Profiling data
This means understanding what data is in your environment, and more importantly, how the things in your environment are expected to behave. One of the results of data that is structured into a uniform format (the Elastic Common Schema, which we'll discuss later) and stored together, is that it allows you to profile data to better inform your collection, analysis, and response strategies.
Figure 2.2 is a quick example of some transport layer security (TLS) data. It presents a lot of data at once, but it highlights how you can view like data together to profile how it should be behaving. In this figure, we see JA3 client fingerprints, sorted by the host operating system, and the IP address of the TLS session:
Figure 2.2 – TLS data profile by JA3 fingerprint, OS, and IP address example
Understanding your data is paramount to being able to identify abnormalities. The human brain does this really well through the use of visuals, so the ability to visualize...