The Lifecycle of Incident Response
Contents
Authors: Diego Perez (@darkquassar)
The Lifecycle of Incident Response¶
Incident Response has many aspects that structure it as a tactical activity.
The Six Stages of IR¶
Describe the usual stages here.
Tip
A good mnemonic is PACERL: Preparation, Analysis (Identification and Scoping), Containment (Intel Development included), Eradication, Recovery, Lessons Learned.
Preparation¶
Analysis¶
This step was subverted from SANS usual ones, since identification is a core aspect of analysis.
Containment¶
A
Eradication¶
A
Recovery¶
A
Lessons Learned¶
A
Remediation Cycle: Containment and Eradication¶
It’s a continuous process:
Deny access
Restrict reaction
Remove presence
Degrade survivability
Some measures might include:
Block IP addresses or create DNS sinkholes for known C2s
Network segmentation
Restrict access of known compromised accounts (remove rights, change password, deactivate)
Disable Domain Accounts and replace with new ones
Change your AD krbtgt password to limit golden tickets
Types of Response¶
Standard Live Response vs. Rapid / Abbreviated Triage¶
There are situations in which a standard live response (deep dive analysis, answers in 1 to 2 days) will not yield the expected results based on initial evidence. For example you may find dozens of different malware samples and, based on those, dozens of compromised systems. If the sample count and evidence of intruder activity keeps growing, you need to move into a rapid response (answers in 4 to 6 hours) phase where your best tools are automation and large scale analysis. By doing this you shorten the time to identification of compromised systems and you switch the focus from a general analysis to a targeted one. Collecting a critical set of IOC representative enough of the intruder’s behaviour, allows you to quickly identify most compromised systems.
Good NIST Guide on IR and Forensics: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-86.pdf