CAS-004 Security Operations Practice Question
A security operations center (SOC) analyst is tuning a SIEM correlation rule to detect lateral movement using pass-the-hash attacks. The analyst wants to minimize false positives while ensuring detection of true positives. Which approach is most effective for reducing false positives in this scenario?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Compare authentication events against a baseline of normal user behavior and alert on anomalies
Baselining normal authentication behavior and alerting on deviations helps reduce false positives because legitimate pass-the-hash activity is rare.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Alert on any use of NTLM authentication
Why it's wrong here
NTLM is commonly used, leading to many false positives.
- ✗
Alert on multiple failed logins followed by a successful login from a different workstation
Why it's wrong here
This may indicate brute force, not specifically pass-the-hash.
- ✗
Disable NTLM authentication across the network
Why it's wrong here
This is an extreme measure and not a detection tuning technique.
- ✓
Compare authentication events against a baseline of normal user behavior and alert on anomalies
Why this is correct
UBA techniques help identify unusual authentication patterns indicative of pass-the-hash.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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