SPLK-5002 Questions and Answers

When a correlation search in Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) generates excessive notable events due to test accounts, the best approach is to filter out test accounts while keeping legitimate detections active.

✅1. Apply Filtering to Exclude Test Accounts (B)

Modifies the correlation search to exclude known test accounts.

Reduces false positives while keeping real threats visible.

Example:

Update the search to exclude test accounts:

index=auth_logs NOT user IN ("test_user1", "test_user2")

❌Incorrect Answers:

A. Disable the correlation search for test accounts → This removes visibility into all failed logins, including those that may indicate real threats.

C. Lower the search threshold for failed logins → Would increase false positives, making it harder for SOC teams to focus on real attacks.

D. Suppress all notable events temporarily → Suppression hides all alerts, potentially missing real security incidents.

????Additional Resources:

Splunk ES: Managing Correlation Searches

Reducing False Positives in SIEM

Understanding Data Indexing in Splunk

In Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) and Splunk SOAR, data indexing is a fundamental process that enables efficient storage, retrieval, and searching of data.

✅Why is Data Indexing Important?

Stores raw machine data (logs, events, metrics) in a structured manner.

Enables fast searching through optimized data storage techniques.

Uses an indexer to process, compress, and store data efficiently.

Why the Correct Answer is B?

Splunk indexes data to store it efficiently while ensuring fast retrieval for searches, correlation searches, and analytics.

It assigns metadata to indexed events, allowing SOC analysts to quickly filter and search logs.

❌Incorrect Answers & Explanations

A. To ensure data normalization → Splunk normalizes data using Common Information Model (CIM), not indexing.

C. To secure data from unauthorized access → Splunk uses RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) and encryption for security, not indexing.

D. To visualize data using dashboards → Dashboards use indexed data for visualization, but indexing itself is focused on data storage and retrieval.

????Additional Resources:

Splunk Data Indexing Documentation

Splunk Architecture & Indexing Guide

Configurations Required for Data Normalization in Splunk

Data normalization ensures consistent field naming and event structuring, especially for Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) compliance.

✅1. props.conf (A)

Defines how data is parsed and indexed.

Controls field extractions, event breaking, and timestamp recognition.

Example:

Assigns custom sourcetypes and defines regex-based field extraction.

✅2. transforms.conf (B)

Used for data transformation, lookup table mapping, and field aliasing.

Example:

Normalizes firewall logs by renaming src_ip → src to align with CIM.

❌Incorrect Answers:

C. savedsearches.conf → Defines scheduled searches, not data normalization.

D. authorize.conf → Manages user permissions, not data normalization.

E. eventtypes.conf → Groups events into categories but doesn’t modify data structure.

????Additional Resources:

Splunk Data Normalization Guide

Understanding props.conf and transforms.conf

How Splunk SOAR Improves Phishing Response?

Phishing attacks require fast detection and response. Manual investigation delays can be eliminated using Splunk SOAR automation.

????Why Use Playbooks for Automated Email Triage? (Answer B)✅Extracts email headers and attachments for analysis✅Checks links & attachments against threat intelligence feeds✅Automatically quarantines or deletes malicious emails✅Escalates high-risk cases to SOC analysts

????Example Playbook Workflow in Splunk SOAR:????Scenario: A suspicious email is reported.✅Splunk SOAR playbook automatically:

Extracts sender details & checks against threat intelligence

Analyzes URLs & attachments using VirusTotal/Sandboxing

Tags the email as "Malicious" or "Safe"

Quarantines the email & alerts SOC analysts

Why Not the Other Options?

❌A. Prioritizing phishing cases manually – Still requires manual effort, leading to delays.❌C. Assigning cases to analysts in real-time – Doesn’t solve the issue of slow manual investigations.❌D. Increasing the indexing frequency of email logs – Helps with log retrieval but doesn’t automate phishing response.

References & Learning Resources

????Splunk SOAR Phishing Playbook Guide: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/SOAR ????Phishing Detection Automation in Splunk: https://splunkbase.splunk.com ????Email Threat Intelligence with SOAR: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security

An audit report provides an overview of security operations, compliance adherence, and past incidents, helping organizations ensure regulatory compliance and improve security posture.

Key Elements of an Audit Report:

Analysis of Past Incidents (A)

Includes details on security breaches, alerts, and investigations.

Helps identify recurring threats and security gaps.

Compliance Metrics (C)

Evaluates adherence to regulatory frameworks (e.g., NIST, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, GDPR).

Measures risk scores, policy violations, and control effectiveness.

Privileged accounts pose ahigh security risk, and tracking their activity iscritical for compliance(e.g.,PCI DSS, NIST, ISO 27001, SOC 2).

✅1. Automate Report Generation for Privileged Accounts (A)

Ensurescontinuous monitoringofadmin/root accounts.

Helpsdetect misuse or unauthorized access.

Example:

Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)can generate scheduled reports on:

Failed login attempts by privileged users.

Actions performed using admin credentials.

❌Incorrect Answers:

B. Use summary indexes to delete old data→ Summary indexes improve performance butdo not help track privileged accounts.

C. Focus only on low-priority account activity→ Privileged accountsshould always be high-priority.

D. Exclude privileged accounts from reporting→ This wouldviolate compliance requirements.

????Additional Resources:

Splunk Security Monitoring for Privileged Accounts

NIST Access Control Guide

Key Elements of Security Program Documentation

A security program's documentation ensures consistency, compliance, and efficiency in cybersecurity operations.

✅Why Include Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)?

Defines step-by-step processesfor security tasks.

Ensures security teams followstandardized workflowsfor handling incidents, vulnerabilities, and monitoring.

Supportscompliance with regulationslikeNIST, ISO 27001, and CIS controls.

Example:

SOP forincident responseoutlines how analysts escalate security threats.

❌Incorrect Answers:

A. Vendor contract details→ Vendor agreements are important butnot core to a security program's documentation.

B. Organizational hierarchy chart→ Useful for internal structure butnot essential for security documentation.

D. Financial cost breakdown→ Related to budgeting, not security operations.

????Additional Resources:

NIST Security Documentation Framework

Splunk Security Operations Guide

Summary indexing in Splunk improves search efficiency by storing pre-aggregated data, reducing the need to process large datasets repeatedly.

Key Benefits of Summary Indexing:

Improves Search Performance on Aggregated Data (B)

Reduces query execution time by storing pre-calculated results.

Helps SOC teams analyze trends without running resource-intensive searches.

Increases Data Retention Period (D)

Raw logs may have short retention periods, but summary indexes can store key insights for longer.

Useful for historical trend analysis and compliance reporting.

Why Use "Data Models" for Standardized Search Accuracy and Detection Logic?

SplunkData Modelsprovide astructured, normalized representationof raw logs, improving:

✅Search consistency across different log sources✅Detection logic by ensuring standardized field names✅Faster and more efficient querieswith data model acceleration

????Example in Splunk Enterprise Security:????Scenario:A SOC team monitors login failures acrossmultiple authentication systems.✅Without Data Models:Different logs usesrc_ip, source_ip, or ip_address, making searches complex.✅With Data Models:All fieldsmap to a standard format, enablingconsistent detection logic.

Why Not the Other Options?

❌A. Field Extraction– Extracts fields from raw events butdoes not standardize field names across sources.❌C. Event Correlation– Detects relationships between logsbut doesn’t normalize data for search accuracy.❌D. Normalization Rules– A general term; Splunkuses CIM & Data Models for normalization.

References & Learning Resources

????Splunk Data Models Documentation: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Knowledge/Aboutdatamodels ????Using CIM & Data Models for Security Analytics: https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/263 ????How Data Models Improve Search Performance: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-

What is the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM)?

Splunk’s Common Information Model (CIM) is a standardized way to normalize and map event data from different sources to a common field format. It helps with:

Consistent searches across diverse log sources

Faster correlation of security events

Better compatibility with prebuilt dashboards, alerts, and reports

Why is Data Normalization Important?

Security teams analyze data from firewalls, IDS/IPS, endpoint logs, authentication logs, and cloud logs.

These sources have different field names (e.g., “src_ip” vs. “source_address”).

CIM ensures a standardized format, so correlation searches work seamlessly across different log sources.

How CIM Works in Splunk?

✅Maps event fields to a standardized schema✅Supports prebuilt Splunk apps like Enterprise Security (ES)✅Helps SOC teams quickly detect security threats

????Example Use Case:

A security analyst wants to detect failed admin logins across multiple authentication systems.

Without CIM, different logs might use:

user_login_failed

auth_failure

login_error

With CIM, all these fields map to the same normalized schema, enabling one unified search query.

Why Not the Other Options?

❌A. Extract fields from raw events – CIM does not extract fields; it maps existing fields into a standardized format.❌C. Compress data during indexing – CIM is about data normalization, not compression.❌D. Create accelerated reports – While CIM supports acceleration, its main function is standardizing log formats.

References & Learning Resources

????Splunk CIM Documentation: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/CIM ????How Splunk CIM Helps with Security Analytics: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/solutions/common-information-model.html ????Splunk Enterprise Security & CIM Integration: https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/263

How to Reduce False Positives in Correlation Searches?

High false positives can overwhelm SOC teams, causing alert fatigue and missed real threats. The best solution is to fine-tune suppression rules and refine thresholds.

????How Suppression Rules & Threshold Tuning Help:✅Suppression Rules: Prevent repeated false positives from low-risk recurring events (e.g., normal system scans).✅Threshold Refinement: Adjust sensitivity to focus on true threats (e.g., changing a login failure alert from 3 to 10 failed attempts).

????Example in Splunk ES:????Scenario: A correlation search generates too many alerts for failed logins.✅Fix: SOC analysts refine detection thresholds:

Suppress alerts if failed logins occur within a short timeframe but are followed by a successful login.

Only trigger an alert if failed logins exceed 10 attempts within 5 minutes.

Why Not the Other Options?

❌A. Increase the frequency of the correlation search – Increases search load without reducing false positives.❌C. Disable the correlation search temporarily – Leads to blind spots in detection.❌D. Limit the search to a single index – May exclude critical security logs from detection.

References & Learning Resources

????Splunk ES Correlation Search Optimization Guide: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/ES ????Reducing False Positives in SOC Workflows: https://splunkbase.splunk.com ????Fine-Tuning Security Alerts in Splunk: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security

Why Useprops.confto Assign Sourcetypes?

In Splunk, sourcetypes define the format and structure of incoming data. Assigning the correct sourcetype ensures that logs are parsed, indexed, and searchable correctly.

????How Doesprops.confHelp?

props.confallows manual sourcetype assignment based on source or host.

Ensures that logs are indexed with the correct parsing rules (timestamps, fields, etc.).

????Example Configuration inprops.conf:

ini

CopyEdit

[source::/var/log/auth.log]

sourcetype = auth_logs

✅This forces all logs from/var/log/auth.logto be assigned sourcetype=auth_logs.

Why Not the Other Options?

❌B. Define the sourcetype in the search head – Sourcetypes are assigned at ingestion time, not at search time.❌C. Configure the sourcetype in the deployment server – The deployment server manages configurations, butprops.confis what actually assigns sourcetypes.❌D. Use REST API calls to tag sourcetypes dynamically – REST APIs help modify configurations, but they don’t assign sourcetypes directly during ingestion.

References & Learning Resources

????Splunkprops.confDocumentation:https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/latest/Admin/Propsconf ????Best Practices for Sourcetype Management: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks ????Splunk Data Parsing Guide: https://splunkbase.splunk.com

Why Maintain a Detection Lifecycle?

Adetection lifecycleensures that security alerts, correlation searches, and automation playbooks arecontinuously refinedto maintainaccuracy, efficiency, and relevanceagainst modern threats.

????1. Detecting and Eliminating Outdated Searches (Answer A)✅Removes unnecessary or redundant correlation searchesthat may slow down performance.✅Prevents false positivescaused by outdated detection logic.✅Example:A Splunk ES search for anold malware variantmay no longer be effective → it should be updated to detectnew techniques used by attackers.

????2. Ensuring Detections Remain Relevant to Evolving Threats (Answer C)✅Regular updatesensure thatnew MITRE ATT&CK techniquesand threat indicators are included.✅Example:If attackers start usingLiving-off-the-Land (LotL) techniques, security teams mustupdate detection rules to identify suspicious PowerShell activity.

Why Not the Other Options?

❌B. Scaling the Splunk deployment effectively– Lifecycle management improvesdetection accuracy, notinfrastructure scalability.❌D. Automating the deployment of new detection logic– Automation helps, but lifecycle management isabout reviewing and updating detections, not just deployment.

References & Learning Resources

????Detection Management in Splunk ES: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/ES ????Updating Threat Detections Using MITRE ATT&CK in Splunk: https://attack.mitre.org/resources ????Best Practices for SOC Detection Engineering: https://splunkbase.splunk.com

If a user queries an index during a high-priority incident but sees incomplete results, it is likely that the indexers are overloaded, causing queue bottlenecks.

Why Indexer Queue Capacity Issues Cause Incomplete Results:

When indexing queues fill up, incoming data cannot be processed efficiently.

Search results may be incomplete or delayed if events are still in the indexing queue and not fully written to disk.

Heavy search loads during incidents can also increase pressure on indexers.

How to Fix It:

Monitor indexing queues via the Monitoring Console (indexing>indexing performance).

Checkmetrics.logon indexers formax_queue_size_exceededwarnings.

Increase indexer capacity or optimize search scheduling to reduce load.

Aligning security processes with frameworks likeNIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF)orMITRE ATT&CKprovides astructured approach to threat detection and response.

Benefits of Using Common Security Methodologies:

Enhancing Organizational Compliance (A)

Helps organizationsmeet regulatory requirements(e.g., NIST, ISO 27001, GDPR).

Ensuresconsistent security controlsare implemented.

Ensuring Standardized Threat Responses (C)

MITRE ATT&CK providesa common language for adversary techniques.

ImprovesSOC workflows by aligning detection and response strategies.

Threat intelligence in Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) enhances SOC capabilities by identifying known attack patterns, suspicious activity, and malicious indicators.

Essential Steps in Developing Threat Intelligence:

Collecting Data from Trusted Sources (A)

Gather data from threat intelligence feeds (e.g., STIX, TAXII, OpenCTI, VirusTotal, AbuseIPDB).

Include internal logs, honeypots, and third-party security vendors.

Analyzing and Correlating Threat Data (C)

Use correlation searches to match known threat indicators against live data.

Identify patterns in network traffic, logs, and endpoint activity.

Operationalizing Intelligence Through Workflows (E)

Automate responses using Splunk SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response).

Enhance alert prioritization by integrating intelligence into risk-based alerting (RBA).

Why Focus on High-Level Summaries & Actionable Insights?

Executive security reports should provideconcise, strategic insightsthat help leadership teams makeinformed decisions.

????Key Elements for an Executive-Level Report:✅Summarized Security Incidents– Focus onmajor threats and trends.✅Actionable Recommendations– Includemitigation stepsfor ongoing risks.✅Visual Dashboards– Use charts and graphs foreasy interpretation.✅Compliance & Risk Metrics– Highlightcompliance status(e.g., PCI-DSS, NIST).

????Example in Splunk:????Scenario:A CISO requests aweekly security report.✅Best Report Format:

Threat Summary:"Detected 15 phishing attacks this week."

Key Risks:"Increase in brute-force login attempts."

Recommended Actions:"Enhance MFA enforcement & user awareness training."

Why Not the Other Options?

❌B. Detailed logs of every notable event– Too technical; executives needsummaries, not raw logs.❌C. Excluding compliance metrics to simplify reports– Compliance is critical forrisk assessment.❌D. Avoiding visuals to focus on raw data–Visuals improve clarity; raw data is too complex for executives.

References & Learning Resources

????Splunk Security Reporting Best Practices: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security ????Creating Effective Executive Dashboards in Splunk: https://splunkbase.splunk.com ????Cybersecurity Metrics & Reporting for Leadership Teams:https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework

If there is a delay in data being indexed from a remote location, even though the Universal Forwarder (UF) is correctly configured, the issue is likely a queue blockage or network latency.

Steps to Diagnose and Fix Forwarder Delays:

Check Forwarder Logs (splunkd.log) for Queue Issues (A)

Look for messages likeTcpOutAutoLoadBalancedorQueue is full.

If queues are full, events are stuck at the forwarder and not reaching the indexer.

Monitor Forwarder Health Usingmetrics.log

Useindex=_internal source=*metrics.log* group=queueto check queue performance.

Effective documentation ensures that security teams canstandardize response procedures, reduce incident response time, and improve compliance.

✅1. Visual Workflow Diagrams (B)

Helpsmap out security processesin an easy-to-understand format.

Useful for SOC analysts, engineers, and auditors to understandincident escalation procedures.

Example:

Incident flow diagramsshowing escalation fromTier 1 SOC analysts → Threat hunters → Incident response teams.

✅2. Incident Response Playbooks (C)

Definesstep-by-step response actionsfor security incidents.

Standardizes how teams shoulddetect, analyze, contain, and remediate threats.

Example:

ASOAR playbookfor handlingphishing emails(e.g., extract indicators, check sandbox results, quarantine email).

❌Incorrect Answers:

A. Detailed event logs→ Logs areessential for investigationsbut do not constituteprocess documentation.

D. Customer satisfaction surveys→ Not relevant tosecurity process documentation.

????Additional Resources:

NIST Cybersecurity Framework - Incident Response

Splunk SOAR Playbook Documentation