Detect and investigate various cyber threats and techniques carried out by malicious actors by analyzing logs generated from different sources

Key Features

• Understand and analyze various modern cyber threats and attackers' techniques
• Gain in-depth knowledge of email security, Windows, firewall, proxy, WAF, and security solution logs
• Explore popular cyber threat intelligence platforms to investigate suspicious artifacts

Book Description

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.

What you will learn

• Get familiarized with and investigate various threat types and attacker techniques
• Analyze email security solution logs and understand email flow and headers
• Find out how to analyze Microsoft event logs
• Practical investigation of the various Windows threats and attacks
• Analyze web proxy logs to investigate C&C communication attributes
• Understand web application firewall (WAF) logs and examine various external attacks
• Analyze FW logs and security alerts to investigate cyber threats
• Understand the role of CTI in investigation and identify potential threats

Who this book is for

This book is for Security Operation Center (SOC) analysts, security professionals, cybersecurity incident investigators, incident handlers, incident responders, or anyone looking to explore attacker techniques and delve deeper into detecting and investigating attacks. If you want to efficiently detect and investigate cyberattacks by analyzing logs generated from different log sources, then this is the book for you. Basic knowledge of cybersecurity and networking domains and entry-level security concepts are necessary to get the most out of this book.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Email Investigation Techniques

Chapter 1: Investigating Email Threats

Chapter 2: Email Flow and Header Analysis

Part 2: Investigating Windows Threats by Using Event Logs

Chapter 3: Introduction to Windows Event Logs

Chapter 4: Tracking Accounts Login and Management

Chapter 5: Investigating Suspicious Process Execution Using Windows Event Logs

Chapter 6: Investigating PowerShell Event Logs

Chapter 7: Investigating Persistence and Lateral Movement Using Windows Event Logs

Part 3: Investigating Network Threats by Using Firewall and Proxy Logs

Chapter 8: Network Firewall Logs Analysis

Chapter 9: Investigating Cyber Threats by Using the Firewall Logs

Chapter 10: Web Proxy Logs Analysis

Chapter 11: Investigating Suspicious Outbound Communications (C&C Communications) by Using Proxy Logs

Part 4: Investigating Other Threats and Leveraging External Sources to Investigate Cyber Threats

Chapter 12: Investigating External Threats

Chapter 13: Investigating Network Flows and Security Solutions Alerts

Chapter 14: Threat Intelligence in a SOC Analyst's Day

Chapter 15: Malware Sand boxing - Building a Malware Sandbox

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.