A data breach is rarely a standalone incident. Often an attack is the result of a previous breach; bad actors may have found stolen credentials on the dark web, or infiltrated your system after attacking a vendor, or compromised an employee with a successful social engineering scam. Finding the root cause of a breach is a critical part of managing your cyber risk, and it’s a vital skill for your team to master. Root cause analysis is not always easy, however, so it’s important that your team undergoes regular root cause analysis training.
Root Cause Analysis Training: An Overview
What is root cause analysis?
Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of identifying the underlying causes of an incident. Like a detective investigating a crime, RCA takes a systematic approach to investigating a security incident, such as a breach, in order to find the reasons for that incident. This means looking deeper than the incident itself, examining the vulnerabilities, flawed processes, human error, or previous attacks that led to the current problem.
What are common root causes of security breaches?
- Human error: Human error is the most common root cause of data breaches and cyber attacks. This can include simple mistakes, such as misconfigurations that expose sensitive data, or being a victim of social engineering schemes, such as phishing or smishing.
- Stolen credentials: Data breaches are often linked to stolen or leaked credentials. In many cases, cookies and other credentials are stolen by infostealer malware, which steals massive amounts of information from devices and applications, compiling that information into files called “stealer logs,” which are then sold on the dark web.
- Vulnerabilities: Threat actors rely on vulnerabilities in applications — either unpatched known vulnerabilities or zero-day vulnerabilities — as an attack vector.
- Supply chain attacks: In many cases, threat actors use vendors and other suppliers as a door into your systems and data.
What are the key features of root cause analysis training?
- Educational content: Online training covers tools, techniques, and threat intelligence that can help analysts more efficiently determine the root cause of a breach, as well as information about what steps to take after a root cause is identified.
- Expert speakers: Online training and webinars usually feature industry professionals and thought leaders who share their knowledge, insights, and real-world experiences with participants.
- Interactive elements: Many webinars offer participants the chance to interact with experts and one another, engaging learners with live Q&A segments, polls, and discussions.
- Credits and certifications: Some training sessions may offer certifications or credits toward certification for participants.
- Flexible formats: Digital training can be live, pre-recorded, or hybrid (live with recordings available later).
Why is Root Cause Analysis Training Especially Relevant Now?
Why is root cause analysis important in today’s cybersecurity environment?
When you go to the doctor, you’re probably hoping to treat the root cause of a problem, not the symptom. It’s the same for a data breach or cyberattack; you can react to the latest attack, but unless your team is able to find the root cause of a breach, attacks are likely to keep happening. RCA is part of a proactive cybersecurity strategy, designed to help stop attacks from happening.
Why do analysts need root cause analysis training?
Integrate the world’s easiest to use and most comprehensive cybercrime database into your security program in 30 minutes.
It’s important to know why an incident has occurred, but investigation is a complex skill set. Security personnel need to understand exactly how to investigate an incident: how to gather and document data, conduct analysis, and create a plan to correct any vulnerabilities.
How can online cybersecurity webinars help with root cause analysis training?
With the current skills gap in the cybersecurity industry, it’s important for professionals to seek out supplemental training. Webinars help bridge the skills gap by providing training for analysts who want to build their skills and their awareness of new threats. Some webinars even offer credit toward certifications for security professionals. For nontechnical learners, cybersecurity webinars offer supplemental knowledge that may help them better understand pen testing and the current cyber threats. Many webinars are also free or low-cost, giving professionals a cost-effective way to obtain valuable training.
How does Flare help with root cause analysis training?
Does Flare offer root cause analysis training?
Flare recently introduced a new training series: Flare Academy. This series of free cybersecurity webinars covers topics that are of interest to cybersecurity practitioners and also includes Flare Academy Discord Community where security professionals can meet, share information and resources, and discuss security issues with the experts who have appeared in our webinars. One of the topics that will be covered is pen tester training.
What do you get with Flare’s free pen tester training?
- High-value training from cybersecurity experts
- Interactive learning with peers
- Actionable cybersecurity insights
- CPE credits toward security certifications
- A resource hub and learning community on Discord
What if I miss a live training session?
Webinars are offered live, but you don’t need to watch every training session as it happens. Recordings of all webinars are available for replay on Flare Academy Discord Community, as are additional resources, access to the experts who spoke in each webinar, and discussion and networking opportunities with other participants. This allows all our webinars to be watched by members of the Discord, or to be rewatched by participants who want to revisit certain content.
Who can attend Flare’s webinars?
It depends on the webinar’s content. Many webinars are available to anyone. Because some topics are of greater interest to a wider audience, anyone is welcome to join those seminars. However, we are careful to label each webinar as beginner, intermediate, or advanced. This helps participants decide which sessions are a good fit for them and their security background.
Root Cause Analysis Training and Flare
Flare Academy can elevate your cybersecurity career. Our (free!) training series are led by experts that cover critical topics such as threat intelligence, operational security, and advanced investigation techniques. You can also earn CPE credits toward your cybersecurity certifications.
At any point in your career, Flare Academy will enhance your skills and keep you at the forefront of the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape. Sign up for the next training here.
