Sheet 1
Cyber Threat Intelligence and
Incident Response Report
  Executive Summary
  The Adversary’s Actions and Tactics
    Description of the Adversary
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    The Adversary’s Capabilities
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    The Adversary’s Infrastructure
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    The Victims and Affected Assets
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
  Course of Action During Incident Response
    Discover
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    Detect
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    Deny
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    Disrupt
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    Degrade
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    Deceive
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
    Destroy
      Reconnaissance
      Weaponization
      Delivery
      Exploitation
      Installation
      Command and Control
      Actions on Objectives
  Intrusion Campaign Analysis
    Other Intrusions in the Campaign
    Shared Intrusion Attributes
      Actions on Objectives
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
      Command and Control
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
      Installation
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
      Exploitation
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
      Delivery
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
      Weaponization
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
      Reconnaissance
        Adversary
        Infrastructure
        Capabilities
        Victim
    Campaign Motivations
    Third-Party References
Incident Name:
Report Author:
Report Date:
Revision Dates and Notes:
This report is based on the template created by Lenny Zeltser (https://zeltser.com/cyber-threat-intel-and-ir-report-template). The template is distributed according to the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0), which basically allows you to use this material in any way, as long as you credit the author for the original creation.
The contents build upon concepts and terminology defined by Eric M. Hutchins, Michael J. Cloppert and Rohan M. Amin’s paper Intelligence-Driven Computer Network Defense Informed by Analysis of Adversary Campaigns and Intrusion Kill Chains and Sergio Caltagirone, Andrew Pendergast (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/corporate/documents/LM-White-Paper-Intel-Driven-Defense.pdf), and Christopher Betz’s paper The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis (http://www.activeresponse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/diamond.pdf). It also incorporates the insights from SANS Institute’s course FOR578: Cyber Threat Forensics as taught by Michael J. Cloppert and Robert M. Lee (https://www.sans.org/course/cyber-threat-intelligence).
Describe in up to three paragraphs your key observations and takeaways related to the intrusion. Explain the adversary’s tactics, techniques and procedures. Outline the most significant courses of action taken to defend against the adversary when responding to the intrusion.
Summarize in one paragraph the adversary’s actions and tactics, as well as the effects that the intrusion had on the victims. This section of the report overlays the intrusion kill chain’s phases over the diamond model vertices to capture the core characteristics of the malicious activities.
Describe observations and indicators that may be related to the perpetrators of the intrusion. If possible, highlight the attributes of the adversary operator and the adversary’s potential customer. Outline potential motivations and identifying elements. Categorize your insights according to the corresponding phase of the intrusion kill chain.
Describe the adversary’s capabilities in terms of tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs). Address the tools and tradecraft employed by the intrusion perpetrators, such as exploits backdoors, staging methods and situational awareness. Categorize your insights according to the corresponding phase of the intrusion kill chain.
Describe the infrastructure, such as IP addresses, domain names, program names, etc. used by the adversary. Categorize your insights according to the corresponding phase of the intrusion kill chain.
Describe the victims affected by the adversary’s actions. Address applicable victim identifiers such as people and organization names. Also outline the affected victim assets, such as networks, systems and applications. Categorize your insights according to the corresponding phase of the intrusion kill chain.
Summarize in one paragraph the steps you’ve taken when responding to the various phases of the intrusion chain.
Describe the steps you’ve taken to determine what the adversary has done so far as part of the intrusion, as determined based on the analysis of logs, network packer captures, forensic data and other sources.
Describe the measures you've put in place to identify the adversary’s future activities related to the applicable intrusion phase. Explain how you defined and deployed indicators and signatures, additional sensors or instrumentation, security event data monitors, etc.
Describe the measures you’ve implemented to block the adversary from taking the malicious actions, staying within the context of the intrusion phase described in this report. For instance, did you block specific IPs at the perimeter firewall, patch targeted vulnerabilities, block emails that matched specific patterns, etc.?
Describe the measures you’ve established to interfere with the adversary’s attack in progress to cause it to fail. For instance, did you use an intrusion prevention system or firewall to terminate the adversary’s active network connections, quarantined suspicious files, distributed updated antivirus signatures, etc.?
Describe the actions you’ve taken to slow down or otherwise degrade the attack in progress. One example of such measures might be to configure the network equipment to rate-limit the connections attributed to the adversary.
Describe the steps you’ve taken to misinform the adversary in the context of the applicable intrusion phase. Deception might involve planting fake assets that might interest the intruder, redirecting the adversary’s network connections, fooling malware into believing the targeted system is already infected, employing honey tokens, etc.
Describe the offensive actions you’ve taken against the adversary to reduce their ability to carry out the intrusion. Such steps are generally unavailable to private individuals or firms outside of specific law enforcement or military organizations, although coordination and intelligence sharing with these organizations is within scope of this section.
If applicable, summarize in one paragraph the relationship between the intrusion discussed earlier in the report and other related intrusions that, when taken together, form a campaign. Mention the indicators and behaviors shared across the intrusions within the campaign. Outline the commercial, geopolitical or other factors that might have motivated the adversary’s activities.
Describe other incidents or intrusions that share commonalities with the intrusion discussed earlier in the report. Explain whether the shared attributes indicate a low/medium/high likelihood that the intrusions form a larger campaign. Provide internal and external intrusion names or other relevant identifiers. Include references to related internal and external documents. Clarify when the intrusions occurred.
Specify the key indicators and behavioral characteristics that are consistent across intrusions within the campaign. Categorize the attributes according to the kill chain phase when they were exhibited and their relevance to the adversary description, attack infrastructure, capabilities (tactics, techniques and procedures) and the affected victims. Wherever possible, account for Adversary, Infrastructure, Capabilities and Victim in each applicable phase of the kill chain.
Outline the likely motivation for the adversary’s activities across the intrusion campaign, including the relevant commercial, geopolitical or other factors. If practical, offer substantiated theories regarding the attribution of the campaign to specific individuals, groups or nation states.
Provide references to third-party data about the intrusion discussed in this report, the campaign that it is a part of or the associated adversaries.