Microsoft Sentinel

Introduction

• Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) solution built on the Azure platform.
• It helps organizations to collect, analyze, and respond to security threats and incidents across their entire enterprise environment.
• By leveraging artificial Intelligence(AI) and machine learning (ML), Microsoft Sentinel enhances threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities.

Key Features of Microsoft Sentinel

1. Data Collection
   • Connectors: Integrates with a variety of data sources, including Azure services, Microsoft 365, on-premises environments, and third-party solutions.
   • Log Analytics: Uses Azure Log Analytics workspace to ingest, store, and analyze large volumes of security data.
2. Advanced Threat Detection
   • Built-in Analytics: Utilizes pre-built analytics rules and machine learning models to detect known and unknown threats. Custom Analytics: Allows users to create custom detection rules tailored to their specific environment and threat landscape.
   • Behavioral Analytics: Detects anomalies and suspicious activities by analyzing user and entity behavior.
3. Investigation and Hunting
   • Interactive Investigation Graph: Visualizes the relationships between entities and events to facilitate deeper investigation and understanding of incidents.
   • Query Language: Uses Kusto Query Language (KQL) for powerful and flexible querying of security data.
   • Threat Hunting: Provides built-in hunting queries and workbooks to help security analysts proactively search for threats.
4. Automated Response
   • Playbooks: Automates response actions using Azure Logic Apps to create and manage workflows that respond to specific security alerts.
   • Integration with SOAR: Enhances incident response capabilities by automating common security operations tasks and workflows.
5. Threat Intelligence
   • Threat Intelligence Integration: Ingests and correlates threat intelligence feeds from Microsoft and third-party sources to enrich security data and improve threat detection.
   • Indicator Management: Manages and utilizes indicators of compromise (IOCs) for proactive defense.
6. Security Operations Efficiency
   • Dashboards and Workbooks: Provides customizable dashboards and workbooks for real-time monitoring, reporting, and visualization of security data.
   • Case Management: Manages and tracks security incidents and investigations through a built-in case management system.
7. Compliance and Governance
   • Audit Logs: Maintains comprehensive logs of security events and activities to support compliance requirements and audits.
   • Regulatory Compliance: Supports various regulatory standards and frameworks, helping organizations achieve and maintain compliance.
8. Scalability and Flexibility
   • Cloud-Native Architecture: Leverages the scalability and flexibility of the Azure cloud to handle large volumes of security data and dynamically scale resources based on demand.
   • Cost-Effective: Offers a consumption-based pricing model, reducing the costs associated with traditional SIEM solutions.

Use Cases

1. Threat Detection and Response: Continuously monitor and detect advanced threats across on-premises and cloud environments, and respond to incidents in real-time.
2. Security Monitoring and Alerting: Collect and correlate security data from various sources to provide real-time monitoring and alerting of potential security incidents.
3. Incident Investigation and Hunting: Enable security analysts to investigate incidents, perform root cause analysis, and proactively hunt for threats using advanced analytics and AI-driven insights.
4. Compliance and Reporting: Support regulatory compliance by providing comprehensive logs, reports, and audit trails for security events and incidents.
5. Automated Security Operations: Automate repetitive tasks and incident response processes using playbooks and automated workflows to improve efficiency and reduce human error.
6. Integration and Extensibility: Integrate with a wide range of Microsoft and third-party security tools to create a cohesive security operations ecosystem.

Sentinel Implementation

1. Sentinel Setup and PreReqs: Start here Player One
2. Sentinel Permissions: What is your character/avatar and role
3. Power UP/use AI+ML: Enable User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)
4. Where Data: What is your playing field (log analytics workspace)
5. Keep Data: How long do you want to keep data
6. How Data: What data do you want and how will you connect to data that you want to ingest
7. Detect Threats in Data: Automatically detect threats with Analytic Rules
8. See/Visualize Data: Visualize data with workbooks
9. Alert on Data: Visualize incidents
10. Prevent/Threat Hunt in Data: Be Proactive
11. Automate Responses: SOAR to the highest with automation
12. Deploy Solutions: M2131, ZeroTrust, CMMC2.0, NIST 800-53

• For more in-depth information, please check out the Sentinel Deployment planning guide.