Performing User Behavior Analytics

Performing User Behavior Analytics

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for performing user behavior analytics. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "performing user behavior analytics"
• "SOC teams need to detect compromised accounts through abnormal authentication pa"
• "Insider threat programs require behavioral monitoring beyond rule-based detectio"
• "Impossible travel or geographic anomalies indicate credential compromise"

Use this skill when:

• SOC teams need to detect compromised accounts through abnormal authentication patterns
• Insider threat programs require behavioral monitoring beyond rule-based detection
• Impossible travel or geographic anomalies indicate credential compromise
• Privileged account monitoring requires baseline deviation detection

Do not use as the sole basis for disciplinary action — UEBA findings are indicators requiring investigation, not proof of malicious intent.

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• SIEM with 30+ days of authentication and access log history for baseline creation
• VPN, O365, and Active Directory authentication logs normalized to CIM
• GeoIP database (MaxMind GeoLite2) for location-based anomaly detection
• Identity enrichment data (department, role, manager, typical work hours)
• Splunk Enterprise Security with UBA module or equivalent UEBA capability

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def extract_iocs(text: str) -> dict:
    return {k: re.findall(v, text) for k, v in IOC_PATTERNS.items()}

1. Plan Operations — Define objectives, scope, and success criteria for user behavior analytics operations.
2. Prepare Environment — Set up tools, access, and data sources required for user behavior analytics.
3. Execute Core Workflow — Perform the user behavior analytics operations following established procedures.
4. Validate Results — Verify that results meet quality standards and objectives.
5. Report Findings — Document results, observations, and recommendations.
6. Follow Up — Track remediation actions and verify fixes where applicable.

Tools

• Analysis Platform — Data processing and visualization
• Collaboration Tools — Team coordination and knowledge sharing

Process

1. Design — Define interface, identify patterns, plan implementation
2. Implement — Write code following existing conventions, add tests
3. Verify — Run tests, check integration, validate behavior

Verification

• All user behavior analytics procedures executed completely and documented
• Findings validated against multiple data sources
• False positives identified and filtered
• Results documented with evidence and timestamps
• Recommendations provided with risk-based prioritization

Anti-Rationalization Table