Microsoft Defender XDRAdvanced Hunting with KQL

Advanced Hunting with KQL

30 mins

Understanding the Concept

Advanced hunting in Defender XDR allows analysts to proactively search for threats using Kusto Query Language (KQL). It provides access to 30 days of raw telemetry data across endpoints, email, identity, and cloud apps in a unified schema.

KQL is a read-only query language for exploring large datasets. Key operators include where (filtering), project (column selection), summarize (aggregation), join (combining tables), and render (visualization).

The schema includes tables like DeviceEvents, DeviceProcessEvents, EmailEvents, IdentityLogonEvents, and CloudAppEvents.

Key Points

  • Advanced hunting provides 30 days of raw telemetry
  • KQL operators: where, project, summarize, join, extend, render
  • Key tables: DeviceEvents, DeviceProcessEvents, EmailEvents, IdentityLogonEvents
  • Queries can be saved, shared, and converted to custom detection rules
  • KQL is heavily tested on the SC-200 exam

Advanced Hunting Workflow

Step 1

Hypothesis

Formulate a threat hypothesis

Step 2

Query Design

Write KQL against schema tables

Step 3

Execution

Run query and analyze results

Step 4

Detection Rule

Convert to custom detection

Why This Matters in Real Organizations

Automated detections catch known threats, but APTs use novel techniques. Proactive hunting with KQL discovers hidden threats and creates new detection rules before damage occurs.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Writing overly broad queries with too many results
Querying wrong tables for the data needed
Forgetting time filters causing slow performance
Not converting hunting queries into detection rules

Interview Tips

  • Be ready to write basic KQL queries
  • Discuss hypothesis-driven threat hunting methodology
  • Share threat discovery examples from hunting

Exam Tips (SC-200)

  • Practice writing KQL queries extensively
  • Know key advanced hunting tables
  • Understand custom detection rule creation from queries

Course Complete!

You've finished all lessons

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