Implement actionable security events

Creating actionable security events involves setting up alerts that provide your security team with relevant information to quickly respond to incidents. Each alert should include enough detail for the team to understand the issue and take immediate action. Additionally, for every detective mechanism, a corresponding process or runbook should be in place to guide the investigation and remediation. This ensures that your team knows exactly how to respond to various security events, minimizing response times and errors.

1. Create meaningful and actionable alerts: Set up alerts that are sent to the appropriate teams when security events occur. Ensure that alerts include relevant context, such as the severity of the event, the affected resources, and suggested actions, so the team can take immediate and informed steps.
2. Define playbooks or runbooks for each alert type: For each type of security finding, develop a corresponding runbook or playbook with detailed investigation and remediation steps. This ensures a consistent response across the team and allows even less experienced team members to act efficiently. For example, if Amazon GuardDuty detects a trojan, the runbook should outline steps for validating the finding, isolating the instance, and remediating the issue.
3. Automate alert routing and escalation: Ensure that alerts are automatically routed to the correct team members or systems for action. Use tools like Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) to notify security teams and integrate with ticketing systems for proper tracking and escalation.
4. Include relevant details in alerts: Alerts should provide clear information such as the source of the event, impacted resources, severity levels, and suggested actions. This reduces the need for additional investigation before action can be taken, speeding up response times.
5. Regularly review and update runbooks: Runbooks and playbooks should be regularly reviewed and updated to account for new threats or updated systems. As new findings are detected by tools like AWS Security Hub or GuardDuty, update your runbooks to ensure they cover all potential scenarios.
6. Test your processes: Regularly test your alerting mechanisms and runbooks to ensure they are effective. Simulate security events or use security testing tools to validate that your team knows how to respond quickly and appropriately to alerts.

Supporting Questions:

• How do you ensure that security alerts are actionable and contain relevant information for the team?
• What processes are in place to respond to each type of security finding, and how are they documented?
• How do you review and test runbooks to ensure they remain up to date and effective?

Roles and Responsibilities:

Security Operations Engineer:

• Responsibilities:
  • Create and configure security alerts that include actionable information for the team to respond to.
  • Develop and maintain runbooks or playbooks for investigating and remediating different types of security findings.
  • Ensure that alerts are properly routed and escalated based on severity.

Incident Response Team:

• Responsibilities:
  • Follow runbooks or playbooks to investigate and remediate security findings in a timely manner.
  • Provide feedback on the effectiveness of alerts and runbooks, suggesting improvements as necessary.
  • Regularly test response procedures to ensure readiness for real security events.

Artefacts:

• Security Alert Configuration Documentation: Records outlining how alerts are configured, including notification settings, alert routing, and escalation procedures.
• Runbooks and Playbooks: Detailed instructions for investigating and remediating each type of security finding, with clear steps for actions like isolating resources or containing threats.
• Alert Review Logs: Logs showing the history of alerts and responses, including time to resolution and any adjustments made to alerting processes or runbooks.

Relevant AWS Services:

AWS Security and Monitoring Services:

• Amazon GuardDuty: Detects potential security threats such as compromised instances or malware and generates findings. Each finding should have an associated runbook for investigation and remediation.
• AWS Security Hub: Aggregates security findings from multiple AWS services, providing a centralized view of security events. Security Hub integrates with Amazon SNS and ticketing systems to alert teams when important findings are detected.
• AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS): Automatically routes alerts to the appropriate team members or systems for action, ensuring that critical events are not missed.
• AWS Systems Manager: Use AWS Systems Manager to automate parts of your runbook or playbook, allowing for faster investigation and remediation of security events.

Monitoring and Compliance Services:

• AWS CloudWatch: Monitors metrics and logs, triggering alerts when security thresholds are breached. Alerts can be routed through SNS to notify the right teams for action.
• AWS Config: Monitors changes in AWS resource configurations and can trigger alerts when non-compliant changes are detected, ensuring quick investigation and remediation.