SPLK-5001 Exam Dumps - Splunk Cybersecurity Defense Analyst Questions and Answers

Themakeresultscommand in Splunk is used to generate a single-row result that can be used to create test data within a search pipeline. This command is particularly useful for testing and experimenting with SPL commands on a small set of synthetic data without relying on existing logs or events in the Splunk index. It is commonly used by analysts who want to test commands or SPL syntax before applying them to real data.

NetFlow data is a powerful data source for monitoring and analyzing network traffic patterns within an organization. It provides detailed information about the flow of data between devices on a network, including source and destination IP addresses, ports, and protocols. By analyzing NetFlow data, security analysts can detect unusual communication patterns that may indicate malicious activity, such as lateral movement, data exfiltration, or communication with command and control servers. Other options like EDS (Endpoint Detection Systems), Email, and IAM (Identity and Access Management) are also valuable, but NetFlow is specifically designed for network traffic analysis.

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For creating a custom dashboard focused on typosquatting, theNew Domain Analysisdashboard in Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) would be a relevant starting point. Typosquatting typically involves the registration of domains similar to legitimate domains to deceive users, which is closely related to the analysis of newly registered or observed domains. This dashboard already includes tools and visualizations for monitoring and analyzing domain name activity, which can be adapted for the specific needs of monitoring for typosquatting.

Splunk SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) playbooks are designed to automate security tasks, makingtaking containment action on a compromised hostthe best-suited use case. A SOAR playbook can automate the response actions such as isolating a host, blocking IPs, or disabling accounts, based on predefined criteria. This reduces response time and minimizes the impact of security incidents. The other options, like forming hypotheses for threat hunting or visualizing datasets, are more manual processes and less suited for automation via a playbook.

Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) provides various features to enhance security monitoring, analysis, and incident response. One of the powerful features in Splunk ES isAnnotations. This feature allows security analysts to map and categorize correlation search results according to well-known industry frameworks such as the CIS Critical Security Controls, MITRE ATT&CK, and the Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain®.

Purpose of Annotations:

Annotations help analysts understand and categorize security events by aligning them with recognized security frameworks. This alignment provides context, making it easier to understand the nature of threats and how they fit within broader threat models or attack strategies.

How Annotations Work:

When a correlation search in Splunk ES triggers an alert, Annotations can automatically tag the alert with relevant tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) from frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK. This helps in categorizing the event within the context of known attack patterns, offering insights into potential next steps by an attacker and recommended defensive actions.

Annotations can be manually added or configured to be applied automatically based on the nature of the search results.

Integration with Frameworks:

MITRE ATT&CK:Annotations can map alerts to specific techniques and tactics in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, which provides a detailed knowledge base of adversary behaviors, tactics, and techniques.

CIS Critical Security Controls:These controls can also be mapped through annotations, allowing the organization to measure and improve its security posture against these controls.

Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain®:This model focuses on the stages of a cyberattack, and annotations can help identify where in the kill chain a particular alert fits, providing a clearer understanding of the attack’s progression.

Annotations in Splunk ES:Practical Example:Consider a correlation search that detects unusual behavior indicating potential lateral movement within a network. If this alert is annotated with a reference to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, it might map to techniques like "T1021 - Remote Services," which is associated with the lateral movement tactic. This mapping not only categorizes the event but also helps in planning the next steps for containment and investigation.

Efficiency in Response:By aligning alerts with industry frameworks, annotations help in quickly identifying the nature and potential impact of a threat.

Consistency in Analysis:Provides a standardized method for categorizing and responding to alerts, ensuring that all analysts interpret and react to threats in a consistent manner.

Improved Reporting:Allows for better visualization and reporting of threats according to established frameworks, making it easier to communicate risks and actions to stakeholders.

According to Splunk’s Common Information Model (CIM) documentation, when investigating network alerts, the IP address of the host from which an attacker is moving (source) is typically stored in thesrc_ipfield. Thehostfield generally refers to the name of the host that logged the event,destrefers to the destination IP, andsrc_nt_hostrefers to the NetBIOS name of the source host. Thesrc_ipfield is specifically used to denote the source IP address in the context of network communication, which is critical for tracing lateral movement.

TheAsset and Identityframework within Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) is designed to add enriched context and correlation to the raw data fields by mapping logs to known assets (such as devices, servers, endpoints) and identities (users and accounts). This framework enhances the meaning of raw event data by associating events with relevant organizational entities, which helps in prioritization, detection, and investigation workflows.

TheAsset and Identityframework automatically tags and correlates data points with asset categories and user identities, improving detection fidelity and enabling targeted risk scoring.

Adaptive Responseis a mechanism for triggering automated actions, not a contextual framework.

Threat Intelligenceframework integrates external intelligence data but does not inherently add context to raw data fields.

Riskframework calculates risk scores based on multiple factors but builds upon context enriched by Asset and Identity.

TheSplunk Enterprise Security User Guidestates that the Asset and Identity framework is critical for making raw event data actionable through contextual enrichment and is foundational to the ES correlation searches and dashboards.

ThemetadataSPL command in Splunk can be used to retrieve various types of metadata information indexed in Splunk. To list the differentsourcetypes(i.e., the categorization of the incoming data), the analyst should use the argument metadata type=sourcetypes.

metadata type=sourcetypes returns a list of all sourcetypes currently indexed, which is essential for understanding what kinds of data are available.

metadata type=hosts lists hosts sending data but does not categorize data types.

metadata type=cdn and metadata type=assets are not valid or standard types for this command in Splunk.

This usage is documented in Splunk’s official search command reference and is fundamental for data management and onboarding processes.

Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) provides default annotations for enrichment of correlation searches with common and widely adopted security frameworks, facilitating better contextual understanding and reporting. The default annotation options includeMITRE ATT&CK,CIS Controls, andLockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chainframeworks, which are natively integrated and extensively used in security operations for mapping tactics, techniques, and controls.

OWASP Top 10, while a critical web application security framework, isnot included as a default annotation optionwithin Splunk ES for correlation search enrichment. OWASP Top 10 is often referenced separately in web application security contexts rather than in general SOC threat frameworks.

The inclusion of MITRE ATT&CK and Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain annotations helps analysts categorize attack stages and tactics directly within ES dashboards.

This is confirmed in theSplunk Enterprise Security User Guideand annotations documentation, which lists the default frameworks available for search enrichment.