How to leverage attack tree threat modeling for threat hunting

Threat hunting is a proactive approach to identifying and detecting potential threats that may have bypassed an organization’s security controls. Attack tree threat modeling can be a valuable tool for threat hunting because it provides a structured way to think about potential attacks and their attack paths. SOC teams can use attack trees to develop hypotheses about potential attacks and investigate them further.

To use attack tree threat modeling for threat hunting, SOC teams can follow these steps:

Step 1: Identify High-Priority Risks

The first step is to identify the high-priority risks based on the attack trees developed in the previous section. These risks should be the ones that are most likely to occur and have the highest potential impact. For example, a high-priority risk might be a SQL injection attack on a critical web application.

Step 2: Develop Hypotheses

Once the high-priority risks have been identified, SOC teams can use attack trees to develop hypotheses about potential attack scenarios. For example, if the high-priority risk is a SQL injection attack, the SOC team might develop a hypothesis that the attacker will try to gain access to the database by exploiting a vulnerability in the web application’s authentication mechanism.

Step 3: Investigate Hypotheses

With the hypotheses developed, SOC teams can investigate them further using a combination of manual and automated techniques. They can use tools like Wireshark or tcpdump to capture network traffic and analyze it for signs of an attack. They can also use log analysis tools like Elastic Stack or Splunk to search through logs for evidence of an attack. For example, if the SOC team’s hypothesis is that an attacker is attempting to exploit a vulnerability in the web application’s authentication mechanism, they might look for login attempts with unusual usernames or passwords.

Step 4: Prepare Incident Response Playbooks using OODA

Using the results of the investigation, SOC teams can prepare incident response playbooks using the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop. This involves observing the situation, orienting oneself to the current threat, deciding on a course of action, and acting on that decision. For example, if the SOC team determines that a SQL injection attack is underway, they might decide to block the IP address of the attacker and patch the vulnerability in the web application.

Step 5: Generate SIEM Correlation Detection Rules

Using the attack trees and the results of the threat hunting investigation, SOC teams can generate SIEM correlation detection rules to automatically detect potential attacks in the future. For example, if the SOC team discovers that a particular type of SQL injection attack is common, they can create a rule that triggers an alert whenever that type of attack is detected in the future. This can help to proactively identify and respond to potential attacks.

Step 6: Security Monitoring Dashboarding

Finally, SOC teams can use attack trees and SIEM correlation detection rules to create security monitoring dashboards that display key metrics and indicators of potential attacks. For example, a dashboard might display the number of SQL injection attacks detected in the last 24 hours, along with other key indicators like the number of failed login attempts and the number of requests to sensitive URLs. This can help SOC teams to quickly identify potential attacks and respond to them in real-time.

In conclusion, attack tree threat modeling can be a valuable tool for threat hunting, incident response playbook preparation, SIEM correlation detection rules generation, and security monitoring dashboarding. By using attack trees to develop hypotheses about potential attacks, investigating those hypotheses, and using the results to prepare incident response playbooks and generate SIEM correlation detection rules, SOC teams can proactively identify and by using attack trees to develop hypotheses about potential attacks, investigating those hypotheses, and using the results to prepare incident response playbooks and generate SIEM correlation detection rules, SOC teams can proactively identify and respond to potential attacks. This can help to improve an organization’s overall security posture and reduce the likelihood and impact of successful attacks.