Core Functions
Visibility
Logging strategy across endpoints, network, identity, and cloud control planes.
Detection Engineering
Craft alerts mapped to MITRE ATT&CK tactics to surface suspicious behaviors quickly.
Incident Response
Documented playbooks for triage, containment, eradication, and recovery.
Defense-in-Depth Layers
Identity
MFA enforcement, least privilege, conditional access.
Endpoint
EDR agents, application control, patch cadence.
Network
Segmentation, TLS inspection (lawful), IDS/IPS, secure baseline configs.
Data
Encryption at rest & in transit, classification, backups, DLP rules.
Cloud
CIS benchmark baselines, resource hygiene, continuous config auditing.
Metrics & KPIs
MTTD (Mean Time to Detect)
Lower means faster discovery of threats
DecreaseMTTR (Mean Time to Respond)
Lower reduces potential damage
DecreaseFalse Positive Rate
High rate wastes analyst time
DecreasePatch Compliance %
Indicates exposure reduction
IncreaseCoverage vs ATT&CK
Detection completeness across tactics
IncreasePlaybook Example (Phishing)
- Triage alert; capture headers & artifacts.
- Quarantine malicious messages & impacted endpoints.
- Extract indicators; update blocklists and detection rules.
- Communicate with stakeholders & affected users.
- Retrospective search for lateral movement.
- Lessons learned + playbook refinement.
Hardening Priorities
Focus first on exposed services, privileged account hygiene, patching of internet-facing assets, and backup verifications. Use configuration baselines (CIS Benchmarks) and regularly audit for drift.
Career Path
Blue team members often start in system administration or SOC analyst roles. Growth includes threat hunting, detection engineering, and IR leadership. Certifications: Security+, CySA+, GCIA, GCED, CISM.
References
- MITRE ATT&CK – Framework
- NIST SP 800-61 Rev.2 Computer Security Incident Handling Guide
- CIS Benchmarks – cisecurity.org
- FIRST CSIRT Services Framework – FIRST.org