Threat Hunting
LOW MODERATE HIGHRequirements NIST SOURCE
- 1.Search for indicators of compromise in organizational systems; and
- 2.Detect, track, and disrupt threats that evade existing controls; and
Requirement Context
This element is part of RA-10 — Threat Hunting. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Requirement Context
This element is part of RA-10 — Threat Hunting. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)
Threat hunting is an active means of cyber defense in contrast to traditional protection measures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, quarantining malicious code in sandboxes, and Security Information and Event Management technologies and systems. Cyber threat hunting involves proactively searching organizational systems, networks, and infrastructure for advanced threats. The objective is to track and disrupt cyber adversaries as early as possible in the attack sequence and to measurably improve the speed and accuracy of organizational responses. Indications of compromise include unusual network traffic, unusual file changes, and the presence of malicious code. Threat hunting teams leverage existing threat intelligence and may create new threat intelligence, which is shared with peer organizations, Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAO), Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISAC), and relevant government departments and agencies.
Implementation Guidance
Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.
No engineering interpretation has been authored for RA-10 yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.
Assessment
Assessment Objectives
- the frequency at which to employ the threat hunting capability is defined;
- a cyber threat capability is established and maintained to search for indicators of compromise in organizational systems;
- a cyber threat capability is established and maintained to detect, track, and disrupt threats that evade existing controls;
- the threat hunting capability is employed <RA-10_ODP frequency>.
Examine
[SELECT FROM: Risk assessment policy; assessment reports; audit records/event logs; threat hunting capability; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].
Interview
[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with threat hunting responsibilities; system/network administrators; organizational personnel with security responsibilities].
Test
[SELECT FROM: Organizational processes for assessments and audits; mechanisms/tools supporting and/or implementing threat hunting capabilities].
STIGs & CCIs
No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for RA-10. This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.
Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →Evidence
Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.
Policy
- Risk assessment policy
- system security plan
Testing
- Organizational processes for assessments and audits
- mechanisms/tools supporting and/or implementing threat hunting capabilities
Other Records
- assessment reports
- audit records/event logs
- threat hunting capability
- other relevant documents or records