de-cm-9 critical Detect / Continuous Monitoring

Computing hardware and software, runtime environments, and their data are monitored to find potentially adverse events

Monitoring is the nervous system of your security posture: without it, attacks can persist for months before anyone notices. Effective monitoring goes beyond infrastructure metrics to include security-relevant events: authentication failures, privilege escalations, unusual process executions, data exfiltration signals, and configuration changes. The goal is to generate a signal that a trained analyst can act on, not simply to log everything.

Estimated effort: 10h

monitoringedrsiemdetectionloggingthreat-detection

Implementation steps

1

Deploy host-based monitoring and endpoint detection on critical systems

Install endpoint detection and response (EDR) agents on all endpoints and servers. Configure agents to monitor process execution, file system changes, network connections, and registry modifications. Enable behavioral detection rules that flag attacker techniques from MITRE ATT&CK, including credential dumping, lateral movement, and persistence mechanisms. Ensure agents are reporting and that coverage gaps are tracked.

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2

Aggregate logs and events into a centralized platform

Collect logs from endpoints, servers, cloud services, network devices, and applications into a SIEM or log aggregation platform. Normalize event formats so that correlation rules can work across sources. Define a retention policy that satisfies both security investigation needs (typically 90 days hot, 1 year total) and any applicable compliance requirements. Ensure high-value log sources (authentication, privileged access, firewall) are always flowing and alert on gaps.

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3

Define detection rules and alerting for high-priority threat scenarios

Build or import detection rules for the threat scenarios most relevant to your environment: brute force attempts, impossible travel logins, privilege escalation, mass file access (ransomware signal), large data transfers, and new administrative accounts. Tune rules to reduce false positive rate so that analysts can focus on real signals. Review and update detection rules quarterly as your environment and the threat landscape evolve.

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