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Trustwave's 2024 Financial Services Threat Reports Highlight Alarming Trends in Insider Threats & Phishing-as-a-Service. Learn More
Imagine being on shift as the guard of a fortress. Your job is to identify threats as they approach the perimeter. The more methods you have for detecting those threats, the better your chances of succeeding. A good security reporting framework works the same way and can help a security team develop the insights needed for an effective threat monitoring strategy.
So, in an effort to boost everyone’s skill level, let’s discuss the creation of a Security Reporting Framework and discuss its key components.
Many organizations create reports ad hoc, leaving it up to the security team to figure it out with no more guidance than what was provided in a manual or a training course. Collecting security telemetry from every necessary log source is hard enough, but understanding the telemetry in those logs is also a major challenge. By implementing a structured reporting framework, organizations can ensure that security data is used more effectively and efficiently, leading to better security outcomes.
The core components of any reporting framework are:
Figure 1: Example Cybersecurity Reporting Framework
The first step is to decide who will be using these reports and for what purpose. At the very least, one manager and one operator should be assigned reporting responsibilities. At least one person should have an editor role, so reports are periodically reviewed and updated to match operational requirements.
For a security architecture, reporting types will vary greatly. A list of examples is shown below.
The tools available to generate the reports can vary greatly. Look for methods that have a common query language and good visualization features. The ability to effectively present the data visually can make a difference in how well the data can be used. Every report should provide a clear representation of one or more metrics. Examples of reporting-capable tools are:
If you don’t know what to do with your reports, there’s not much point to creating them. Processes and procedures should be applied to each report so the SOC operators and managers can show due diligence in their expected roles. For example, a SOC operator is assigned to review a firewall activity report, and if the firewall traffic exceeds 1 million events per minute, they must escalate this finding to their manager.
The process/procedures may define report actions, but some specific examples of actions may include:
There’s a lot to discuss with reporting. See the follow-up lab in GitHub for more reporting ideas.
Effective security reporting involves a large variety of reporting types and methods. Developing a framework will improve the success of your security reporting needs.
References
About This Blog Series
Follow the full series here: Building Defenses with Modern Security Solutions
This series discusses a list of key cybersecurity defense topics. The full collection of posts and labs can be used as an educational tool for implementing cybersecurity defenses.
Labs
For quick walkthrough labs on the topics in this blog series, check out the story of “ZPM Incorporated” and their steps to implementing all the solutions discussed here.
Compliance
All topics mentioned in this series have been mapped to several compliance controls here.
David Broggy is Senior Solutions Architect, Implementation Services at Trustwave with over 21 years of experience. He holds multiple security certifications and won Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for Azure Security. Follow David on LinkedIn.
Trustwave is a globally recognized cybersecurity leader that reduces cyber risk and fortifies organizations against disruptive and damaging cyber threats. Our comprehensive offensive and defensive cybersecurity portfolio detects what others cannot, responds with greater speed and effectiveness, optimizes client investment, and improves security resilience. Learn more about us.
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