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Creating custom workbooks is an essential skill for professionals preparing for the SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst exam, as it allows them to tailor their security monitoring and analytics to meet specific organizational needs. Microsoft Azure Sentinel provides a range of tools and features that facilitate the construction of custom workbooks, enabling analysts to visualize, analyze, and share security insights derived from their data.
Workbooks in Azure Sentinel are interactive dashboards that provide rich visualizations and enable deep analysis. They aggregate data from different sources, such as Azure AD, Microsoft 365 Defender, Azure Defender, and third-party solutions. The flexibility of workbooks allows security analysts to create personalized overviews of their security posture.
To create a custom workbook in Azure Sentinel, navigate to the Azure Sentinel instance within the Azure Portal. From there, go to the “Workbooks” section. You will find options to create a new workbook from scratch or use one of the existing templates as a starting point.
Step 1: Open a New Workbook
Step 2: Add Queries
SigninLogs | where TimeGenerated > ago(1d)
.Step 3: Add Visualizations
Step 4: Customize the Layout
Step 5: Apply Filters
Step 6: Save and Share
Let’s consider a simple example workbook that analyzes security alerts over the past 30 days:
Query Example:
SecurityAlert
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(30d)
| summarize AlertCount = count() by AlertSeverity
| order by AlertSeverity asc
Visualization Example:
Layout Example:
Feature | Azure Sentinel Workbooks | Excel Workbooks |
---|---|---|
Data Source | Multiple security data sources, live data | Static or dynamic data, often external |
Interactivity | Highly interactive with real-time filtering | Interactive with pivot tables and filters, but not real-time |
Collaboration | Built for team collaboration with shared workspaces | Collaboration possible via sharing and co-authoring |
Visualization | Extensive visualization options, specialized for security data | General-purpose charts, graphs, and conditional formatting |
Analysis | Specialized KQL for deep data analysis | General formulas and functions for a broad range of analysis |
To excel in the SC-200 exam, understanding how to create, configure, and interpret custom workbooks within Azure Sentinel is crucial. Candidates should not only know how to construct workbooks but also understand the best practices for visualization and data representation, ensuring workbooks deliver actionable insights for security operations teams.
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Sentinel workbooks are indeed used to create customizable interactive dashboards and reports that allow analysts to visualize and analyze data.
Answer: A) Security events, B) Azure Active Directory logs, C) Office 365 email logs
Explanation: Azure Sentinel workbooks can utilize data from security events, Azure AD logs, and Office 365 email logs but not directly from social media like Twitter.
Answer: C) KQL (Kusto Query Language)
Explanation: KQL or Kusto Query Language is the language used within Azure Sentinel to query and manage the data when creating custom workbooks.
Answer: True
Explanation: To create custom workbooks in Azure Sentinel, a user needs to have contributor or higher permissions on the workspace.
Answer: C) Publish the workbook as a template in the Azure Sentinel community
Explanation: Custom workbooks can be shared by publishing them as templates to the Azure Sentinel community or the Azure Sentinel GitHub community.
Answer: False
Explanation: Custom workbooks in Azure Sentinel can indeed be edited and modified after they have been created.
Answer: C) Visualize and analyze data
Explanation: The primary purpose of Azure Sentinel workbooks is to visualize and analyze data to help security analysts understand and respond to threats.
Answer: False
Explanation: While Microsoft does provide built-in templates for Azure Sentinel workbooks, users also have the ability to create custom workbooks from scratch.
Answer: A) Charts, B) Tables, C) Maps
Explanation: Azure Sentinel custom workbooks can include a range of visualization components such as charts, tables, and maps. SLA timers are not a standard visualization component in Azure Sentinel workbooks.
Answer: A) Workbook templates
Explanation: Workbook templates are used in Azure Sentinel to standardize the creation of custom workbooks across an organization.
Answer: True
Explanation: Custom workbooks in Azure Sentinel can be configured to track and visualize various aspects of incidents, including their status over time.
Answer: A) Data connectors
Explanation: Data connectors must be configured in Azure Sentinel to collect data from various sources, which can then be used in custom workbooks for analysis.
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