The project consisted of two phases. First, we focused on reviewing and fine-tuning the rules in Microsoft Sentinel. Then, we onboarded our SOC team and worked on the operational integration.

Rule review and fine-tuning

In order to perform a review of the rules in place and fine-tune them, our team proceeded with a staged approach.

Initial assessment through a comprehensive review of existing Sentinel rules with a focus on those contributing to high volumes of false positives.

Rule fine-tuning by adjusting rule thresholds and conditions to better reflect actual threats. We analysed false positives to understand common patterns and modified redundant or misconfigured rules.

SOAR integration, including configured playbooks and automation scripts to streamline response to genuine alerts and automated incident response actions to reduce manual workload.

Extensive validation and testing to ensure that the rule modifications effectively reduced false positives and that the SOAR configurations were functioning as intended.

SOC team onboarding and operational integration

Onboarding our SOC team to the client's environment and tools and conducting detailed briefings on their specific security landscape and requirements.

Collaborative process walkthrough to map out and understand all existing security processes and identify gaps and areas for improvement in current processes.

Threat Hunting (TH) activities used advanced search queries and analytics at regular intervals to identify potential threats proactively.

Threat Intelligence (TI), gathered through integrated feeds and developed into standard procedures to enhance detection and response capabilities.

Continuous monitoring practices, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms that provide real-time insights and trend analysis and ensure ongoing vigilance.

Transitioning to total operational management, handling all aspects of security monitoring and incident response and maintaining close communication with the client to ensure alignment with their security objectives.