1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,833 In this lesson, 2 00:00:00,833 --> 00:00:04,080 we'll discuss incident response training and testing. 3 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,240 Now, when it comes to training and testing, 4 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:08,880 many people think that they are the same thing, 5 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,160 but in the world of incident response, 6 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:12,480 they are different. 7 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:14,250 First, we have training. 8 00:00:14,250 --> 00:00:15,690 Training is education 9 00:00:15,690 --> 00:00:19,350 to ensure employees and staff understand your processes, 10 00:00:19,350 --> 00:00:22,920 procedures, and priorities during an incident response. 11 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:24,990 By conducting training, you're going to make sure 12 00:00:24,990 --> 00:00:26,700 that your people are ready to respond 13 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:28,260 when something bad happens. 14 00:00:28,260 --> 00:00:30,600 Training should be provided to all employees 15 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,280 with a relevant perspective 16 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,590 and focus based on their needs 17 00:00:34,590 --> 00:00:37,410 because not everyone is going to get the same training. 18 00:00:37,410 --> 00:00:39,510 For example, if you're a first responder, 19 00:00:39,510 --> 00:00:42,060 you need training in a technical capacity. 20 00:00:42,060 --> 00:00:44,160 What are the procedures that you're going to follow? 21 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:45,960 How are you going to re-image a machine? 22 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:47,640 How do you remove malware? 23 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:49,530 How do you change configuration settings? 24 00:00:49,530 --> 00:00:53,010 All of that stuff is part of your responding training. 25 00:00:53,010 --> 00:00:55,500 Now, if you're a manager or executive, 26 00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:57,900 you're going to have different training requirements. 27 00:00:57,900 --> 00:01:00,510 You're going to be focused more on risk versus reward. 28 00:01:00,510 --> 00:01:02,970 You'll focus more on managerial decision making 29 00:01:02,970 --> 00:01:04,890 and communication across your organization 30 00:01:04,890 --> 00:01:06,270 and outside the organization 31 00:01:06,270 --> 00:01:08,970 with law enforcement and media as well. 32 00:01:08,970 --> 00:01:11,670 Our end users also need to be trained though. 33 00:01:11,670 --> 00:01:13,230 Our end users should be trained 34 00:01:13,230 --> 00:01:14,370 on the way to report 35 00:01:14,370 --> 00:01:16,410 if they suspect an incident is occurring. 36 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:18,450 For instance, as an end user, 37 00:01:18,450 --> 00:01:19,740 if I opened up my email 38 00:01:19,740 --> 00:01:20,970 and I see a phishing campaign, 39 00:01:20,970 --> 00:01:23,040 how do I report that to the service desk? 40 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,020 If I went and clicked on one of those links, 41 00:01:25,020 --> 00:01:26,730 I'm going to need remedial training 42 00:01:26,730 --> 00:01:28,740 to know how to identify that in the future 43 00:01:28,740 --> 00:01:30,990 and make sure that I don't fall for that again. 44 00:01:30,990 --> 00:01:34,110 This is the idea of your end user training. 45 00:01:34,110 --> 00:01:36,090 They need training on how to be a better user 46 00:01:36,090 --> 00:01:37,320 and how to prevent incidents 47 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:38,940 from occurring in the first place. 48 00:01:38,940 --> 00:01:40,710 Now, when you're providing training, 49 00:01:40,710 --> 00:01:43,020 one of the things you want to make sure you're capturing 50 00:01:43,020 --> 00:01:45,690 is lessons learned from the previous incidents, 51 00:01:45,690 --> 00:01:47,970 and you want to make sure you bring those back up 52 00:01:47,970 --> 00:01:49,020 during the training 53 00:01:49,020 --> 00:01:50,880 because when you have lessons learned, 54 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,130 that means that something went wrong in the past 55 00:01:53,130 --> 00:01:55,050 and how can we do better in the future 56 00:01:55,050 --> 00:01:56,790 is by training those people 57 00:01:56,790 --> 00:01:58,530 on the lessons that we've learned. 58 00:01:58,530 --> 00:02:00,180 If we just write down those lessons learned 59 00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:01,500 and nobody reads them again, 60 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:03,120 then nobody gets training on it, 61 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,330 and then we're going to be doomed to repeat those things again. 62 00:02:06,330 --> 00:02:08,520 And so we want to ensure that we're preventing that. 63 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,350 Remember, when you're doing training, 64 00:02:10,350 --> 00:02:12,360 it's not just about technical skills here. 65 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,160 You also need to include soft skills 66 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:16,290 in relationship building within your teams, 67 00:02:16,290 --> 00:02:17,550 because that's important as well 68 00:02:17,550 --> 00:02:19,260 if you really want a high functioning 69 00:02:19,260 --> 00:02:21,450 cybersecurity incident response team. 70 00:02:21,450 --> 00:02:23,640 Now, let's take a look at testing. 71 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:25,440 Testing is the practical exercise 72 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,300 of incident response procedures. 73 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:28,133 With training, 74 00:02:28,133 --> 00:02:29,550 we're going to teach you what to do. 75 00:02:29,550 --> 00:02:30,383 In testing, 76 00:02:30,383 --> 00:02:32,490 we're going to make sure you know how to do it. 77 00:02:32,490 --> 00:02:34,560 Now, when you're dealing with testing, 78 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:35,940 we'll often conduct a test 79 00:02:35,940 --> 00:02:38,220 to simulate a significant incident. 80 00:02:38,220 --> 00:02:41,850 Now, the challenge is doing this is very costly 81 00:02:41,850 --> 00:02:43,920 and it can become a complexity. 82 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:45,450 For example, I've been involved 83 00:02:45,450 --> 00:02:47,340 with a lot of testing over the years. 84 00:02:47,340 --> 00:02:49,860 One such test was a full scale exercise 85 00:02:49,860 --> 00:02:51,240 that showed exactly what we would do 86 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:53,880 in the event if we had a large scale data breach. 87 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,490 Now, this went across multiple sites around the world 88 00:02:56,490 --> 00:02:59,790 and it cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to do so, 89 00:02:59,790 --> 00:03:02,700 but it made sure everyone knew what they were doing 90 00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:04,710 and that they could actually go through those actions 91 00:03:04,710 --> 00:03:07,080 and get a bad actor out of our systems. 92 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,210 Now, when you're designing your test, 93 00:03:09,210 --> 00:03:12,120 you can do it in one of three major ways. 94 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:13,830 The first is a tabletop, 95 00:03:13,830 --> 00:03:15,600 the second is a penetration test, 96 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,930 and the third is a full scale exercise of simulation. 97 00:03:18,930 --> 00:03:21,600 Now, when we're dealing with a tabletop exercise 98 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,450 or a TTX, this is an exercise 99 00:03:24,450 --> 00:03:26,250 that uses an incident response scenario 100 00:03:26,250 --> 00:03:29,220 against a framework of controls or a red team. 101 00:03:29,220 --> 00:03:31,740 Now, the reason we call it a tabletop exercise 102 00:03:31,740 --> 00:03:33,540 is because we're actually doing it on our tabletop 103 00:03:33,540 --> 00:03:35,970 and we're not physically doing it in our networks. 104 00:03:35,970 --> 00:03:36,803 In a tabletop, 105 00:03:36,803 --> 00:03:38,850 we might gather experts around the table 106 00:03:38,850 --> 00:03:40,740 and we'll start presenting scenarios. 107 00:03:40,740 --> 00:03:42,750 For instance, if I was leading the tabletop, 108 00:03:42,750 --> 00:03:45,750 we would say, hey, you have an indication of data breach 109 00:03:45,750 --> 00:03:47,490 occurring in this data breach server. 110 00:03:47,490 --> 00:03:48,600 What would you do? 111 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,300 And the defenders would start saying what they would do, 112 00:03:51,300 --> 00:03:52,560 and each would take turns, 113 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,180 almost like their role playing 114 00:03:54,180 --> 00:03:56,580 on what they would do in this particular scenario. 115 00:03:56,580 --> 00:03:58,890 Now, the benefit of doing a tabletop 116 00:03:58,890 --> 00:04:00,390 is that it's a lot less expensive 117 00:04:00,390 --> 00:04:01,830 than a full-blown exercise, 118 00:04:01,830 --> 00:04:03,930 but there are some negatives due to the fact 119 00:04:03,930 --> 00:04:06,150 that you can't really get the hands-on experience 120 00:04:06,150 --> 00:04:07,710 because you're not physically doing the things 121 00:04:07,710 --> 00:04:08,640 on the keyboard 122 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,920 and making actions happen on the network. 123 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,650 So it's really more of a theoretical exercise. 124 00:04:13,650 --> 00:04:16,500 Now, another way you can do this is you can break up people 125 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:18,510 into red teams and blue teams. 126 00:04:18,510 --> 00:04:20,459 Now, the red teams are the attackers 127 00:04:20,459 --> 00:04:22,079 and the blue teams are the defenders. 128 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:24,120 So you can actually take turns 129 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,280 by saying, okay, here's the blue team scenario. 130 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:28,110 This is what you detect, what do you do? 131 00:04:28,110 --> 00:04:29,460 And then based on what they say, 132 00:04:29,460 --> 00:04:33,450 the red team says, okay, then we would do X, Y, and Z. 133 00:04:33,450 --> 00:04:36,060 Then the blue team will say, well, we will see this 134 00:04:36,060 --> 00:04:38,250 and respond in A, B, and C, way. 135 00:04:38,250 --> 00:04:40,350 And then they'll go back and forth several rounds 136 00:04:40,350 --> 00:04:41,340 to initiate attack, 137 00:04:41,340 --> 00:04:43,230 and defend against attack go back and forth 138 00:04:43,230 --> 00:04:45,420 until we can see what the effects are. 139 00:04:45,420 --> 00:04:46,800 The benefits of doing a red team 140 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,030 versus blue team type of scenario 141 00:04:48,030 --> 00:04:50,370 is that you're going to get live people thinking through 142 00:04:50,370 --> 00:04:52,500 both the attacker side and the defender side 143 00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:54,000 to help come up with a better solution 144 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,170 in how to configure 145 00:04:55,170 --> 00:04:58,230 and better manage those controls to protect your network. 146 00:04:58,230 --> 00:05:00,090 Now, another way you can do this 147 00:05:00,090 --> 00:05:02,340 is by actually getting people on the network. 148 00:05:02,340 --> 00:05:04,410 This is done through a penetration test. 149 00:05:04,410 --> 00:05:06,150 Now, a penetration test occurs 150 00:05:06,150 --> 00:05:08,340 when a red team attempts to conduct an intrusion 151 00:05:08,340 --> 00:05:09,173 into the network 152 00:05:09,173 --> 00:05:10,770 by using a specific scenario 153 00:05:10,770 --> 00:05:12,360 based on threat modeling. 154 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:14,400 Now, this is an important concept here 155 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:15,900 when we're talking about penetration tests, 156 00:05:15,900 --> 00:05:18,390 because we're not just doing something against the network 157 00:05:18,390 --> 00:05:20,640 to see what we can do to get in. 158 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:22,860 We have a specific goal in mind. 159 00:05:22,860 --> 00:05:25,050 So if my goal is to go after the database, 160 00:05:25,050 --> 00:05:26,220 I'm not going to throw 161 00:05:26,220 --> 00:05:28,410 a distributed denial of service attack at you. 162 00:05:28,410 --> 00:05:30,360 That wouldn't be a valid pen test. 163 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,370 So instead, we have specific scenario 164 00:05:32,370 --> 00:05:33,660 based on the threat modeling, 165 00:05:33,660 --> 00:05:36,540 meaning we know what a regular adversary would do, 166 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:39,360 and we're going to base our actions on that. 167 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:41,730 Now, when you're dealing with a penetration test, 168 00:05:41,730 --> 00:05:44,430 you always have to agree on a clear methodology 169 00:05:44,430 --> 00:05:45,600 and rules of engagement 170 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,880 before that penetration test is performed. 171 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:49,290 This is critically important 172 00:05:49,290 --> 00:05:51,540 because there are rules to these things. 173 00:05:51,540 --> 00:05:52,980 As I said, I'm not just going to throw 174 00:05:52,980 --> 00:05:54,810 a distributed denial of service attack at you 175 00:05:54,810 --> 00:05:55,890 because that would probably be 176 00:05:55,890 --> 00:05:57,480 against the rules of engagement. 177 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,640 Now, if they're in my rules of engagement, 178 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,440 then it'll be all fair game, 179 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,410 but in most cases, that's not going to be in there. 180 00:06:04,410 --> 00:06:06,060 Some popular penetration tests and tools 181 00:06:06,060 --> 00:06:08,160 and operating systems you might see in real world 182 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,920 are things like Metasploit, Cobalt Strike, 183 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,250 Kali Linux, ParrotOS and Commando OS. 184 00:06:14,250 --> 00:06:15,510 As a cyber security professional 185 00:06:15,510 --> 00:06:16,950 working as a network defender, 186 00:06:16,950 --> 00:06:18,210 if you ever see these tools 187 00:06:18,210 --> 00:06:20,010 or operating systems on your network, 188 00:06:20,010 --> 00:06:21,420 you should be thinking about the fact 189 00:06:21,420 --> 00:06:23,250 that they are penetration testing tools, 190 00:06:23,250 --> 00:06:25,440 which could be used as part of a penetration test 191 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,150 or even worse, by an attacker 192 00:06:27,150 --> 00:06:29,310 because most of these are open source tools 193 00:06:29,310 --> 00:06:31,320 that anyone could download and use. 194 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,780 The final area we need to discuss in terms of training 195 00:06:33,780 --> 00:06:35,340 and testing for incident response 196 00:06:35,340 --> 00:06:37,170 is the use of a simulation. 197 00:06:37,170 --> 00:06:39,000 A simulation exercise is designed 198 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,190 to go beyond theoretical tabletop discussions 199 00:06:41,190 --> 00:06:43,530 and involve realistic hands-on scenarios 200 00:06:43,530 --> 00:06:45,480 that mimic actual incidents. 201 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:47,820 These exercises provide a comprehensive view 202 00:06:47,820 --> 00:06:49,740 of how well your incident response teams 203 00:06:49,740 --> 00:06:50,910 can execute their roles 204 00:06:50,910 --> 00:06:53,670 in a controlled yet authentic environment. 205 00:06:53,670 --> 00:06:55,170 Simulation exercises can range 206 00:06:55,170 --> 00:06:56,910 from relatively simple scenarios 207 00:06:56,910 --> 00:06:59,370 such as responding to simulated phishing attacks 208 00:06:59,370 --> 00:07:00,750 or ransomware infection 209 00:07:00,750 --> 00:07:01,653 to complex scenarios 210 00:07:01,653 --> 00:07:03,870 that involve multi-stage attacks, 211 00:07:03,870 --> 00:07:05,340 data breaches in coordination 212 00:07:05,340 --> 00:07:07,170 with external parties like law enforcement 213 00:07:07,170 --> 00:07:08,910 or public relations team. 214 00:07:08,910 --> 00:07:09,807 The goal of these simulations 215 00:07:09,807 --> 00:07:12,390 is to assess not only your technical skills, 216 00:07:12,390 --> 00:07:13,320 but also the ability 217 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:14,970 to make sound decisions under pressure 218 00:07:14,970 --> 00:07:16,770 and effectively communicate within 219 00:07:16,770 --> 00:07:18,810 and outside the organization. 220 00:07:18,810 --> 00:07:20,310 When conducting simulations, 221 00:07:20,310 --> 00:07:21,600 it's essential to align them 222 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,220 with your organization's threat landscape 223 00:07:23,220 --> 00:07:24,600 and risk profile. 224 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:26,820 Simulations should challenge your incident response teams 225 00:07:26,820 --> 00:07:29,490 to think critically, adapt to evolving situations 226 00:07:29,490 --> 00:07:31,770 and coordinate their efforts seamlessly. 227 00:07:31,770 --> 00:07:33,390 These exercises are invaluable 228 00:07:33,390 --> 00:07:36,270 for identifying gaps in your incident response plan, 229 00:07:36,270 --> 00:07:38,100 improving coordination between teams 230 00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:40,710 and ensuring that everyone understands their roles 231 00:07:40,710 --> 00:07:42,180 during a real incident. 232 00:07:42,180 --> 00:07:44,790 By regularly incorporating simulation exercises 233 00:07:44,790 --> 00:07:47,340 into your incident response training and testing program, 234 00:07:47,340 --> 00:07:49,140 you can better prepare your organization 235 00:07:49,140 --> 00:07:50,310 to respond effectively 236 00:07:50,310 --> 00:07:52,800 to a wide range of cybersecurity incidents. 237 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,200 So remember, training and testing are used 238 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,960 to create a more robust incident response framework 239 00:07:57,960 --> 00:07:59,910 that can help your organization stay resilient 240 00:07:59,910 --> 00:08:01,830 in the face of evolving threats. 241 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:03,630 Training is the educational process 242 00:08:03,630 --> 00:08:05,160 that equips employees and staff 243 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,800 with the knowledge and skills needed to understand 244 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:09,870 and respond effectively to incidents 245 00:08:09,870 --> 00:08:13,350 by focusing on processes, procedures, and priorities. 246 00:08:13,350 --> 00:08:15,540 Testing involves practical exercises 247 00:08:15,540 --> 00:08:18,300 that assess an individual or team's ability 248 00:08:18,300 --> 00:08:20,550 to execute incident response procedures 249 00:08:20,550 --> 00:08:23,100 to ensure that they can apply their training effectively 250 00:08:23,100 --> 00:08:24,810 in real world scenarios. 251 00:08:24,810 --> 00:08:26,070 Simulation on the other hand 252 00:08:26,070 --> 00:08:28,620 refers to realistic hands-on exercises 253 00:08:28,620 --> 00:08:31,470 that replicate actual incident response scenarios 254 00:08:31,470 --> 00:08:33,360 and provide comprehensive assessment 255 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,669 of a incident response team's capabilities, 256 00:08:35,669 --> 00:08:36,900 decision making skills, 257 00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:39,200 and communication under controlled conditions.