Threat hunting is the proactive search for concealed cyber threats in a network. Hackers who have evaded your initial endpoint security defenses are considered cyber threats. An attacker may linger on a network for months, quietly gathering data, hunting for sensitive information, or getting login credentials to roam around the network.
Many organizations lack the sophisticated detection capabilities necessary to prevent advanced persistent threats from lingering in the network once an attacker has avoided detection. As a consequence, danger hunting is an essential defensive tactic.
Threat hunting expands as firms attempt to stay ahead of emerging cyber threats and respond promptly to attacks.
Threat hunters assume attackers are already present in the system and search for aberrant behaviour which may indicate hostile activity. Proactive danger hunting typically falls under one of three categories:
Hypothesis-driven investigation - Frequently triggered by discovering a new threat in a massive pool of crowd-sourced attack data, offering insight into attackers' most current tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP). Once a new TTP is identified, threat hunters will determine if the attacker's specific behaviours are visible in their environment.
Investigation using Indicators of Compromise or Indicators of Attack - This technique uses tactical threat intelligence to catalogue known IOCs and IOAs associated with new threats. Threat hunters then utilize these as triggers to discover probable covert attacks or persistent hostile behaviour.
Advanced analytics and machine learning investigations - This third option employs sophisticated data analysis and machine learning to sift through massive volumes of data in search of abnormalities indicative of hostile behaviour. These anomalies become hunting leads, which skilled analysts pursue in order to uncover stealthy threats.
All three strategies involve a collaborative effort between humans and advanced security technology so as to defend an organization's systems and information.
Cyber threat hunting is usually divided into three stages: a trigger, an investigation, and a resolution.
Trigger - In the event of malicious behaviour, a trigger sends threat hunters to a certain machine or network location; any new threat typically sparks proactive hunting. For example, a security team may seek advanced attacks which use fileless malware to bypass existing defenses.
Investigation - To investigate a suspected hostile incursion, the threat hunter uses technology like EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response). A detailed picture of the malicious behaviour will be developed once the activity is confirmed to be benign.
Resolution - As part of the resolution step, operational and security teams acquire information about harmful activities. It’s possible to feed acquired data into automated systems to improve effectiveness without involving humans.
Cyber threat hunters gather as much information as possible about an attacker's actions, methods, and goals throughout the process. Additionally, they analyze obtained data to detect trends in an organization's security environment, eliminate current vulnerabilities and estimate future security.
Threat hunting is an important complement to standard incident detection, response and cleanup procedures. While security systems evaluate raw data to generate alerts, threat hunting analyzes this same data using queries and automation to generate hunting leads.
Human threat hunters then examine hunting leads for indicators of adversary activities, which can subsequently be managed through the same pipeline.
Although the concept of threat hunting is basic, the challenge is in selecting individuals capable of carrying out the activity properly. The most skilled danger hunters have been in combat and have extensive experience dealing with cyber adversaries.
CyberHunter provides both technological and experienced services to assist you in initiating your hunt:
We can help you plan a hunting area and gear your network to maximize visibility.
We can provide you with the required instruments to enhance your hunting experience.
We can offer hunters on a contract basis to enhance your cybersecurity workforce.
Choose CyberHunter
The CyberHunter approach uses the industry's most advanced tools, methods, and processes to determine and report on your current security situation. We are the only system that can do an advanced vulnerability and pen test, plus look for and detect advanced persistence threats which have already rooted in your system.
CyberHunter provides you with the cyber intelligence and knowledge necessary to take preventative measures.
For more information about our Threat Hunting Services, please visit us at cyberhunter.solutions or call us at (833) 292-4868 today.