In today’s evolving cybersecurity landscape, waiting for threats to trigger alarms is no longer enough. For this reason, cyber threat hunting takes a proactive stance—actively searching for hidden dangers before they can cause harm. This hands-on approach empowers organizations to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, so let’s dive deep into the practice.

Cyber Threat Hunting Is a Step Ahead of Threats

Instead of waiting for automated systems to detect threats, threat hunters actively seek out vulnerabilities and potential risks in a network. By combining cutting-edge tools, human intuition, and in-depth analysis, threat hunters uncover vulnerabilities and malicious activities that traditional automated systems might miss. This approach combines various resources to identify malicious activity that might evade traditional security measures.

In the course of the course of a cyber threat hunt, experts might be able to detect a variety of vulnerabilities such as advanced persistent threats (APTs), insider threats, zero-day vulnerabilities, malware and ransomware campaigns.

Types of Cyber Threat Hunting

Threat hunting employs various strategies to proactively identify and mitigate potential security risks. Each method aims to enhance threat detection and improve overall cyber defense mechanisms.

Hypothesis-Driven Hunts

Hypothesis-driven hunts involve cybersecurity analysts formulating theories about potential threats based on unusual network activities or anomalies. This approach requires creativity and critical thinking, pushing analysts to ask “what if” questions and pursue unexplored avenues.

Indicator-Based Hunts

Indicator-based hunts determine threats through known identifiers or patterns, such as IP addresses, hash values, or domain names associated with past attacks. This approach leverages intelligence from previous attacks to detect current threats, enhancing threat detection capabilities.

Structured Hunting

Structured hunting relies on established threat intelligence to guide investigations. Analysts may look for indicators of compromise linked to a specific malware strain or track attacker techniques to uncover threats and align investigative efforts with well-documented threat behaviors.

Situational- or Entity-driven Hunting

Situational- or entity-driven hunting focuses on specific contexts or assets. Analysts may monitor high-value systems, anomalous activities involving privileged users, or unusual behaviors surrounding critical infrastructure. By narrowing the scope to high-risk areas, this approach targets threats that pose the most significant impact.

Intelligence-based Hunting

Intelligence-based hunting uses external threat intelligence feeds to identify emerging threats and strengthen hypotheses. By leveraging up-to-date information on global cyber activities, analysts can proactively address potential risks, align their hunting strategies with current trends, and bolster their investigations with relevant external data.

Automated Threat Hunting

Automated threat hunting leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to analyze vast datasets and identify patterns that signal potential cyber threats. By automating repetitive and data-intensive tasks, this approach allows organizations to detect risks more quickly and accurately.

Hybrid Hunting

Hybrid hunting combines the strengths of manual expertise with automated tools, leveraging human intuition to provide contextual understanding while AI and machine learning tools enhance pattern recognition and anomaly detection. This approach enables organizations to efficiently analyze vast amounts of data to detect threats and respond swiftly.

Applications of Cyber Threat Hunting

Cyber threat hunting involves proactively searching for signs of malicious activity that might go undetected by automated security systems. Cybersecurity experts can apply threat hunting in these scenarios:

Unusual Network Traffic

Cyber threat hunting involves scrutinizing unusual network traffic patterns to identify potential threats, such as unexpected spikes in data transferred from internal servers to external destinations. Analyzing these anomalies can determine whether this activity signifies a data exfiltration attempt, requiring immediate intervention to safeguard sensitive information.

Anomalous User Behavior

Analyzing anomalous user behavior could include frequent access to sensitive files at odd hours or unauthorized attempts to escalate user privileges. Threat hunters use advanced tools to correlate these patterns with known attack vectors, distinguishing between legitimate user actions and potential insider threats or compromised accounts.

Unusual Email Activity

Threat hunters also focus on unusual email activity, such as a sudden increase in received emails containing suspicious links or attachments. Dissecting the content and headers of these emails can identify phishing campaigns or malware delivery attempts. Rapid detection and response can prevent network infiltration and protect sensitive organizational data.

→Related: What to Do If Your Email Is Hacked

External Threat Intelligence

Threat hunters continuously monitor feeds for indicators of compromise (IOCs) relevant to their organization. By matching these IOCs with internal logs, they can preemptively identify potential threats, blocking malicious IPs or domains before they can cause harm within the infrastructure.

Uncommon Software Installations

Detecting unauthorized or uncommon applications could signal potential malware presence. By investigating the origins and functions of these applications, threat hunters assess risks and determine if they are part of more extensive cyber attacks, thus ensuring network integrity.

Requirements to Start Threat Hunting

To start threat hunting, organizations need to employ experienced cybersecurity professionals who can expertly analyze data and identify threats using advanced tools and platforms that can process large datasets and detect anomalies.

These professionals will also need comprehensive access to network logs and system information for better data visibility, before they can define processes and develop a structured approach to investigating and mitigating threats.

Some of the platforms cyber threat hunters use include endpoint detection and response, which monitors endpoint activity to detect threats, security Information and event management to aggregate and analyze logs, and user behavior analytics to detect anomalies in user activities.

Threat Hunting Steps

Threat hunting is a structured process designed to proactively detect and mitigate cyber threats that might evade traditional security measures. The key steps involved in threat hunting include:

Preparation: Gathering Tools and Defining Scope

Preparation involves the collection of appropriate cyber threat hunting tools and defining the scope of the operation. Ensuring the right tools and clear objectives will allow cybersecurity specialists to streamline their efforts and protect assets.

Investigation: Analyzing Data for Anomalies

This step involves sifting through vast quantities of data to spot unusual patterns or behaviors that might indicate cyber threats. By leveraging specialized cyber threat hunting tools, analysts can efficiently differentiate between normal activities and potential threats.

Resolution: Mitigating Identified Threats

After detection, cyber threat hunters deploy remediation measures to neutralize vulnerabilities and halt malicious activities. This phase is crucial in fortifying the organization’s cybersecurity posture, stopping threats before they cause significant harm.

Review: Documenting and Learning from Findings

At this stage, cybersecurity teams analyze the outcomes of the hunt, assessing what worked well and where improvements are needed. This analysis informs future threat hunting exercises, and develops more robust cyber defense strategies to ensure resilience.

Important Traits of a Great Threat Hunter

A great threat hunter possesses a unique combination of technical expertise, analytical thinking, and relentless curiosity. These professionals are not only well-versed in cybersecurity tools and methodologies but also have the creativity and intuition to uncover hidden threats that automated systems might overlook.

Analytical Skills

A great threat hunter possesses exceptional analytical skills for interpreting complex datasets associated with cyber threat hunting tools. These skills enable the identification of subtle patterns and anomalies in massive datasets.

Cybersecurity Knowledge

A threat hunter needs a profound understanding of vulnerabilities and attack vectors within networks and systems. This knowledge informs their approach to threat hunting in cybersecurity, allowing them to anticipate, identify, and mitigate potential threats efficiently.

Adaptability

A threat hunter must stay updated with emerging threats and the latest threat hunting tools to enable them to adjust to new threat landscapes, effectively respond to incidents, and develop strategies that preemptively counteract novel cyber threats.

Problem-Solving Ability

Great threat hunters excel in problem-solving to develop innovative solutions to unique and sophisticated cyber threats in real-time. Their ability to think critically and creatively allows them to tackle complex cybersecurity issues effectively.

Additional Strategies to Enhance Threat Hunting

Evolving technology trends set the stage for adapting additional strategies in threat hunting to stay ahead of cybercriminals. Aside from the essential tools such as advanced analytics, threat Intelligence, and automation, it is important to consider other strategies to further enhance cyber threat hunting. These include:

Staying Updated of Threat Hunting Trends

Emerging trends in threat hunting are reshaping cybersecurity. One major shift is the increasing reliance on AI and machine learning to enable faster and more accurate detection of threats across vast datasets. These technologies are revolutionizing threat hunting by uncovering minute patterns that might go unnoticed by human analysts.

Another significant trend is the growing focus on cloud security, as organizations move more of their infrastructure to cloud environments. This shift has prompted the development of specialized threat-hunting tools and techniques tailored to the unique challenges of securing cloud-based systems.

→Related: Leading the Way in Responsible AI Threat Detection

Collaboration

Cyber security teams are working more closely with IT, operations, and other departments to ensure seamless communication and a holistic approach to threat detection. The integration of extended detection and response (XDR) tools also offers a unified platform to monitor, detect, and respond to threats across multiple layers of an organization’s infrastructure.

Conclusion

Cyber threat hunting is an essential, proactive component of modern cybersecurity strategies. With the right approach and resources, it’s possible to create a strong defense against cyber threats. As cyber threats continue to evolve, so too will the art and science of threat hunting, to allow organizations to remain resilient.

Ultimately, cyber threat hunting is about staying one step ahead, embracing innovation, and forging a path toward a safer digital world. By investing in proactive strategies and leveraging solutions like McAfee’s advanced cybersecurity tools, organizations can ensure they are prepared to face whatever cyber threats may come their way.