Can you tell the difference between a security event, an alert and an incident? While all three terms are part of the IT security vocabulary, they are neither synonymous nor interchangeable. Distinguishing between these different notions is essential to reinforce your security posture.
What are the differences between an event, an alert and a security incident? What is the respective role of each in IT security? How can security events, alerts and incidents be used for operational security? Here's a quick refresher.
Operational safety: a few definitions
What is a safety event?
A security event is an action reported by a monitoring system. Security events do not necessarily represent a threat to IT security. Further analysis is required to determine this.
What is a safety alert?
A security alert is a notification produced by a monitoring tool or detection system. The alert occurs when an event has been identified that could indicate malicious activity or a security breach.
Security alerts are generally generated following automated analysis of security events. Human intervention is used to assess their severity, and to confirm or deny their malicious nature.
What is a security incident?
A security incident occurs when damage is caused (or is likely to be caused) to an information system, or data and/or systems are compromised. The security breach is identified and confirmed. A security incident calls for a rapid response to contain it, understand the situation and remedy it in order to limit the damage (potential or actual).
What role do these concepts play in operational security and threat management?
The importance of early event detection
Security event management tools provide complete visibility over the activity of an information system. They enable you to be informed in real time of the events taking place on your system, and to detect at an early stage any events that are out of the ordinary. This early detection provides greater reactivity in the face of threats.
Responding to alerts and preventing attacks
Properly configured, alerts draw the attention of operational security teams, prompting them to react quickly and investigate. The aim: to take the necessary measures to protect the IS from a security breach and avoid the occurrence of a major security incident.
Incident management to minimize impact
Once a security incident has been confirmed, various measures can be taken to prevent its spread and minimize its impact: qualifying the incident, isolating infected systems or machines where necessary, etc. The security incident management methodology also includes a RETEX phase, designed to take stock of the past crisis and capitalize on it to prevent future incidents.
Events, alerts, incidents: concrete examples
Examples of safety events: unusual activities
- Network traffic anomalies: unusual increases in traffic volume, for example.
- Unusual and suspicious user behavior: repeated authentication attempts and failures, privilege changes, unauthorized resource access attempts, etc.
Examples of security alerts: attempted intrusion
Some detection tools are able to identify a high number of failed authentication attempts over a short period of time. This information becomes a security alert, as it signals a possible brute-force attack. If security teams can identify the IP address from which the attack attempt was launched, they can, for example, block it.
Security alerts can also warn of intrusion attempts. The elements associated with the alert and the analysis carried out can be used to advise teams on the measures to be taken: blocking the IP address at the origin of the intrusion attempt, disabling unused network ports, better configuring firewalls, strengthening access and privilege management, etc.
Typical security incident scenario: ransomware
Ransomware is a typical example of a security incident, which can be broken down into 4 main phases :
- Reconnaissance of the target to understand its ecosystem, based on publicly available information, data leaks, etc.
- Initial access: obtain login credentials, e.g. via phishing emails, then distribute malware (loader).
- Exploitation, with privilege escalation and lateral movement. The aim of this phase is to gain more rights and extend its hold on the targeted organization's network.
- Impact: data encryption, distribution of a ransom note.
Tools and technologies for operational safety
Examples of event detection and alert tools
SIEM
By aggregating a very large volume of data from different sources and analyzing logs, a SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tool detects possible anomalies in relation to normal IS activity. Threats are thus identified.
EDR
A solution dedicated to endpoint security, EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) monitors activity on terminals in real time. It can thus identify threats and automatically alert teams. An EDR is also able to provide an automated response to identified threats in order to contain them.
Intrusion detection and prevention tools: IDS/IPS
An IDS (Intrusion Detection System) constantly monitors network traffic and system activity in real time. It generates alerts when suspicious activity is detected, and can even correlate different events to detect more complex attacks.
As for IPS (intrusion prevention system) tools, they can take measures to prevent intrusions, such as blocking an IP address or disabling a compromised user account.
Incident management software
Using an incident management platform makes teams' work easier, by centralizing the response process (preparation, detection and analysis, containment, eradication, etc.) and streamlining the various workflows.
Although it is not an incident management tool in the strict sense of the term, information system mapping is extremely useful for the incident response process. The use of IS mapping enables :
- Gain a better understanding of your information system (prior to an incident).
- Identify your most critical assets to better protect them.
- Save time in the event of an incident by quickly identifying and blocking an attack.
- Improve decision-making during the incident response phase.
Integrated solutions for a holistic approach
Although the concepts of event, alert and incident each refer to different levels of impact and severity, they must be treated together. To be fully effective, the various tools and technologies must also integrate with each other.
Organizations with a sufficient level of maturity can, for example, bring their various solutions together in a unit dedicated to their operational security, i.e. a Security Operations Center (SOC). Relying on a range of tools and technologies for detecting and generating security alerts, the SOC provides teams with a real-time view of all information system activity, enabling them to react effectively in the event of an abnormal event, an alert or a proven security incident.
What strategies are needed for effective operational safety management?
Automate alerts to increase responsiveness
The automation of security alerts has become a crucial element in the field of operational security, as it offers teams greater reactivity. As threats are detected more quickly, they can also be dealt with more rapidly. Automation also helps analysts by facilitating the sorting and qualification of alerts.
Draw up an incident response plan
The incident response plan is a reference document formalizing an organization's incident response policy. It enables an effective response to an incident, mobilizing teams and taking the necessary measures to limit the damage caused by the incident. The response plan details the procedures to be followed in the event of an incident, and lists the actions to be taken and the responsibilities of each individual.
Set up a communication protocol in the event of an incident
Communication plays a strategic role in managing a security incident. It will be all the more effective if a communication protocol (including both an internal and an external component) has been defined upstream. This will make it easier to gather information, format messages and distribute them to different audiences (employees, partners, suppliers, press, etc.). A "ready-to-use" crisis communication plan, identifying the various communication channels to be mobilized depending on the targets, is part of this approach.
The differences between security events, alerts and incidents: what you need to know
Safety events, alerts and incidents are not the same thing. There is a kind of gradation in the passage from one to the other.
A security event is not always indicative of malicious activity. It needs to be qualified before it can be reported as an alert. If the alert actually indicates malicious activity that is likely to cause damage, or has already caused damage, then it is a security incident. The transition from one concept to another requires analysis. While there are differences between the three terms, they all contribute to the development of a proactive approach to IT security.
Would you like to know how OverSOC can help you develop a proactive security posture? Contact us.
