What is Managed Threat Hunting?

Managed threat hunting proactively identifies hidden cyber threats before they can cause harm. By combining expert knowledge with advanced tools, it detects and neutralizes risks within your network.

The importance of effective threat hunting is highlighted by the market's projected growth, with a CAGR of 18.6% from 2023 to 2033, reaching an estimated value of around $13.2 billion by 2033. Despite this growth, over 90% of organizations face challenges in threat hunting due to understaffed security teams and excessive background noise, making basic security tasks increasingly difficult for defenders.

Understanding these challenges is crucial for developing effective strategies. In this post, we'll explore the top tips and benefits of managed threat hunting to help you stay ahead of emerging threats.

Definition of Managed Threat Hunting

Managed threat hunting is a proactive cybersecurity strategy that looks for hidden cyber threats in your network. The goal is to find and kill risks before they can harm. It's different from traditional security which often reacts after an incident has occurred. This proactive approach is critical in today's fast-changing threat landscape where advanced threats can evade traditional defenses.

Managed cyber threat hunting is a combination of advanced tech and human expertise. This allows for ongoing monitoring, detection, investigation, and killing of threats. Which is translated into proactive protection, operationalized threat intelligence, and fast threat detection.

Managed Threat Hunting Components

Three key components make up managed threat hunting: 

• proactive security strategy 

• human expertise 

• and advanced tools and tech.

These work together to create a defense that can find and kill hidden threats before they can harm. 

Each component is important, from setting up a proactive approach to using the skills of seasoned hunters and advanced tech. These components work together to enhance the capabilities of a security operations center, ensuring comprehensive threat detection and response.

Proactive Security Strategy

A proactive security strategy is key to threat hunting. This is:

• Find and kill threats before they can do harm

• Improve security posture

• Combine advanced threat detection, incident response, and continuous monitoring

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services support this approach.

This strategy has three steps:

1. Trigger: This phase starts the process by finding unusual activity or hypotheses about threats.

2. Investigation: After the trigger, this phase digs deeper into the anomalies using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK to build confidence in the findings.

3. Resolution: This phase kills the threat and mitigates it fully.

Full coverage in proactive threat hunting is important as it looks for threats across the network and recognizes the human behind the tech. This approach is good at finding advanced, multi-step attacks that traditional defenses miss, looking for complex threats that require complex hunting techniques.

Human Expertise in Threat Hunting

Human expertise is key to threat hunting. Although automated detection is necessary, it can be predictable. Attackers will develop ways to bypass these automated tools so human threat hunters are needed to find targeted, sophisticated attacks and respond to unusual behavior.

Good threat hunters have intellectual curiosity, and knowledge of the threat landscape, and can think like a hacker.

Managed threat hunting services use advanced tech and human expertise to:

• Find, investigate, and kill threats

• Look for attacker tactics and techniques

• Use internal and external threat intelligence to find indicators of compromise

Services include:

• 24/7 monitoring by expert teams

• Finding attacks from various attackers, including nation-states, cybercriminals, and malicious insiders

• Continuous vigilance so threats are found and fixed quickly

• Using the experience and technical skills of seasoned hunters to maintain a strong security posture.

Advanced Tools and Tech

Advanced tools and tech is what managed threat hunting is built on. A lot of threat hunting tools and services for example use advanced threat detection tools to monitor the network for unusual activity. Tools like EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and XDR (Extended Detection and Response) give visibility into suspicious activity so threat hunters can find and fix threats.

Our own Hunt.io's Advanced Threat Hunting platform is another great approach, it uses high-fidelity IP scanning and fingerprinting to track malicious infrastructure in real-time, significantly enhancing threat detection accuracy. By leveraging Hunt's comprehensive C2 Infrastructure Feed, organizations can also proactively detect and neutralize command and control activities within their networks, reducing the burden on internal security teams and improving overall threat detection capabilities.

These tools tie together multiple security systems and automate manual tasks so threat identification is more accurate. Some key tools for security operations are:

• SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) systems that simplify security operations and enable faster and more accurate threat detection and response.

• Telemetry that gives real-time visibility into network activity and helps threat hunters sift through massive amounts of data to make decisions.

• Automated security software that can find and respond to threats without human intervention.

By using these platforms organizations can improve their security posture and be more secure against cyber threats with a CISO.

Machine learning and advanced analytics find anomalies and suggest malicious activity for analysts to investigate. These technologies make threat detection more effective and response faster and more accurate so emerging threats are found and fixed quickly.

The Managed Threat Hunting Process

Managed threat hunting is a process that involves several stages:

1. Planning

2. Detection

3. Investigation

4. Response

Each stage is important to find, analyze, and kill threats before they can do damage.

This structured approach gives organizations a strong defense against ever-changing cyber threats.

Detection and Investigation

The detection phase uses automated tools to find threats and integrates broader cyber threat intelligence feeds to cover multiple platforms including Linux, OSX, and Cloud environments. This gives a broad detection scope so we can find complex attack patterns.

During the investigation phase threat hunters measure against industry frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK to build a confidence threshold. They use next-gen endpoint security and firewall tools to gather raw telemetry to assess risk and investigate security incidents. Tools used include system logs and anomaly detection tools which give us the data to do a deep dive.

Theory-driven investigations are a big part of this phase where threat hunters start with a theory about the danger and the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of the threat actor. 

A trigger such as unusual activity points them to specific systems or areas of the network to investigate. A combination of manual and automated techniques ensures all potential malicious activity is looked at and fixed.

Incident Response and Remediation

Once a threat is found the information is used to fix and verify the threat. The immediate issue is mitigated and the root cause is killed which may involve deep network extraction of the attacker. This detailed approach ensures the threat is fully removed and future incidents are prevented.

Managed threat hunting teams provide:

• Customized and actionable remediation recommendations after an incident

• Recommendations based on the hunter's knowledge of the business and technology landscape

• 24/7 support

• Detailed reports on high-risk incidents with all the information

These services allow organizations to contain and recover from threats through their security operations center.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is part of managed threat hunting. Data from previous investigations is stored and used for future hunts, so we have a treasure trove of information to use for future threat hunting. This continuous learning helps us to predict and improve security.

The data from threat hunting is used to improve automation tools and predict emerging threats. By being ahead of the threats organizations can have a strong security posture and defend against advanced attacks.

Managed Threat Hunting Benefits

Managed threat hunting gives you threat intelligence, shorter attacker dwell time, and less burden on the security team. All of which means you can detect and respond to advanced threats more proactively.

The insights and decisions made by a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) are crucial in selecting and implementing these security measures.

Threat Intelligence

Managed threat hunting services use large data sets and advanced analytics to give you actionable insight into threats. High-fidelity threat intelligence is key to quickly spotting emerging attacks and understanding the context. This broad approach means organizations are ready for advanced cyber threats.

Automated tools trained by security experts improve cyber threat discovery and prioritization. These tools allow threat hunters to find and fix threats quickly so you get a big boost to your overall security posture.

Shorter Attacker Dwell Time

Proactive cyber threat hunting assumes the attacker is already in the system and focuses on reducing the attacker's dwell time. This means breaches that might go undetected for days, weeks, or even months can be detected.

By finding threats early you can:

• Respond quickly to mitigate the threat and the impact of the attack

• Take steps to stop further damage

• Harden your security to prevent future attacks.

Continuous monitoring and correlation of security data is part of managed threat hunting services. This means threats are detected and killed faster than with standard automated methods and the window of opportunity for the attacker to do damage is much smaller.

Unload the Security Team

Many security teams are overwhelmed with low-fidelity alerts and don't have the resources to do threat hunting. Managed threat hunting services take that burden away by:

• Taking over the complex and resource-intensive task of threat detection and response

• Allowing the internal security team to focus on other important tasks

• Increasing overall operational efficiency.

Automated tools used in managed threat hunting:

• Remove manual tasks

• Allow threat hunters to focus on advanced threats

• Provide investigation and resolution guidance

• Allow security teams to act on the threats

• Reduce the load on internal teams

Selecting a Managed Threat Hunting Service

You need to choose a managed threat hunting service that fits your organization's security needs and risk profile. A thorough review of the service offerings and capabilities of potential providers is required to make an informed decision.

Providers

When selecting managed threat hunting providers you should look at their ability to monitor the environment 24/7 and advanced threat detection. Key areas to consider are:

• Threat detection capabilities

• Response time

• 24/7 support

• Customization

• Compliance

• Integration with existing security stack

Providers should have experience in APTs. Also, consider their ability to integrate with your existing cybersecurity tools. Integration means a single security strategy.

Our Solution at Hunt.io

At Hunt.io, we offer a comprehensive threat hunting platform designed to enhance your security posture.

Our platform includes:

• Advanced threat detection capabilities: We utilize high-fidelity IP scanning, and JA4 fingerprinting to track malicious infrastructure in real-time.

• Command and Control (C2) Infrastructure Feed: This unique C2 feed helps detect and neutralize malicious activities within your network proactively.

• IOC Hunter: This tool converts trusted public research into machine-readable formats, providing deep context for investigations and enabling quicker threat identification and mitigation.

• Cyber Threat Enrichment API: Uncover and mitigate threats by extracting and analyzing IPs, domains, and apex domains from text files.

• Web Interface: Quickly hunt for malicious infrastructure, including active C2 servers and open directories used by threat actors.

By leveraging our platform, organizations can achieve enhanced security posture, proactive threat detection, and swift response to potential threats.

Key features of managed threat hunting services are:

• 24/7 monitoring which is often cheaper than a full-time internal team

• Real-time threat hunting

• Retrospective analysis of all historical data

• Broad coverage

Look for:

• Manual and semi-automated hunting so security experts are actively looking for threats

• A team of experienced threat hunters with a history of handling big cyber attacks

• Detailed threat and impact reports for incident management.

Cost

Review the MDR provider's pricing model for transparency and clarity on costs and service levels. Transparent pricing means you know what you're getting and there are no surprises.

Calculating the return on investment (ROI) of managed threat hunting is also important. Consider the reduction in damage and downtime from cyber incidents as key metrics to measure the value of these services.

Real-World Examples

Managed threat hunting is used in various industries to detect and stop APTs before they can do damage.

Industry Examples

In retail, managed threat hunting has helped companies significantly reduce their insurance premiums. This proactive approach improves security and results in substantial cost savings.

In healthcare managed threat hunting services were used to protect patient data from ransomware attacks. These services protect sensitive data and help with compliance.

Financial institutions use managed threat hunting to detect fraud and protect sensitive financial data.

These are just a few examples of how managed threat hunting can be applied to different sectors.

Threat Hunting In Action

Effective threat hunting strategies can reveal hidden vulnerabilities and ongoing malicious activities. Here are some real-world cases where our team at Hunt.io has successfully identified cyber threats:

• A recent research by our Hunt.io team, "Open Directories Expose Publicly Available Tools Targeting Asian Organizations," uncovered how open directories are being exploited to distribute publicly available tools, targeting Asian organizations and posing significant security risks.

• In another study, "A Simple Approach to Discovering Oyster Backdoor Infrastructure," our security team detailed a straightforward approach to identifying the infrastructure behind the Oyster backdoor, providing insights into the tactics and setups used by threat actors.

• Another security research, "The Secret Ingredient: Unearthing Suspected SpiceRAT Infrastructure via HTML Response," revealed the hidden components of suspected SpiceRAT infrastructure through the analysis of HTML responses, uncovering complex cyber threat patterns.

These examples illustrate the critical role of cyber threat hunting in protecting against sophisticated cyber threats.

The Future of Managed Threat Hunting

The future of managed threat hunting is being shaped by trends like AI and machine learning and the broadening of services. These are improving detection and response and keeping organizations ahead of the evolving cyber threats.

Emerging Threats

As the threat landscape changes companies must stay ahead of the latest and most advanced cyber threats. Proactive threat hunting is key to detecting and responding to attacks quickly. Cybercriminals are using automation and AI to launch more frequent and complex attacks so threat hunting strategies must adapt constantly.

Emerging threats include sophisticated phishing, APTs, and ransomware targeting critical infrastructure. Adversaries are constantly developing new techniques to compromise hosts and evade detection so proactive threat hunting is key to defense.

AI and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning algorithms analyze large amounts of data in real time to identify unusual activity and potential threats. Automated threat hunting uses these technologies to detect and mitigate potential breaches.

AI-driven threat hunting can improve detection and response times and reduce the window of vulnerability. However, algorithm bias and data privacy concerns must be addressed to get the most out of AI in threat hunting.

Broadening of Services

Future threat detection will include predictive analysis to anticipate and defend against emerging threats. Managed threat hunting services are evolving to address the growing complexity of cyber threats.

This will allow organizations to stay ahead of threats and have a strong security posture. As the services broaden, managed threat hunting will continue to be a key part of proactive cyber security.

FAQs

How is managed threat hunting different from traditional cyber security?

Managed threat hunting is different from traditional cyber security in that it's a proactive approach to identify and mitigate threats before they cause harm rather than reacting to incidents after they happen.

What are the components of managed threat hunting?

The components of managed threat hunting are a proactive cyber security strategy, human expertise in threat hunting, and advanced tools and technology. These are the building blocks of threat detection and response.

How does managed threat hunting reduce attacker dwell time?

Managed threat hunting reduces attacker dwell time by assuming an adversary is already in the system and focusing on early detection and rapid response to mitigate the attack. This allows a proactive approach to getting the attacker out of the system as quickly as possible.

What should I look for in a managed threat hunting service?

Look for a managed threat hunting service that matches your organization's security needs and risk profile. Evaluate providers on monitoring capabilities, expertise, integration with your existing infrastructure, and transparent pricing models.

Wrapping up

In summary, managed threat hunting is a key part of modern cyber security. By combining technology with human expertise it's a proactive defense against advanced cyber threats. The components, process, and benefits of managed threat hunting make it a service organizations need to have to improve their security.

As threats evolve AI and machine learning and the broadening of managed threat hunting services will keep organizations ahead of the threats. Adopt these advanced strategies to strengthen your cyber defenses and protect your digital assets.

Elevate your threat hunting capabilities with Hunt's Advanced Threat Hunting platform. Book your demo now to experience its full potential.