C1000-162 IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5 Analysis Question and Answers

Context Menu: Right-clicking on an IP address in the Offense Summary window offers quick investigation actions.

IP-Related Tools: WHOIS and DNS Lookups are essential tools for:

WHOIS: Retrieving IP registration information (owner, contact details, etc.). DNS: Resolving domain names associated with the IP.

The magnitude rating of an offense in QRadar is calculated based on relevance, severity, and credibility. Relevance determines the impact on the network, credibility indicates the integrity of the offense, and severity represents the level of threat. QRadar uses complex algorithms to calculate and periodically re-evaluate the offense magnitude rating​​.

Offense chaining in IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5 is based on the offense index field specified in the rule. This means that if a rule is configured to use a specific field, such as the source IP address, as the offense index field, there will only be one offense for that specific source IP address while the offense is active. This mechanism is crucial for tracking and managing offenses efficiently within the system​​.

The Application Overview dashboard in QRadar includes various default items1. Two of these items are Top Applications (Total Bytes) and Outbound Traffic by Country (Total Bytes)1.

Default dashboards - IBM Documentation

According to the IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5 documentation, the Application Overview dashboard by default includes items such as "Inbound Traffic by Country (Total Bytes)," "Outbound Traffic by Country (Total Bytes)," and "Top Applications (Total Bytes)" among others. This confirms that options C and D are displayed by default on the Application Overview dashboard​​.

X-Force Exchange: The primary repository for contributed QRadar content, including compliance-focused content packs.

HIPAA Packs: Likely contain:

Predefined searches: Relevant to HIPAA monitoring and auditing

Reports: To generate structured documentation for compliance

Custom Rules: To detect potential HIPAA-related violations

Custom properties: To enhance event/flow data for HIPAA context

Other Options (less suitable):

Use Case Manager: Broader purpose, might include HIPAA use cases

Pulse App: Primarily dashboard oriented, not focused on content distribution

IBM Fix Central: Focuses on software fixes, not compliance content

References:

IBM X-Force Exchange: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/hub  (Search for HIPAA)

ï‚· Understanding Offense Management: In QRadar, offenses are generated based on predefined rules and correlations. When legitimate traffic is identified as an offense, it's essential to adjust configurations to prevent future false positives.

ï‚· Managing Legitimate LDAP Traffic:

Building Blocks: QRadar uses building blocks to group similar types of data. The BB

Definition: LDAP Servers building block is used to identify and manage LDAP servers within the network.

Excluding Legitimate Traffic: By adding the IP address of the legitimate LDAP server to this building block, QRadar will recognize the traffic as expected and exclude it from generating offenses.

ï‚· Implementation Steps:

Navigate to the QRadar console.

Go to the Admin tab and select Building Blocks.

Find and edit the BB

Definition: LDAP Servers building block.

Add the IP address of the LDAP server to this building block.

ï‚· Reference Confirmation: According to IBM QRadar documentation, adding the IP address of the LDAP server to the appropriate building block (BB

Definition: LDAP Servers) is the recommended method to handle such scenarios.

The "Start Time" timestamp represents when an event is received by a QRadar Event Collector, marking the moment QRadar first becomes aware of the event. This is crucial for understanding the timing of event processing and potential delays in the event pipeline​​.

The AQL (Ariel Query Language) statement provided would return all fields from the 'events' table where the 'username' column contains the string 'ERS', regardless of case. The 'ILIKE' operator in AQL is used for case-insensitive pattern matching, which means that it will match 'ers', 'Ers', 'ErS', etc​​.

Use Case Manager: This app is specifically designed for investigation and analysis of offenses within QRadar. It offers more focused tools for this task than general Reports.

Active Rules: This view within the Use Case Manager provides insights into rules that directly triggered offenses. This is essential for filtering down to our target rules.

Filtering:

Start Date: Allows you to limit the analysis timeframe to the "previous week" as specified in the question.

Closure Reason: Crucially, this lets you isolate offenses marked as "False Positive" or "Tuned" – the core of the question.

In Rule Response for Offense Naming, QRadar provides options to either contribute to or set/replace the name of the associated offenses. These options allow for dynamic naming of offenses based on event name information, facilitating easier identification and categorization of offenses​​.

Indexed custom event properties in IBM Security QRadar SIEM are designed to optimize the search process by narrowing down the overall data set. When a property is indexed, QRadar can more efficiently locate events or flows that match the search criteria, thereby reducing the overall volume of data that needs to be searched and enhancing performance. This is reflected in statement B, where indexed filters eliminate portions of the data set that are not relevant to the search query, effectively reducing the number of event or flow logs that must be examined .

Moreover, the use of indexed event and flow properties for optimizing searches is a recommended practice in QRadar. By selectively indexing properties that are frequently used in searches, analysts can significantly improve the speed and efficiency of their queries. This approach is beneficial in environments where quick access to specific event or flow data is crucial for timely threat detection and response. Therefore, statement E highlights the importance of utilizing indexed properties to streamline the search process and facilitate more effective security analytics .

Pie Chart Logic: Pie charts represent proportions of a whole.expand_more QRadar Pulse supports the following aggregations suitable for this:

Total (Sum): Calculates the sum of a selected field's values, displaying each slice relative to the whole.

First: Takes the first value encountered in a field, useful for categorical data to show initial distribution.

Report Data Source: To generate a report focused on offense data, you must explicitly select "Offense" as the data source. This tells QRadar to structure the report around offense information.

Edit Search: The "Edit Search" interface often provides the ability to configure report generation.

Here's why this is the correct statement:

Purpose of the Assets Tab: The Assets tab is QRadar's central repository for information about discovered assets on your network.expand_more Assets include network devices, servers, applications, and more.

Discovery Process: QRadar discovers assets by passively analyzing log and flow data, as well as through active scans if configured.

While the options could be more clearly phrased, here's why these answers are likely correct:

Report Content: QRadar reports visualize security data. These types fit:

Flows: Represent network traffic patterns. Visualizing them in charts is common in reports.

Raw Data: Often meant to refer to tabulated events/logs. This can be charted.

In IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5, custom rules play a crucial role in detecting and responding to potential security threats. These rules can be created from various tabs within the QRadar interface, offering flexibility in how and where analysts choose to define their custom detection logic. Specifically, custom rules can be created from the Offenses, Log Activity, or Network Activity tabs. From the Offenses tab, analysts can create rules that are triggered by specific offense characteristics or patterns. The Log Activity and Network Activity tabs allow for the creation of rules based on observed events or network flows, respectively. This multi-faceted approach to rule creation enables analysts to tailor their detection strategies to different aspects of their environment, leveraging the rich data and insights provided by QRadar to identify and mitigate threats effectively.

QRadar supports generating reports in various file formats, including PDF, HTML, XML, and XLS. These formats provide flexibility in how reports are viewed and shared, catering to different needs and preferences for report presentation and analysis​​.

By default, QRadar stores payload indexes for a duration of 30 days. This retention period is configurable, allowing administrators to adjust how long specific data is retained based on their requirements​​.

To check the offenses triggered and mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework using the Use Case Manager app, an analyst can navigate through the Offenses tab, click on All Offenses, and then utilize the All Offenses Summary toolbar to display rules contributing to an offense. This process allows for an investigation into how offenses correlate with the MITRE ATT&CK framework. However, the exact option "Detected in timeframe" is not explicitly mentioned in the provided documentation, and the described procedure offers a broader approach to reviewing offenses and their associated rules within the MITRE ATT&CK context​​.

On the Offenses tab within QRadar, the "Offense Type" column explains the cause of the offense. The offense type is determined by the rule that triggered the offense, and it dictates the kind of information displayed in the Offense Source Summary pane. This helps analysts understand the nature and origin of the offense, facilitating more effective investigation and response actions​​.

In IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5, the integration with MITRE ATT&CK framework is a valuable feature that enhances the understanding of threat tactics and techniques. The Use Case Manager within QRadar provides detailed insights into various MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with different offenses or alerts. To get more information about a specific MITRE entry, users can click on the Tactic’s Explore icon associated with the entry. This action opens the corresponding page on the MITRE ATT&CK website, providing detailed information about the tactic or technique, including its description, examples of use, and mitigation strategies. This direct link to the MITRE ATT&CK website enriches the user's knowledge and aids in the analysis of security incidents, making it easier to understand the context and implications of specific attack behaviors observed in the monitored environment.

Widget chart types - IBM Documentation

Building Blocks in QRadar are foundational elements that are used to construct more complex rules. They are essentially a collection of conditional tests or criteria that define specific behaviors, characteristics, or patterns within the network data but do not, by themselves, trigger any responses or actions when those conditions are met.

Building Blocks are designed to be reused in multiple rules, making rule creation more efficient and standardized. For example, a Building Block might define a set of common malicious IP addresses or unusual traffic patterns. This Building Block can then be incorporated into several different rules that might deal with various types of threats, each of which requires identifying traffic from or to these malicious IPs as part of their logic.

The reusability of Building Blocks ensures that changes to common criteria, such as updating the list of malicious IP addresses, only need to be made in one place. This approach enhances the maintainability and consistency of the rule set within QRadar, making the system more agile and responsive to changes in the threat landscape.

Building Blocks are a powerful feature within QRadar that promote modularity and efficiency in rule creation, helping organizations tailor their threat detection capabilities to their specific needs without requiring actions or responses to be defined within these foundational elements themselves.

Understanding Offense Parameters in QRadar: In IBM QRadar, offenses are evaluated and prioritized based on several parameters that determine the significance and potential impact of the security incident.

Key Parameters:

Relevance: Indicates how relevant the event is to the organization's environment.

Severity: Represents the potential damage or impact the event could have on the system.

Credibility: Reflects the likelihood that the event represents a true security incident.

Magnitude Rating Calculation: The magnitude rating is a composite score that is calculated using the relevance, severity, and credibility of an offense. This rating helps security analysts prioritize incidents based on their potential threat level.

Reference Confirmation: According to IBM QRadar documentation, the magnitude rating is the parameter that is derived from the relevance, severity, and credibility of an offense.

References:

IBM QRadar documentation on offense management and parameters confirms the calculation of the magnitude rating based on relevance, severity, and credibility .

The MITRE ATT&CK heatmap within the QRadar Use Case Manager app visualizes how well your security defenses align against the MITRE ATT&CK framework. The colors on the heatmap are determined by the following:

Level of Mapping Confidence: The confidence level with which QRadar has associated offenses to specific MITRE ATT&CK techniques. The colors indicate:

Green: High confidence in the mapping

Yellow: Medium confidence in the mapping

Red: Low confidence in the mapping

Number of Offenses Generated: The frequency of offenses observed that map to a particular MITRE ATT&CK technique. A higher number of offenses will result in a deeper shade within the color gradient (i.e., dark red vs. light red).

References

IBM Security QRadar Use Case Manager Documentation:

The specific documentation for the MITRE ATT&CK integration will outline the details of the heatmap, including color meanings. (Search for the relevant QRadar documentation to find the precise reference)

MITRE ATT&CK Website: Provides foundational information about the framework itself (https://attack.mitre.org/ ).

In the Reports tab of QRadar, the message "Queued (position in the queue)" indicates that the report is queued for generation. The message provides the position of the report within the generation queue, which helps users understand the report's status and expected generation time​

In configuring the frequency of report execution in the QRadar Report wizard, users have several scheduling options to automate or manually initiate report generation. Among the options provided, "Monthly" (C) and "Manually" (E) are valid choices within the QRadar environment. The "Monthly" option allows users to schedule reports to run at specific intervals each month, providing regular insights into the security posture and events within the monitored environment. The "Manually" option gives users the flexibility to generate reports on an ad-hoc basis, depending on specific needs or investigative activities, without adhering to a predetermined schedule .

Within IBM Security QRadar's Ariel Query Language (AQL), functions play a crucial role in manipulating data, performing calculations, and formatting results for more insightful analysis. Among the options provided, "LOWER" (C) and "STRLEN" (D) are valid AQL functions used for formatting and calculations, respectively. The "LOWER" function is used to convert a string to lowercase, which can be useful for case-insensitive comparisons or data normalization. The "STRLEN" function calculates the length of a string, providing valuable information about the data content, such as detecting unusually long or short values that might indicate anomalies or issues within the event or flow data .

To search offense data on the By Networks page, an analyst can use the options "Events/Flows" to filter based on the types of data points, and "Network" to specify the network they want to search for. This allows for a focused search on specific networks and types of data​​​​.

Here's why this is the most effective approach:

False Positive Reduction: The goal is to stop legitimate traffic from triggering offenses. This requires fine-tuning the rules generating those offenses.

Building Blocks: Rules are housed within building blocks in QRadar's hierarchical rule structure. The Custom Rules Editor is the tool to modify them.

Event-Based Tuning: The optimal approach is to target the specific event that's causing the false positives, making the solution more precise.

Understanding the Scenario: The detection of unauthorized high-rate traffic for transferring outbound mail via port 25 indicates potential misuse or compromise of the source system.

Appropriate Response:

Investigate the Offense: The first step is to continue investigating the offense to gather more details about the source system and the nature of the traffic.

Organizational Response Processes: Following the organization’s established response processes ensures that appropriate actions are taken to mitigate the threat, which may include blocking the traffic, isolating the system, or further forensic analysis.

Avoiding Incorrect Actions:

Adding to Building Blocks: Adding the IP address to the Host Definition Mail Servers building block would incorrectly categorize the unauthorized system as a legitimate mail server.

Allowing Traffic: Submitting a request to the firewall team to allow this traffic would permit unauthorized activity and potentially exacerbate the security issue.

False Positive Wizard: Using the False Positive Wizard is not suitable as this situation represents a genuine security concern rather than a false positive.

Reference Confirmation: According to IBM QRadar documentation, the recommended action in such scenarios is to follow the organization’s incident response processes to ensure a thorough and effective response.

References:

IBM QRadar documentation on incident response and handling unauthorized activities.