Microsoft Sentinel

Formerly Azure Sentinel

Microsoft Sentinel is being used as the hero product in our MSSP offerings. Our clients use it as a cloud native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration and Automated Response) tool. While the mains use case still remains as 'Incident Management', some of our clients also use it as an event management tool to derive actionable insights from the logs ingested.

Native Microsoft connections include Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Activity, Security Events, Key Vaults, SQL Databases, Windows events via AMA, Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence etc.
Third party products include Workday, Google Workspaces, Cisco ASA, AWS S3 and CloudTrail logs, Zscaler, Carbon Black, Virus Total etc.

Connecting the Microsoft native solutions are the easiest ones. While connecting Azure resources are also easy but a bit lengthy process.
Integration of third party products with Sentinel varies wildly from each other, so in a word, it's doable with a little technical overhead.

With 'Entity Behavior' and its machine learning capabilities, we have been able to detect many risky users and other entities which saved a lot of time and effort if otherwise done manually.
While I have a very limited experience with using Azure Open AI in the incident through playbooks, it surely does a very prominent job in summarizing the incident for the L1 analysts and save time on triaging.

We have been working on establishing a process to reduce the triaging time by using of incident investigation utilities in Sentinel. For example, we have made a good use of automation rules to define which playbooks to run for many critical and/or repetitive incident categories which helps in speeding up the process of investigation and response. Also, with the help of playbooks, we have been able to provide the initial set of investigation of steps for many frequently occurring low severity incident handled by L1 analysts.

One of our client-first enterprise clients recently faced a challenge of effectively detecting and responding to security threats across its multi-cloud and on-premises environments. The organization has a diverse tech infrastructure and were struggling with the lack of centralized visibility into security events across their multi cloud environment, Inability to detect and respond to security threats timely and the need to meet industry specific compliance requirements while handling sensitive customer data. Microsoft Sentinel came up with some solution to address these challenges:
1. Centralized Security Data Collection : Microsoft Sentinel team configured the tool to collect security data from all the different cloud providers, on-premises servers, and security tools used by the organization. Azure Sentinel's extensive connectors and integrations ensured comprehensive data collection.
2. Security Analytics and Threat Detection: The implemented platform used built-in and custom detection rules to analyze the collected data for signs of suspicious or malicious activities. Machine learning algorithms and threat intelligence integration enhanced the organization's ability to identify threats.
3. Incident Investigation and Response: Security analysts used the centralized dashboard to investigate security incidents. Automated playbooks were then created to streamline incident response, allowing the organization to respond to threats more efficiently.
4. Compliance and Reporting: Azure Sentinel provided out-of-the-box compliance reports and templates, which helped the organization demonstrate compliance with industry-specific regulations. Custom reports and queries were also created to address specific compliance requirements.

Here are some of the primary sources from which Microsoft Sentinel can collect data:

1. Microsoft 365 Services: Data from Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, and Azure Active Directory, were ingested to monitor email, document, and user activities.
2. Azure Services: Data from various Azure services, such as Azure Security Center, Azure Firewall, Azure Monitor, and Azure Active Directory, were collected to provide insights into cloud security.
3. On-Premises Data Sources: Microsoft Sentinel supported the integration of on-premises security solutions, including security appliances, firewalls, Active Directory, and Windows Event Logs.
4. Endpoint Protection: Data from endpoint protection solutions, like Microsoft Defender Antivirus, was collected to monitor and respond to threats on endpoints.
5. Firewalls and Network Appliances: Logs and data from network security appliances and firewalls were also ingested to monitor network traffic and identify potential threats.
   
6. Azure Data Connectors: The tool provided a variety of built-in connectors and workbooks to ingest and analyze the data from MS solutions and third party applications

We have just started with this phase of the tool. So, it is unlikely for me to provide details on this one.

1. Data Query and Search: Microsoft Sentinel provided a powerful query language that allowed analysts to search and filter security data from various sources.
Impact: Analysts quickly retrieved relevant data, which resulted in reducing the time it takes to gather evidence and establish the scope of an incident.
2. Custom Queries and Workbooks: Security analysts created custom queries and workbooks tailored to specific use cases and investigation requirements.
Impact: Customization enhanced the ability to focus on the most critical data and indicators, streamlined investigations and ensured that relevant information is readily available.
3. Interactive Investigation Maps: Sentinel's investigation maps provided a visual representation of the relationships between entities, alerts, and incidents.
Impact: Analysts were able to easily understand the context of an incident, which helped them identify the root cause and tracked lateral movement of threats.
4. Correlation and Alert Aggregation: The tool correlated alerts and security events to identify potential attack patterns and generate incidents.
Impact: Analysts saw the big picture, reduced the alert fatigue, and prioritized investigations based on the severity and impact of incidents.
5. Threat Intelligence Integration: The platform integrates with threat intelligence feeds, enriching investigation data with up-to-date threat information.
Impact: Analysts made informed decisions by understanding the context and relevance of threat indicators, such as malicious IPs, domains, or file hashes.
6. Playbooks and Automation: Security teams created automated playbooks that trigger predefined responses to specific incidents.
Impact: Playbooks accelerated response times, enabling swift mitigation of threats and reducing manual intervention.
7. Case Management: Sentinel offered case management capabilities for tracking and documenting the progress of investigations.
Impact: This feature helped teams collaborate effectively, maintain an audit trail, and ensure investigations are well-documented for compliance and reporting purposes.
9. Visualization and Reporting: Sentinel provided visualization tools and reporting capabilities to present investigation findings effectively.
Impact: Visual representations simplifed communication of findings to stakeholders and management, aiding in decision-making and remediation efforts.

It enables us to route security information through a tool and set up alerts to respond to possible concerns; it also connects with analytical tools to track trends, among other things. Provides real-time warnings and threat detection so that the security team can work on occurrences as rapidly as possible. Logs are easy to search and analyze, allowing for quick judgments on key security issues. It supports all sorts of log sources, allowing you to manage all endpoints on a single platform and save a lot of time when dealing with major occurrences so that remedial measures can be made quickly.

We can identify hazards in our environment, create incidents and triage them, monitor threats in real time, and do extensive investigations using AI functions. Cyber-attack mitigation. Information security, along with automation, is something that every organization requires right now, and Sentinel is working to achieve it. Automation helps to resolve incidents and alerts quickly, and combined with the scalability that the cloud solution provides, it eliminates the need for the traditional slow local deployment process.

Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-based comprehensive and robust SIEM (Security information and event management) that is used for a variety of company FW/VPN infrastructure security events tracking as well as end-user protection monitoring (it is easily connected to MS Defender). The huge list of built-in connectors for different solutions/hardware eliminates any deployment issues that we had with previous SIEM system deployments. With Microsoft Sentinel, we are able to centralize all the security operations at a single point.