C1000-162 IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5 Analysis Questions and Answers

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Here's a breakdown of reference data collections in QRadar:

• Primary Types:

• Report Data Source: To generate a report focused on offense data, you must explicitly select "Offense" as the data source. This tells QRadar to structure the report around offense information.
• Edit Search: The "Edit Search" interface often provides the ability to configure report generation.

In the Reports tab of QRadar, the message "Queued (position in the queue)" indicates that the report is queued for generation. The message provides the position of the report within the generation queue, which helps users understand the report's status and expected generation time​

To perform an IP address X-Force Exchange Lookup in QRadar, you can follow these steps2:

• Select the Log Activity or the Network Activity tab.
• Right-click the IP address that you want to view in X-Force Exchange.
• Select More Options > Plugin Options > X-Force Exchange Lookup to open the X-Force Exchange interface2.

The procedure to perform an IP address X-Force Exchange Lookup in QRadar involves selecting either the Log Activity or the Network Activity tab, right-clicking the IP address of interest, and then navigating through More Options > Plugin Options > X-Force Exchange Lookup to access the X-Force Exchange interface​​.

To find information about an IP or URL within QRadar, analysts can use the right-click menu option "X-Force Exchange Lookup." This option is available when right-clicking an IP address or URL from the Offenses tab or event details windows, providing direct access to the X-Force Exchange interface for detailed threat intelligence and contextual information​​.

• Searchable Columns:In QRadar's "My Offenses" and "All Offenses" tabs, you can search by:
• Incorrect Options:

References:

• IBM QRadar Documentation - Searching for Offenses https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/qradar-on-cloud?topic=searches-searching-offenses-my-offenses-all-offenses-pages

• Magnitude:The Magnitude metric in QRadar represents a calculated severity or importance score assigned to an offense. Here's how it helps:

When you right-click on an IP address within an event in the QRadar Log Activity tab, you get a context-sensitive menu with these primary options:

• Filter on: This is the main way to focus your view. It adds the selected IP address as a filter, showing you only events associated with that IP.
• False Positive: Marking an event as a false positive helps QRadar's analytical engine learn and potentially reduce similar alerts in the future.
• More Options: This expands the menu to show further actions you might take on the event such as:
• Quick Filter: Provides a quick, inline way to add additional filtering logic based on other fields of the event.

References:

• IBM QRadar Log Activity Tab Overview: This section of the QRadar documentation describes the actions available in the Log Activity tab: https://www.ibm.com/docs/SSKMKU/com.ibm.qradar.doc/c_qradar_log_activ_tab_over

The magnitude rating of an offense in QRadar is calculated based on relevance, severity, and credibility. Relevance determines the impact on the network, credibility indicates the integrity of the offense, and severity represents the level of threat. QRadar uses complex algorithms to calculate and periodically re-evaluate the offense magnitude rating​​.

Rules that have tests against both event and flow data in QRadar are typically known as "Anomaly rules." These rules are designed to detect unusual or unexpected patterns of activity that deviate from the norm, which can be indicative of security threats. By analyzing both event data (which could include log entries, system alerts, etc.) and flow data (which represents network traffic), anomaly rules can provide a comprehensive view of potential security incidents, identifying anomalies that might not be evident when looking at event or flow data in isolation.

Within IBM Security QRadar's Ariel Query Language (AQL), functions play a crucial role in manipulating data, performing calculations, and formatting results for more insightful analysis. Among the options provided, "LOWER" (C) and "STRLEN" (D) are valid AQL functions used for formatting and calculations, respectively. The "LOWER" function is used to convert a string to lowercase, which can be useful for case-insensitive comparisons or data normalization. The "STRLEN" function calculates the length of a string, providing valuable information about the data content, such as detecting unusually long or short values that might indicate anomalies or issues within the event or flow data .

In IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5, custom rules play a crucial role in detecting and responding to potential security threats. These rules can be created from various tabs within the QRadar interface, offering flexibility in how and where analysts choose to define their custom detection logic. Specifically, custom rules can be created from the Offenses, Log Activity, or Network Activity tabs. From the Offenses tab, analysts can create rules that are triggered by specific offense characteristics or patterns. The Log Activity and Network Activity tabs allow for the creation of rules based on observed events or network flows, respectively. This multi-faceted approach to rule creation enables analysts to tailor their detection strategies to different aspects of their environment, leveraging the rich data and insights provided by QRadar to identify and mitigate threats effectively.

QRadar will mark an Event offense as dormant if no new events or flows occur within 30 minutes. However, if QRadar did not process any events within 4 hours, this also triggers the offense to become dormant. Once dormant, the offense remains in this state for 5 days unless new events or flows are added​​​​.

On the Offenses tab within QRadar, the "Offense Type" column explains the cause of the offense. The offense type is determined by the rule that triggered the offense, and it dictates the kind of information displayed in the Offense Source Summary pane. This helps analysts understand the nature and origin of the offense, facilitating more effective investigation and response actions​​.

The magnitude rating of an offense in IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5 is calculated based on three key parameters: severity, relevance, and credibility. Severity indicates the level of threat, relevance determines the offense's impact on the network, and credibility reflects the integrity of the offense as determined by the credibility rating configured in the log source. This combination of factors helps prioritize offenses and guide analysts on which ones to investigate first​​.

To search offense data on the By Networks page, an analyst can use the options "Events/Flows" to filter based on the types of data points, and "Network" to specify the network they want to search for. This allows for a focused search on specific networks and types of data​​​​.

A YARA rule is used for malware identification and classification, based on textual or binary patterns. The example provided suggests a rule that flags occurrences of a specific string (str1) at a precise location within a file. The "offset" keyword in YARA rules specifies the exact byte position where the pattern (in this case, 'str1') should appear. Thus, the correct interpretation of the YARA rule example is that it flags instances where 'str1' appears 25 bytes into the file,indicating a very specific pattern match used for identifying potentially malicious files or activities that conform to this pattern.

Here's why an AQL statement will default to running for 5 minutes:

• Timeout Protection: QRadar implements timeouts to prevent queries from running indefinitely and potentially overloading the system.
• Default Timeout: If no explicit time criteria is specified, the standard timeout in QRadar is 5 minutes.exclamation
• Modifying Timeouts: Advanced users can change this default, but it requires modification of QRadar configuration settings.

• Specificity: The question states that the addresses are specifically IPv6-formatted. Using the 'IPv6' type ensures precision in the reference set.
• IP Matching by QRadar: QRadar's rule engine will properly match against IPv6 addresses when the reference set type is 'IPv6'.

The Domain attribute governs who can view the value of a reference set data element, ensuring that only users with appropriate domain access or tenant assignments can view the data. This is essential for maintaining data visibility and access control within a multi-tenant QRadar environment​​.

A Quick filter search in IBM Security QRadar SIEM operates on raw event or flow data. This type of search allows users to rapidly filter through large volumes of data to find specific events or flows of interest without the need for complex query syntax. Quick filter searches are particularly useful for conducting initial analyses or when looking for specific indicators within the raw data streams. The ability to search directly on raw event or flow data enables analysts to work with the most granular level of information available, facilitating detailed investigations and the identification of subtle patterns or anomalies that might indicate security issues .

In QRadar, to limit the time period for which an AQL (Ariel Query Language) query is evaluated, the functions and clauses that can be used include START, STOP, LAST, NOW, and PARSEDATETIME. Specifically, the LAST function is used to define a relative time range for the query, such as "LAST 2 DAYS"​​.

• Common Rules: The foundation of QRadar's event analysis. They operate on structured events representing activity from various log sources.
• Event Processor: Responsible for normalizing and categorizing raw log data from various sources into structured QRadar events.

When defining the network hierarchy in QRadar, it is recommended to organize systems and networks by role or similar traffic patterns to differentiate network behavior effectively. Additionally, it is advised not to configure a network group with more than 15 objects to avoid difficulties in viewing detailed information for each object and to ensure efficient management of network groups​​.

When a security analyst needs to filter events based on the time they occurred on the endpoints, the most relevant parameter to use is "Log Source Time." This parameter reflects the original timestamp of an event as recorded by the log source, providing the actual time when the eventtook place on the endpoint, regardless of when the event was received or processed by QRadar. This is crucial for accurate temporal analysis of events, ensuring that the timing of activities is correctly aligned with the actual occurrence on the devices or systems generating the logs.

• Indexing: QRadar indexes certain fields to create a structured way to quickly locate matching data.
• Search Optimization: Including indexed fields in queries allows QRadar to leverage pre-built indexes rather than scanning all data.
• Filtering: A well-constructed search with indexed fields significantly narrows the dataset, speeding up operations.

The MITRE heat map in the Use Case Manager app within QRadar uses several factors to determine the colors displayed, among which the number of rules mapped to MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques and the level of mapping confidence are crucial. These factors help visualize the coverage and reliability of rule mappings against the comprehensive MITRE ATT&CK framework, aiding in the identification of potential gaps or areas for improvement in threat detection capabilities​​.

Here's why MaxMind updates are essential:

• IP to Location Mapping: QRadar relies on a GeoIP database to translate IP addresses into geographical locations (countries, regions, cities, etc.).
• MaxMind: A widely used provider of GeoIP databases. QRadar integrates with MaxMind to obtain this data.
• Fresh Updates: GeoIP mapping can change over time. Regular updates ensure the accuracy of location-based rules.

Why Other Options Are Less Relevant

• X-Force Exchange: Provides threat intelligence feeds, primarily focused on IOCs, not geographic mappings.
• X-Force Exchange ATP Updates: Likely refers to threat intelligence updates but not specifically for geolocation data.
• Watson: IBM's AI platform. While potentially related to analytics, it's not the primary mechanism for geolocation in QRadar.