According to the “State of the UAE – Cybersecurity Report 2024”, the nation currently hosts over 155,000 vulnerable assets, with more than 40% of critical vulnerabilities remaining unaddressed for over five years. Ransomware attacks represent over half of the cyber incidents, with major global ransomware groups like Lockbit 3.0, Cl0p, and Alphv (Blackcat) being the primary actors. The Government, Energy, and IT sectors are the most targeted, while the Middle East, including the UAE, is experiencing the second-highest data breach costs globally.
Introduction to Cyber Threat Hunting
Cyber threat hunting is the practice of actively searching for cyber threats that may have bypassed an organization’s existing security measures. Unlike traditional reactive security measures, threat hunting is proactive and involves a combination of human expertise and advanced technologies to detect and mitigate threats.
What is the importance of Cyber Threat Hunting?
- Proactive Defense: Threat hunting helps in identifying threats before they can cause significant damage.
- Enhanced Security Posture: By continuously monitoring and analyzing the environment, organizations can improve their overall security posture.
- Detection of Advanced Threats: Threat hunting is particularly effective in detecting advanced persistent threats (APTs) and other sophisticated attacks that traditional security measures might miss.
What are the Common Threat Hunting Techniques?
- Searching: Searching involves querying data for specific artifacts that may indicate malicious activity. This technique requires clear search criteria to avoid overwhelming results. For instance, searching for unusual login times or access patterns can help identify potential insider threats.
- Cluster Analysis: Cluster analysis is a statistical technique that groups similar data points based on specific characteristics. This technique is useful for identifying outliers and patterns that may indicate a threat. Machine learning algorithms are often used to process large datasets and identify clusters of suspicious activity.
- Grouping: Grouping involves examining sets of unique artifacts to identify circumstances under which they appear together. This technique helps in identifying related instances of malicious activity and is often used in conjunction with clustering.
- Stack Counting: It involves analyzing datasets for similarities and anomalies. This technique is useful for detecting outliers in specific metrics, such as unusual network traffic patterns or login attempts from unexpected locations.
Which are the three key Threat Hunting Methodologies?
- Hypothesis-Based Threat Hunting: This methodology involves forming a hypothesis about potential threats based on known tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of attackers. The hypothesis is then tested by collecting and analyzing relevant data. The MITRE ATT&CK framework is often used to guide hypothesis-based threat hunting.
- Intelligence-Based Threat Hunting: The threat hunting relies on threat intelligence sources to identify indicators of compromise (IoCs). This methodology is reactive and involves analyzing data based on known IoCs, such as malicious IP addresses, domain names, and hash values.
- Custom or Situational Threat Hunting: Custom threat hunting is tailored to the specific environment and industry of the organization. This methodology combines elements of both hypothesis-based and intelligence-based hunting and is influenced by situational awareness and industry-specific threats.
Behavioral Analysis in Threat Hunting
Behavioral analysis involves monitoring and analyzing the behavior of users, systems, and networks to detect anomalies that may indicate a threat. This technique leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to identify patterns and deviations from normal behavior.
AI-Powered Behavioral Analysis
AI-powered behavioral analysis uses advanced algorithms to learn and predict adversarial behavior patterns. This approach enhances traditional detection methods by providing real-time detection of anomalies and potential threats. For example, AI can detect unusual login patterns or data exfiltration activities that may indicate an insider threat.
Cyber Threat Hunting and SecureWorks’ Role
Cyber threat hunting is a proactive cybersecurity practice that involves actively searching for hidden threats within an organization’s network. Unlike traditional reactive security measures, threat hunting aims to identify and mitigate potential threats before they can cause significant damage. SecureWorks, a leading cybersecurity company, offers advanced threat hunting capabilities through its Taegis™ platform and specialized services.
SecureWorks’ Approach to Threat Hunting
SecureWorks employs a comprehensive approach to threat hunting, combining advanced technology with human expertise:
Taegis™ ManagedXDR Elite
Taegis ManagedXDR Elite is SecureWorks’ flagship threat hunting solution, offering continuous, managed threat hunting services:
- Continuous Managed Threat Hunting: Unlike periodic searches, ManagedXDR Elite provides ongoing threat hunting activities that leverage the Taegis platform’s insights and the expertise of seasoned security professionals.
- Comprehensive Coverage: The solution hunts for threats across all sources of telemetry, including endpoints, networks, cloud environments, and identity systems.
- Focus on Evasive Threats: ManagedXDR Elite doesn’t just look for undetected intrusions or malware but specifically targets threats that are difficult to detect using conventional methods.
- Designated Expert Threat Hunter: Clients are assigned a dedicated SecureWorks threat hunting expert who becomes an extension of their security team.
- Bi-Weekly Meetings: The designated threat hunter conducts bi-weekly meetings with the client to discuss findings and provide recommendations.
Threat Hunting Assessment
For organizations looking for a point-in-time evaluation, SecureWorks offers a Threat Hunting Assessment:
- Intensive Evaluation: This 30-day comprehensive assessment reveals unknown compromises and cyber threats that may have evaded existing security controls.
- Hypothesis-Driven Approach: The assessment goes beyond simple scans of indicators of compromise, employing a focused, human-led approach informed by context.
- Prioritized Investigation: The assessment prioritizes the investigation of assets that are most critical to the organization’s security.
- Multiple Data Sources: It can leverage endpoint, network, cloud telemetry, and other information sources for a holistic view of the environment.
The SecureWorks Advantage
SecureWorks brings several unique advantages to the threat hunting process:
Human Expertise: The company employs a team of elite security and cyber incident response practitioners with decades of experience in combating adversaries.
Taegis™ XDR Analytics: SecureWorks’ advanced security analytics platform scales the hunters’ ability to process data from various sources and identify both historical and active compromises.
Integrated Threat Intelligence: A dedicated team of over 200 researchers collates, analyzes, and synthesizes the latest insights into actionable threat intelligence.
Counter Threat Unit™ (CTU™): This world-class research team consumes data from thousands of monitored customer environments and incident response engagements, providing valuable insights for threat hunting activities.
MITRE ATT&CK Framework Alignment: SecureWorks maps threat hunting activities to industry-standard threat models like the MITRE ATT&CK framework, ensuring comprehensive coverage of potential attack vectors.
Benefits of Using SecureWorks for Threat Hunting
Reduced Risk: Holistic monitoring across various environments helps organizations identify and mitigate threats more effectively.
Investment Protection: SecureWorks’ open platform approach allows for better integration with existing and future security investments.
Access to Expertise: Organizations can tap into years of cybersecurity expertise through 24/7 live chat support.
Improved Visibility: The combination of advanced analytics and human expertise provides enhanced visibility into potential threats.
Customized Approach: SecureWorks tailors its threat hunting activities to each organization’s specific environment and priorities.
