Secaggregatorz Blog

 Top 3 interview questions for cybersecurity analyst jobs:

>> Q1: What is your approach to incident response?

Knowledge check in this question:

The ability to respond to a security incident is critical for any cybersecurity analyst. The interviewer will be looking for someone who has a structured and well-defined approach to incident response, including identifying the scope of the incident, containing the impact, and taking steps to prevent it from happening again in the future. The candidate should be able to articulate their approach and demonstrate their ability to handle security incidents effectively.  

A step-by-step approach to incident response

1. Preparation:

The first step is to establish an incident response plan before any incident occurs. The plan should define the roles and responsibilities of the incident response team, specify the tools and technologies to be used, and outline the communication channels and procedures.

2. Identification:

The next step is to identify a security incident. This may involve monitoring network traffic, reviewing logs, or receiving alerts from intrusion detection systems.

3. Containment:

Once a security incident has been identified, the next step is to contain the incident. This may involve isolating affected systems from the rest of the network or shutting down specific services or applications to prevent further damage.

4. Analysis:

After the incident has been contained, the next step is to conduct a detailed analysis to determine the scope and nature of the attack. This may involve forensics analysis, reviewing logs, and identifying the source of the attack.

5. Eradication:

Once the incident has been analyzed, the next step is to eradicate the threat. This may involve removing malware, patching vulnerabilities, or resetting compromised passwords.

6. Recovery:

After the threat has been eradicated, the next step is to restore systems and services to their normal operation. This may involve restoring data from backups, updating systems, or reconfiguring network devices.

7. Post-Incident Activities:

Finally, it's essential to conduct a post-incident review to determine what went wrong and how the incident response plan can be improved in the future. This may involve reviewing incident reports, conducting a lessons-learned session, or updating the incident response plan. By following these steps, a cybersecurity analyst can effectively respond to security incidents and minimize the impact of any security breaches.  

By following these steps, a cybersecurity analyst can effectively respond to security incidents and minimize the impact of any security breaches.

Here is an example of using the STAR method to answer the interview question

Interviewer Question: "Can you describe a time when you developed an incident response plan for a cybersecurity incident?"

Sample Expected Response: "STAR Method"

Situation: In my previous role as a cybersecurity analyst, I was responsible for developing an incident response plan for a client who had experienced a security breach.

Task: My task was to create an incident response plan that would help the client to quickly identify and respond to future security incidents, mitigate the damage, and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Action: To develop the plan, I worked closely with the client's IT team to understand their existing infrastructure, network architecture, and security controls. I also conducted a comprehensive risk assessment to identify potential vulnerabilities and threats. Based on this information, I created a detailed incident response plan that included specific procedures for responding to different types of security incidents, such as malware infections, denial-of-service attacks, and data breaches. The plan outlined the roles and responsibilities of the incident response team, specified the tools and technologies to be used, and provided step-by-step instructions for each stage of the incident response process. I then conducted a series of tabletop exercises to test the plan and ensure that all team members understood their roles and responsibilities. These exercises helped to identify areas of the plan that needed improvement, which I then addressed by making updates and revisions to the plan.

Result: As a result of my work, the client had a comprehensive incident response plan in place that enabled them to quickly detect and respond to security incidents, minimize the damage, and prevent future incidents from occurring. The plan was regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it remained effective in the face of new and evolving threats. In summary, I was able to develop an incident response plan for a cybersecurity incident by working closely with the client's IT team, conducting a risk assessment, creating a detailed plan, conducting tabletop exercises, and continuously reviewing and updating the plan to ensure its effectiveness  

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

With 3.75 stars rating  on Goodreads the first book to read would be, SPAM NATION:THE INSIDE STORY OF ORGANIZED CYBERCRIME — from Global Epidemic to Your Front Door by Brian Krebs. This is one of the top 3 must read books if you want to have a high Cybersecurity Awareness Quotient (CAQ). Brian's book was published in 2015 and his stories are a few years old, but they are still very important to understand within the broader security landscape of our twenty-first century communications and media environment. A firsthand review by Wesley Fryer is available HERE

With 3.92 star rating on Goodreads, the second book to read would be, GHOST IN THE WIRES: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick, William L. Simon and Steve Wozniak.If you want to better protect yourself from social engineering, this book is a great primer. Mitnick manages to make himself relatable. By including personal details, descriptions of family life, and imagery of his surroundings, he comes across as a regular guy. Because Mitnick never did anything especially damaging compared to some of the other well known hackers. A wonderful review can be found by David Kopec  HERE

With 3.98 star rating on Goodreads, third book to read would be, THE ART OF INVISIBILITY: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data by Kevin D. Mitnick and Robert Vamosi (Co-Author). In 1999, when software businessman Scott McNealy said «You have zero privacy anyway. » Anyone who uses a free Internet service becomes a piece of data. After a while, the data providers may know more about you than you do yourself. If you want to stay online while retaining your privacy, this book provides some guidance. A credible review by Ben Rothke, CISSP can be found HERE

PHOTO CREDITS:

• Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash 
• Photo by Fábio Lucas on Unsplash
• Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

UEBA or User and Behaviour Analytics tools are used to create Behaviour profiles that help in identifying a user who engages in anomalous behavior. In some cases, vendor changes can also be monitored to keep a track of only genuine changes.

 Varonis as per various users has the best post-deployment support.

 The product has features such as

• Monitoring critical assets for suspicious activity and unusual behavior
• Cross-platform event monitoring on Windows, UNIX/Linux, NAS, Active Directory, SharePoint, or Exchange
• If there is a detection of potential security breaches or misconfigurations it triggers alerts across multiple platforms
• Detect critical events and compromised assets
• Automate threat detection with predictive threat models built on advanced analytics, user behavior, and machine learning
• Profile user roles and service accounts and baseline
• Insider threats, ransomware, and potential data breaches detection
• Use the DatAlert web-based dashboards
• Easily integrate with SIEM and network management solutions
• The research team introduces new behavior-based threat models frequently

Gartner rating for Varonis is 4.7 and Varonis has received the Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice distinction for the File Analysis Software market in 2020.

Find more details here:

Varonis Gartner Report

Varonis Data Sheet

Social engineering relies on techniques such as influence to mislead preys into penetrating security and disclosing their most critical information.

Attackers know that humans are forever the weakest link in defenses. With this knowledge, attackers gather nonthreatening information that allows them to trick employees into disclosing valuable information to exploit.

Awareness is Power!!

The Canadian Cyber Security Audit Program is part of a series of free tools for auditors to use to assess the cybersecurity status of their organizations

These tools are designed for auditors in both government and private sector organizations.

Canadian Center for Cyber Security has an effective Security Audit Program

Proofpoint came up with some wonderful content for security awareness training through their various programs which may be found herein.

Security Awareness Training

Security Training Summary