Please note that this course will be taught in Spanish, however all course material will be in English.
Associated Certification: GIAC Cyber Threat Intelligence (GCTI)
FOR578: Cyber Threat Intelligence course author Robert M. Lee explains recent updates
THERE IS NO TEACHER BUT THE ENEMY!
All security practitioners should attend FOR578: Cyber Threat Intelligence to sharpen their analytical skills. This course is unlike any other technical training you have ever experienced. It focuses on structured analysis in order to establish a solid foundation for any security skillset and to amplify existing skills. The course will help practitioners from across the security spectrum:
It is common for security practitioners to call themselves analysts. But how many of us have taken structured analysis training instead of simply attending technical training? Both are important, but very rarely do analysts focus on training on analytical ways of thinking. This course exposes analysts to new mindsets, methodologies, and techniques to complement their existing knowledge and help them establish new best practices for their security teams. Proper analysis skills are key to the complex world that defenders are exposed to on a daily basis.
The analysis of an adversary's intent, opportunity, and capability to do harm is known as cyber threat intelligence. Intelligence is not a data feed, nor is it something that comes from a tool. Intelligence is actionable information that addresses an organization's key knowledge gaps, pain points, or requirements. This collection, classification, and exploitation of knowledge about adversaries gives defenders an upper hand against adversaries and forces defenders to learn and evolve with each subsequent intrusion they face.
Cyber threat intelligence thus represents a force multiplier for organizations looking to establish or update their response and detection programs to deal with increasingly sophisticated threats. Malware is an adversary's tool, but the real threat is the human one, and cyber threat intelligence focuses on countering those flexible and persistent human threats with empowered and trained human defenders.
Knowledge about the adversary is core to all security teams. The red team needs to understand adversaries' methods in order to emulate their tradecraft. The Security Operations Center needs to know how to prioritize intrusions and quickly deal with those that need immediate attention. The incident response team needs actionable information on how to quickly scope and respond to targeted intrusions. The vulnerability management group needs to understand which vulnerabilities matter most for prioritization and the risk that each one presents. The threat hunting team needs to understand adversary behaviors to search out new threats.
In other words, cyber threat intelligence informs all security practices that deal with adversaries. FOR578: Cyber Threat Intelligence will equip you, your security team, and your organization with the level of tactical, operational, and strategic cyber threat intelligence skills and tradecraft required to better understand the evolving threat landscape and accurately and effectively counter those threats.
Cyber threat intelligence is a rapidly growing field. However, intelligence was a profession long before the word "cyber" entered the lexicon. Understanding the key points regarding intelligence terminology, tradecraft, and impact is vital to understanding and using cyber threat intelligence. This section introduces students to the most important concepts of intelligence, analysis tradecraft, and levels of threat intelligence, as well as the value they can add to organizations. It also focuses on getting your intelligence program off to the right start with planning, direction, and the generation of intelligence requirements. As with all sections, this course section includes immersive hands-on labs to ensure that students have the ability to turn theory into practice.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
Intrusion analysis is at the heart of threat intelligence. It is a fundamental skillset for any security practitioner who wants to use a more complete approach to addressing security. Three of the most commonly used models for assessing adversary intrusions are the Kill Chain, the Diamond Model, and MITRE ATT&CK. These models serve as a framework and structured scheme for analyzing intrusions and extracting patterns such as adversary behaviors and malicious indicators. In this section students will be walked through and participate in multi-phase intrusions from initial notification of adversary activity to the completion of analysis of the event. The section also highlights the importance of this process in terms of structuring and defining adversary campaigns.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
Cyber threat Intelligence analysts must be able to interrogate and fully understand their collection sources. As an example, analysts do not have to be malware reverse engineers, but they must at least understand that work and know what data can be sought. This section continues from the previous one in identifying key collection sources for analysts. The considerable amount of what is commonly referred to as open-source intelligence (OSINT) is also presented. In this section students will learn to seek and exploit information from domains, external datasets, malware, Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer (TLS/SSL) Certificates, and more. Students will also structure the data to be exploited for purposes of sharing internally and externally.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
With great data comes great analysis expectations. Now that students are familiar with different sources of intrusions and collection, it is important to apply analytical rigor to how this information is used in order to satisfy intelligence requirements for long-term analysis. Taking a single intrusion and turning it into a group, and tracking the adversaryâÂÂs campaigns, are critical to staying ahead of adversaries. In this section students will learn how to structure and store their information over the long term using tools such as MISP; how to leverage analytical tools to identify logical fallacies and cognitive biases; how to perform structured analytic techniques in groups such as analysis of competing hypotheses; and how to cluster intrusions into threat groups.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
Intelligence is useless if not disseminated and made useful to the consumer. In this section students will learn about dissemination at the various tactical, operational, and strategic levels. Labs will expose students to creating YARA rules, leveraging STIX/TAXII, building campaign heat maps for tracking adversaries over the long term, and analyzing intelligence reports. Students will also learn about state adversary attribution, including when it can be of value and when it is merely a distraction. WeâÂÂll cover state-level attribution from previously identified campaigns, and students will take away a more holistic view of the Cyber Threat Intelligence industry to date. The section will finish with a discussion on consuming threat intelligence and actionable takeaways so that students will be able to make significant changes in their organizations once they complete the course.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
The FOR578 capstone focuses on analysis. Students will be placed on teams, given outputs of technical tools and cases, and work to piece together the relevant information from a single intrusion that enables them to unravel a broader campaign. Students will get practical experience satisfying intelligence requirements ranging from helping the incident response team to satisfying state-level attribution goals. This analytical process will put the students' minds to the test instead of placing a heavy emphasis on using technical tools. At the end of the day the teams will present their analyses on the multi-campaign threat they have uncovered.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
Important! Bring your own system configured according to these instructions!
A properly configured system is required to fully participate in this course. If you do not carefully read and follow these instructions, you will likely leave the class unsatisfied because you will not be able to participate in hands-on exercises that are essential to this course. Therefore, we strongly urge you to arrive with a system meeting all the requirements specified for the course.
This is common sense, but we will say it anyway. Back up your system before class. Better yet, do not have any sensitive data stored on the system. SANS can't responsible for your system or data.
MANDATORY FOR578 SYSTEM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
MANDATORY FOR578 HOST CONFIGURATION AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
PLEASE INSTALL THE FOLLOWING SOFTWARE PRIOR TO CLASS:
Your course media will now be delivered via download. The media files for class can be large, some in the 40 - 50 GB range. You need to allow plenty of time for the download to complete. Internet connections and speed vary greatly and are dependent on many different factors. Therefore, it is not possible to give an estimate of the length of time it will take to download your materials. Please start your course media downloads as you get the link. You will need your course media immediately on the first day of class. Waiting until the night before the class starts to begin your download has a high probability of failure.
SANS has begun providing printed materials in PDF form. Additionally, certain classes are using an electronic workbook in addition to the PDFs. The number of classes using eWorkbooks will grow quickly. In this new environment, we have found that a second monitor and/or a tablet device can be useful by keeping the class materials visible while the instructor is presenting or while you are working on lab exercises.
If you have additional questions about the laptop specifications, please contact laptop_prep@sans.org.
"SANS training never fails to impress. Instructors who are in the trenches sharing current data, tools, and techniques, bring such value to these courses." - Jessie Prevost, Trend Micro
FOR578 is a good course for anyone who has had security training or prior experience in the field. Students should be comfortable with using the command line in Linux for a few labs (though a walkthrough is provided) and be familiar with security terminology.
Some of the courses that lead in to FOR578:
Students who have not taken any of the above courses but have real-world experience or have attended other security training, such as any other SANS class, will be comfortable in the course. New students and veterans will be exposed to new concepts given the unique style of the class focused on analysis training.
We are proud that the FOR578: Cyber Threat Intelligence course has been reviewed by many of the leading minds in cyber threat intelligence, providing us with key input and recommendations from commercial, government, and DoD organizations.
FOR578 Technical Reviewers have included:
"Cyber Threat Intelligence is an entire discipline, not just a feed. This course will propel you along the path to understanding this rapidly maturing field of study." - Bertha Marasky, Verizon
"Threat Intelligence Analysis has been an art for too long, now it can finally become a science at SANS. Mike Cloppert and Robert M. Lee are the industry 'greybeards' who have seen it all. They are the thought leaders who should be shaping practitioners for years to come." - Rich Barger, CIO, ThreatConnect
"This is an awesome course and long overdue. I like the way you have mixed the technical with the intelligence and this is the first time I've seen this done in a meaningful way. Amazing work!" - Rowanne Mackie
"Fantastic class! I love the way the terminology was covered." - Nate DeWitt, eBay
"This training was invaluable. It provided me with insight on how to set up my own intel-driven defense." - Jason Miller, Warner Brothers
"This course is invaluable to organizations serious about defending their computer networks with operationalized intelligence." - Troy Wojewoda, Newport News Shipbuilding
"...You walk out different and start seeing everything from a different perspective." - Tok Yee Ching, Quann Singapore PTE LT
"I could take this course 5 times more and get something new each time! So much valuable info to take back to my organization." - Charity Willhoite, Armor Defense, Inc.
"This course gives a very smart and structured approach to CTI, something that the global community has been lacking to date." - John Geary, Citigroup
"I love and learn a lot with the course! Intense but fun, lots of practical-use cases that I can bring back to work and share with my team." - John Perea, KPMG
"This course was invaluable in framing my role as a hunter in the intelligence consumption/generation process." - Christopher Vega, Citigroup
"Stepping into an undeveloped role is very challenging. I feel the topics, materials, and views covered will help me to make expert decisions and aid the industry as a whole." - Drew Maher, Energy Future Holdings
"Best discussion of CTI in a formal way I have found." - Alexander Schraut, Experian
"Only course of its kind, and it is actually good info that I can use on day 1 when I get back to work." - Markis Vines, BB&T
"This course helps you get comfortable using a variety of tools for analysis so you can go back to work and immediately start using them." - Jessica Lee, Leidos
See also:
https://countuponsecurity.com/2015/10/20/course-review-sans-for578-cyber-threat-intelligence/
The author team of Mike Cloppert, Chris Sperry, and Robert M. Lee originally developed FOR578: Cyber Threat Intelligence with the understanding that the community was in need of a single concise collection of tradecraft. Cloppert and Sperry initiated the development of the course with the understanding that their schedules would not permit them to be able to constantly teach it. However, it was through their thought leadership that the class has become what it is today. Their influence on the development of the course remains relevant today, and SANS thanks them for their leadership.
"When considering the value of threat intelligence, most individuals and organizations ask themselves three questions: What is threat intelligence? When am I ready for it? How do I use it? This class answers these questions and more at a critical point in the development of the field of threat intelligence in the wider community. The course will empower analysts of any technical background to think more critically and be prepared to face persistent and focused threats."
- Robert M. Lee
"Threat intelligence is a powerful tool in the hands of a trained analyst. It can provide insight to all levels of a security program, from security analysts responding to tactical threats against the network to executives reporting strategic-level threats to the Board of Directors. This course will give students an understanding of the role of threat intelligence in security operations and how it can be leveraged as a game-changing resource to combat an increasingly sophisticated adversary."
- Rebekah Brown
"This has been one of the most interesting and exciting courses I've taken as a student-turned-professional of cyber security. Rob M. Lee does a fantastic job of getting one prepared for the role of a CTI analyst, and having recently read the book "Sandworm," I'm geeking out really hard knowing that he's the one teaching this course. I enjoy the fact that not only does he provide insight into the world of CTI, but he provides case studies to identify both the pitfalls and big victories of threat analysis. I could not be more excited to continue this course." - James H, US State Gov