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Viewing and analyzing data within Microsoft Sentinel is a core part of the functionality provided to Security Operations Analysts, especially the ones preparing to pass the SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certification. Microsoft Sentinel is a scalable, cloud-native SIEM (Security Information Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration Automated Response) solution that provides intelligent security analytics at cloud scale for enterprises of all sizes and workloads.
Workbooks are powerful tools within Microsoft Sentinel that provide custom dashboards to visualize data, allowing analysts to create rich interactive reports. These workbooks are based on KQL (Kusto Query Language) and are designed to help explore and monitor the data that Sentinel collects. They are customizable and can be shared across the team for better collaboration.
To get started with workbooks:
Microsoft Sentinel comes with a number of pre-built workbooks that can be used to analyze data right away. These out-of-the-box templates cover various domains such as:
Creating custom workbooks allows analysts to dig deeper into the data and tailor the dashboard to their organization’s specific needs. To create a custom workbook:
Here’s a simple example of a custom workbook that an analyst might use to analyze security alerts:
SecurityAlert
| where TimeGenerated > ago(30d)
| summarize AlertCount = count() by AlertSeverity, bin(TimeGenerated, 1d)
| order by TimeGenerated desc
You could visualize this data in a line chart or a bar chart to display the trend of alerts over the last 30 days, grouped by severity.
Workbooks in Microsoft Sentinel can be shared with other team members for collaboration purposes. To share a workbook:
Workbooks are particularly useful for comparing data from different sources. For example, you might want to compare sign-in logs from Azure AD with alerts generated from your firewall by using a side-by-side comparison within a single workbook.
Source | Incident Count | Unique Users Affected | Trending Issues |
---|---|---|---|
Azure AD Sign-in Logs | 150 | 120 | Failed logins |
Firewall Alerts | 75 | 40 | Port Scans |
Microsoft Sentinel workbooks are fundamental in performing thorough data analysis and gaining actionable insights for security analysts. By using both the pre-built and custom workbook capabilities within Sentinel, security teams can dramatically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their security operations.
Security analysts who are studying for the SC-200 certification should become familiar with creating, customizing, and utilizing workbooks as they are an integral part of incident response and investigation.
Leveraging the power of Sentinel’s workbooks allows analysts to represent complex datasets in a consumable format, helping to identify trends, anomalies, and patterns critical for an organization’s cybersecurity posture.
Answer: B) False
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel allows for customization of workbooks so that users can display data specific to their organizational needs.
Answer: D) All of the above
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel workbooks support various visualization options including tables, charts, and maps to help users analyze and interpret data effectively.
Answer: B) False
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel workbooks can be viewed by users with different roles, as long as they have the required permissions.
Answer: D) Scheduled alerts
Explanation: Scheduled alerts are not a standard component of workbooks. Workbooks primarily focus on the visualization and analysis of data, though they can be used to present alert information.
Answer: A) True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel allows users to share workbooks with other team members to collaborate on security analyses.
Answer: C) On a schedule defined by the user
Explanation: Workbooks in Microsoft Sentinel allow users to set data refresh intervals based on user-defined schedules, which can be as frequent as every few minutes.
Answer: A) True
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel offers templates to help users quickly create new workbooks with pre-configured visualizations and queries.
Answer: C) To write queries to retrieve data
Explanation: KQL is used within Microsoft Sentinel workbooks to write queries that retrieve data for analysis and visualization.
Answer: B) False
Explanation: Microsoft Sentinel workbooks can analyze data from a variety of sources, not limited to the data stored within Sentinel itself.
Answer: C) Azure dashboards
Explanation: Azure dashboards can be used to combine visualizations from multiple workbooks into a single, cohesive dashboard within Microsoft Sentinel.
A workbook is a customizable dashboard that enables you to analyze and visualize your data in a variety of ways.
There are many built-in workbooks available in Microsoft Sentinel, including those for Azure Active Directory, Azure Security Center, and Azure Firewall.
You can create a new workbook in Microsoft Sentinel by selecting “New Workbook” from the Workbooks pane.
Workbooks support a variety of visualizations, including tables, charts, and maps.
You can customize the data that is displayed in a workbook by editing the queries that the workbook is based on.
A shared workbook can be viewed and edited by other users, while a private workbook can only be viewed and edited by the owner.
Yes, you can export a workbook to another Microsoft Sentinel workspace by selecting “Export Workbook” from the Workbooks pane.
You can schedule a workbook to refresh its data automatically by selecting “Schedule Refresh” from the Workbooks pane.
The “Tile” visualization allows you to display a single value, such as the number of incidents, in a large font size.
Yes, you can add a live data source to a workbook by selecting “Add live data” from the Workbooks pane.
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