application: walk through the intelligence-driven incident response (IDIR) process using the F3EAD process—Find, Fix Finish, Exploit, Analyze, and Disseminate The way forward: explore big-picture aspects of IDIR that go beyond individual incident-response investigations, including intelligence team building

Create, maintain, and manage a continual cybersecurity incident response program using the practical steps presented in this book. Don't allow your cybersecurity incident responses (IR) to fall short of the mark due to lack of planning, preparation, leadership, and management support. Surviving an incident, or a breach, requires the best response possible. This book provides practical guidance for the containment, eradication, and recovery from cybersecurity events and incidents. The book takes the approach that incident response should be a continual program. Leaders must understand the organizational environment, the strengths and weaknesses of the program and team, and how to strategically respond. Successful behaviors and actions required for each phase of incident response are explored in the book. Straight from NIST 800-61, these actions include: Planning and practicing Detection Containment Eradication Post-incident actions What You’ll Learn Know the sub-categories of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework Understand the components of incident response Go beyond the incident response plan Turn the plan into a program that needs vision, leadership, and culture to make it successful Be effective in your role on the incident response team Who This Book Is For Cybersecurity leaders, executives, consultants, and entry-level professionals responsible for executing the incident response plan when something goes wrong

A practical guide to deploying digital forensic techniques in response to cyber security incidents About This Book Learn incident response fundamentals and create an effective incident response framework Master forensics investigation utilizing digital investigative techniques Contains real-life scenarios that effectively use threat intelligence and modeling techniques Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at Information Security professionals, forensics practitioners, and students with knowledge and experience in the use of software applications and basic command-line experience. It will also help professionals who are new to the incident response/digital forensics role within their organization. What You Will Learn Create and deploy incident response capabilities within your organization Build a solid foundation for acquiring and handling suitable evidence for later analysis Analyze collected evidence and determine the root cause of a security incident Learn to integrate digital forensic techniques and procedures into the overall incident response process Integrate threat intelligence in digital evidence analysis Prepare written documentation for use internally or with external parties such as regulators or law enforcement agencies In Detail Digital Forensics and Incident Response will guide you through the entire spectrum of tasks associated with incident response, starting with preparatory activities associated with creating an incident response plan and creating a digital forensics capability within your own organization. You will then begin a detailed examination of digital forensic techniques including acquiring evidence, examining volatile memory, hard drive assessment, and network-based evidence. You will also explore the role that threat intelligence plays in the incident response process. Finally, a detailed section on preparing reports will help you prepare a written report for use either internally or in a courtroom. By the end of the book, you will have mastered forensic techniques and incident response and you will have a solid foundation on which to increase your ability to investigate such incidents in your organization. Style and approach The book covers practical scenarios and examples in an enterprise setting to give you an understanding of how digital forensics integrates with the overall response to cyber security incidents. You will also learn the proper use of tools and techniques to investigate common cyber security incidents such as malware infestation, memory analysis, disk analysis, and network analysis.

Any good attacker will tell you that expensive security monitoring and prevention tools aren’t enough to keep you secure. This practical book demonstrates a data-centric approach to distilling complex security monitoring, incident response, and threat analysis ideas into their most basic elements. You’ll learn how to develop your own threat intelligence and incident detection strategy, rather than depend on security tools alone. Written by members of Cisco’s Computer Security Incident Response Team, this book shows IT and information security professionals how to create an InfoSec playbook by developing strategy, technique, and architecture. Learn incident response fundamentals—and the importance of getting back to basics Understand threats you face and what you should be protecting Collect, mine, organize, and analyze as many relevant data sources as possible Build your own playbook of repeatable methods for security monitoring and response Learn how to put your plan into action and keep it running smoothly Select the right monitoring and detection tools for your environment Develop queries to help you sort through data and create valuable reports Know what actions to take during the incident response phase

Are you satisfied with the way your company responds to IT incidents? How prepared is your response team to handle critical, time-sensitive events such as service disruptions and security breaches? IT professionals looking for effective response models have successfully adopted the Incident Management System (IMS) used by firefighters throughout the US. This practical book shows you how to apply the same response methodology to your own IT operation. You’ll learn how IMS best practices for leading people and managing time apply directly to IT incidents where the stakes are high and outcomes are uncertain.