Certified Incident Handler (CIH) Practice Ecam

In threat hunting, what is the first step after forming a hypothesis?

1. Investigate

2. Collect and process the data

3. Trigger

4. Response/resolution

The correct answer is: Collect and process the data

In threat hunting, the first step after forming a hypothesis is to collect and process the data. Once a hypothesis has been established, it is essential to gather relevant and comprehensive data to explore the validity of that hypothesis. This includes obtaining logs, network traffic, endpoint data, or other pertinent information that may help in uncovering potential threats or anomalies in the environment. By processing the collected data, security analysts can identify patterns, indicators, or behaviors that align with their hypothesis concerning possible threats. This step is critical, as the integrity and quality of the data collected directly influence the subsequent analysis and investigation of the threat landscape. Without this foundational step, any analysis performed later may be weakened or based on incomplete information. In contrast, while investigations and resolutions are part of the threat hunting process, they occur after data collection and processing. Trigger refers to the action initiated based on findings, which also follows the data preparation phase. Thus, collecting and processing the data is indeed the crucial first step following the formation of a hypothesis in effective threat hunting.