Detection Engineering

Detection engineering involves creating specialized detection mechanisms and custom detection rules designed to identify specific threats and anomalies unique to your IT environment. These mechanisms and rules bridge the gap left by default SIEM rules, allowing proactive monitoring and response to threats.

Detection engineering involves defining specific threats or anomalies to monitor, writing the appropriate query in the SIEM's query language (like KQL, SPL, or MQL), and setting parameters for alerts and actions. This process ensures the custom detection rules are tailored to your organization's unique needs.

Detection engineering enhances your SIEM by providing tailored threat detection and alerting. Custom detection rules allow you to monitor specific events and system states, improving overall security posture and reducing false positives. This leads to a more efficient and effective security operation.

You need custom detection rules to address the unique threats and anomalies specific to your organization. These rules enable proactive threat hunting and ensure comprehensive security coverage.

1. What are the limitations of default detection rules?
Default detection rules provided by SIEM platforms are designed to cover common threats but may not address specific vulnerabilities unique to your organization. Custom detection rules fill this gap, providing a tailored approach to threat detection.

2. How can custom detection rules benefit my organization?
Custom detection rules can help your organization by providing targeted threat detection, reducing the risk of undetected attacks, and improving compliance with security standards. They offer a higher level of protection and adaptability compared to default rules.

Custom detection rules are crafted by cybersecurity experts known as 'Detection Engineers' who understand your specific environment and threats. They use advanced query languages like KQL, SPL, and MQL to develop effective and efficient detection mechanisms. Creating effective custom detection rules requires a deep understanding of cybersecurity principles, knowledge of the specific SIEM platform and its query language, and the ability to analyze and interpret security data. Regular updates ensure the rules remain effective in detecting and responding to emerging threats.

Custom detection rules should be regularly updated to adapt to evolving threats and changes in your IT environment. Regular updates ensure that the rules remain effective in detecting and responding to new and emerging threats.

Clients can also send tweak requests, such as updating watchlists, redesigning existing rules or upgrading existing rules to newer versions when required. This ensures that the detection rules stay relevant and effective against the latest threats.

Detection engineering mechanisms and custom detection rules can monitor a wide range of events, including suspected breach activity, misconfigured endpoints, unauthorized access attempts, and anomalous behavior patterns. These rules are customizable to fit your specific monitoring needs.

1. Can custom detection rules detect both internal and external threats?
Yes, custom detection rules can be designed to detect both internal and external threats. They can monitor for insider threats, suspicious user behavior, and external attacks, providing comprehensive coverage.

2. What specific anomalies can custom detection rules detect?
Custom detection rules can detect anomalies such as unusual login patterns, unexpected changes to system configurations, unauthorized data access, and other indicators of potential security breaches.

3. How do custom detection rules adapt to new threats?
Regular updates and fine-tuning of custom detection rules ensure they remain effective against emerging threats and evolving attack methods.

4. How comprehensive are custom detection rules?
Custom detection rules can be fine-tuned to be very comprehensive, covering various types of threats and anomalies tailored to your organization's specific needs.

We ensure the accuracy and quality of custom detection rules through a DTAP (Development, Testing, Acceptance, and Production) procedure. This involves quality assurance processes where our security specialists work under a four-eyed principle, with one acting as the detection engineer and another as the QA engineer. We perform end-to-end tests in collaboration with stakeholders to ensure the rule works. Testing methods include running detection rules against historical data, simulating attacks, and monitoring in live environments. Upon successful testing and stakeholder acceptance, we finalize the rule development request.

We can only start working on custom detections when all connectors are working correctly. By connectors, we mean the assets that deliver the logs, such as EDR/XDR solutions, vulnerability scanners, and other log sources.

It is essential that these connectors are properly onboarded and connected to the SIEM solution. We need to ensure that the log sources are correctly working and that we can see the logs coming in within the SIEM. Once these conditions are met, we can proceed with creating custom detection rules tailored to your organization's specific needs.

Stakeholders play a crucial role in the development of custom detection rules by providing essential input and feedback. We collaborate closely with stakeholders to perform end-to-end tests, ensuring the effectiveness of the rules. Their acceptance is necessary for finalizing and closing the rule development request.