SPLK-3001 Practice Exam Questions with Answers Splunk Enterprise Security Certified Admin Exam Certification

According to the Splunk Enterprise Security documentation, the Use Case Library is a feature that contains scenarios that are useful during ES implementation. The Use Case Library provides a collection of Analytic Stories that provide actionable guidance for detecting, analyzing, and addressing security threats. An Analytic Story contains the searches, data sources, and explanations that you need to implement the scenario in your own ES environment. The Use Case Library also allows you to explore, activate, bookmark, and configure the searches that are related to each Analytic Story. You can filter the Analytic Stories by industry use cases, frameworks, or data sources. The Use Case Library helps you to quickly and easily deploy the most relevant security content for your organization. Therefore, the correct answer is A. Use Case Library. References = Manage Analytic Stories through the use case library in Splunk Enterprise Security.

Splunk Enterprise Security: SIEM Use Case Library | Splunk

According to the Splunk Enterprise Security documentation, when using the Distributed Configuration Management tool to create the Splunk_TA_ForIndexers package, you can include the following three files:

• indexes.conf: This file defines the indexes that are used by Splunk Enterprise Security, such as main, summary, and notable. It also specifies the index settings, such as retention policy, replication factor, and search factor. See indexes.conf for more details.
• props.conf: This file defines the properties of the data sources that are ingested by Splunk Enterprise Security, such as sourcetype, timestamp, line breaking, and field extraction. It also specifies the data model mappings, tags, and event types for the data sources. See props.conf for more details.
• transforms.conf: This file defines the transformations that are applied to the data sources that are ingested by Splunk Enterprise Security, such as lookup definitions, field aliases, field formats, and calculated fields. It also specifies the regex patterns, delimiters, and formats for the transformations. See transforms.conf for more details.

Therefore, the correct answer is A. indexes.conf, props.conf, transforms.conf. References =

• indexes.conf
• props.conf
• transforms.conf

Assigning Role Based Permissions in Splunk Enterprise Security

The correlation search feature that is used to throttle the creation of notable events is the window duration. The window duration is the time period during which a correlation search will not create a new notable event for the same issue. For example, if the window duration is set to 1 day, and a correlation search triggers a notable event for a certain condition, such as a brute force attack from a source IP address, the correlation search will not create another notable event for the same condition within the next 24 hours. This prevents the correlation search from generating too many alerts for the same issue, which can reduce the alert fatigue and noise. The window duration can be configured in the correlation search settings, under the Throttling section12. References = 1: Create a correlation search - Splunk Documentation - Throttling. 2: Throttle alerts - Splunk Documentation.

The Risk Analysis dashboard uses the Risk data model to populate the panels. The Risk data model is a data model that contains information about the risk scores and risk modifiers of various objects, such as systems, users, hashes, and network artifacts. The Risk data model accelerates these fields for the Risk Analysis and Incident Review dashboards. The Risk data model also handles case insensitive asset and identity correlation, allowing risk modifiers that are applied to system or user name variants to be correctly attributed to the same risk_object1. The other options, B, C, and D, are not correct. The Audit data model contains information about audit events, such as user logins, password changes, and system access. The Domain Analysis data model contains information about the domains that are visited by the systems in the network. The Threat Intelligence data model contains information about the threat intelligence sources, indicators, and matches. References =

• Risk Analysis dashboard
• Risk data model
• Risk Analysis framework

Adaptive responses are actions that can be performed in response to notable events or other security incidents. Adaptive responses can be triggered by correlation searches and users on the incident review dashboard. Correlation searches are scheduled searches that run periodically to detect patterns of interest in the data and generate notable events or other actions when the search conditions are met. Users can configure correlation searches to trigger adaptive responses automatically when a notable event is created. Users can also run adaptive responses manually from the incident review dashboard, which displays the notable events and their details. Users can select one or more notable events and choose an adaptive response action from the menu. Adaptive responses can help users to gather information, modify the environment, or take other actions to investigate and respond to security incidents. References =

• Adaptive Response Framework overview
• Run Adaptive Response actions from the Incident Review dashboard

 According to the Splunk Enterprise Security documentation, the recommended way to install ES is on a server with a new install of Splunk. This is because ES requires a dedicated search head that is not shared with other apps or users. Installing ES on a server with a new install of Splunk ensures that there are no conflicts or performance issues with other apps or configurations. If you want to install ES on an existing search head, you need to follow some additional steps, such as redirecting distributed search connections, purging KV Store, and backing up existing data. See Install Splunk Enterprise Security for more details. Therefore, the correct answer is C. On a server with a new install of Splunk. References = Install Splunk Enterprise Security.

Correlation searches are scheduled searches that run in Splunk Enterprise Security to detect security incidents or other notable events. They can consume a lot of resources and affect the overall search performance. To improve the search performance, you can do the following actions:

• Reduce the frequency (schedule) of lower-priority correlation searches. This will reduce the number of searches that run concurrently and free up some resources for other searches. You can edit the schedule of a correlation search in the Content Management page of Splunk Enterprise Security. See Edit a correlation search in Splunk Enterprise Security for more details.
• Add notable event suppressions for correlation searches with high numbers of false positives. This will prevent the correlation search from generating notable events that are not relevant or actionable, and reduce the load on the Notable Event Framework. You can add suppression rules for a correlation search in the Content Management page of Splunk Enterprise Security. See Suppress notable events in Splunk Enterprise Security for more details.

The other two actions are not recommended, because they can have negative effects on the search performance or the security posture. Disabling indexed real-time search can cause some dashboards and panels to not display data correctly, and increasing the priority of all correlation searches can cause resource contention and degrade the performance of other searches. See Optimize Splunk Enterprise for peak performance and How search types affect Splunk Enterprise performance for more information. References =

• Edit a correlation search in Splunk Enterprise Security
• Suppress notable events in Splunk Enterprise Security
• Optimize Splunk Enterprise for peak performance
• How search types affect Splunk Enterprise performance

 “10.22.63.159”, “websvr4”, and “00:26:08:18: CF:1D” would be matched against an asset in ES. An asset is a device on a network that can be identified by an IP address, MAC address, DNS name, or other attributes. ES uses an asset and identity system to correlate asset and identity information with events to enrich and provide context to the data1. The asset fields that ES can match include ip, mac, nt_host, dns, and others2. An identity is a user account that can be identified by a username, email address, phone number, or other attributes. An identity is not the same as an asset, although an identity can be associated with an asset1. References =

• Add asset and identity data to Splunk Enterprise Security
• Asset and identity fields in Splunk Enterprise Security

After installing the add-ons necessary for normalizing data, you should configure the add-ons according to their README or documentation. The add-ons that are included in the Splunk Enterprise Security package are preconfigured and do not require additional steps. However, the add-ons that are downloaded separately from Splunkbase may require additional configuration steps, such as enabling inputs, setting up credentials, or modifying props and transforms. You should review the README or documentation for each add-on to determine the specific configuration requirements and follow the instructions accordingly. References =

• Deploy add-ons to Splunk Enterprise Security
• About installing Splunk add-ons

A correlation search is a scheduled search that runs periodically to detect patterns of interest in the data and generate notable events or other actions when the search conditions are met. A correlation search can generate false positives, which are notable events that do not represent a real security incident or threat. False positives can create noise and reduce the efficiency and accuracy of the security analysis. To reduce false positives from a correlation search, you can modify the correlation schedule and sensitivity for your site. The correlation schedule determines how often the correlation search runs and over what time range. The sensitivity determines the threshold or limit for the search conditions to trigger a notable event. By adjusting the correlation schedule and sensitivity, you can fine-tune the correlation search to match your environment and data sources, and avoid generating notable events for normal or benign activities. You can modify the correlation schedule and sensitivity for a correlation search using the Content Management page in Splunk Enterprise Security. References =

• Modify the correlation schedule and sensitivity for your site
• Correlation search overview for Splunk Enterprise Security

Dealing with Security False Positives in Splunk (Enterprise Security ...2

Upping the Auditing Game for Correlation Searches Within ... - Splunk

 The Risk Analysis dashboard provides tools to analyze the risk scores and risk modifiers of various objects, such as systems, users, hashes, and network artifacts. The dashboard shows the risk score by object, the most active sources of risk, the risk score by category, the risk score over time, and the risk modifiers by object. The dashboard also allows you to create ad hoc risk entries, view the risk details of an object, and export the risk data as a CSV file. The other options, A, B, and D, are not correct. The Risk Analysis dashboard does not provide tools to show high risk threats, notable event domains, or key indicators of correlation searches. These are features of other dashboards in Splunk Enterprise Security, such as the Threat Activity dashboard, the Domain Analysis dashboard, and the Correlation Search Audit dashboard. References =

• Analyze risk in Splunk Enterprise Security
• Risk Analysis dashboard

The Add-On Builder is available from SplunkBase, which is the official source of apps and add-ons for the Splunk platform. SplunkBase allows you to browse, download, and install apps and add-ons that are compatible with your Splunk deployment. You can also upload and share your own apps and add-ons with the Splunk community. The Add-On Builder is a Splunk app that helps you build and validate technology add-ons for your Splunk Enterprise deployment. Technology add-ons are specialized add-ons that help to collect, transform, and normalize data feeds from specific sources in your environment. The Add-On Builder guides you through the process of creating an add-on, following best practices and naming conventions, maintaining CIM compliance, and testing and validating the add-on1. The Add-On Builder is not available from GitHub, www.splunk.com, or the ES installation package. References =

• Splunk Add-on Builder | Splunkbase

Splunk Add-on Builder | Splunkbase

Data integrity control is a feature of Splunk Enterprise that helps you verify the integrity of data that it indexes. When you enable data integrity control for an index, Splunk Enterprise computes hashes on every slice of data using the SHA-256 algorithm. It then stores those hashes so that you can verify the integrity of your data later. This feature prevents data tampering and ensures that the data is trustworthy and reliable. Therefore, the correct answer is B. Data integrity control. References = Manage data integrity - Splunk Documentation.

 The Threat Download Manager is a feature of Splunk Enterprise Security that downloads threat intelligence data from a web server. The Threat Download Manager is a modular input that runs on a schedule and fetches threat intelligence data from various sources, such as STIX/TAXII servers, RSS feeds, or custom URLs. The Threat Download Manager then passes the downloaded data to the Threat Intelligence Parser for further processing12. References = 1: Add threat intelligence to Splunk Enterprise Security - Splunk Documentation - Configure the threat intelligence sources included with Splunk Enterprise Security. 2: Using threat intelligence in Splunk Enterprise Security - Splunk Lantern - Where do I get threat intelligence?

According to the Splunk Enterprise Security documentation, one of the recommended pre-installation steps is to configure search head forwarding. Search head forwarding is a feature that allows the search head to forward its internal logs and metrics to an indexer or a heavy forwarder for indexing and analysis. This feature helps you monitor the health and performance of the search head and troubleshoot any issues that may arise. You can configure search head forwarding by editing the outputs.conf file on the search head and specifying the destination indexer or forwarder. See Configure search head forwarding for more details.

The other options are not recommended, because they are either unnecessary or harmful for the installation of ES. Disabling the default search app is not a good option, because it may cause some features of ES to not work properly, such as the Content Management page and the navigation editor. Downloading the latest version of KV Store from MongoDB.com is not a good option, because ES uses the built-in KV Store service that comes with Splunk Enterprise and does not require any external installation or configuration. Installing the latest Python distribution on the search head is not a good option, because it may cause compatibility issues with ES, which uses the Python version that comes with Splunk Enterprise. Therefore, the correct answer is B. Configure search head forwarding. References = Configure search head forwarding.

Splunk Enterprise Security knows the local customer domain names so it can detect internal vs. external emails by using the Corporate Web and Email Domain Lookups. These are lookup files that contain the list of domains that are considered internal or corporate for the organization. The Corporate Web and Email Domain Lookups are edited during the initial configuration of Splunk Enterprise Security, and they are used to enrich events with the tag=internal_web or tag=internal_email fields. These fields indicate whether the web or email activity is internal or external, and they are used by dashboards and correlation searches in Splunk Enterprise Security to monitor and analyze the web and email traffic. References =

• Corporate Web and Email Domain Lookups
• Configure web and email domains in Splunk Enterprise Security

Detecting Typosquatting, Phishing, and Corporate Espionage ... - Splunk

The ES application should be uploaded to the search head, which is the component that runs the ES user interface and executes the searches, alerts, and reports. The search head should be dedicated to ES and not run any other applications. The indexer is the component that indexes the data and stores it in buckets. The KV Store is a feature that stores and manages data as key-value pairs. The dedicated forwarder is a component that collects data from various sources and forwards it to the indexer. None of these components can run the ES application. References =

• [Install Splunk Enterprise Security]
• [Splunk Enterprise architecture]

The Splunk Add-on Builder helps you create technology add-ons, which are specialized add-ons that help to collect, transform, and normalize data feeds from specific sources in your environment. Technology add-ons are often referred to as TAs, and they start with the prefix TA-12. References = 1: Splunk Add-on Builder User Guide - About the Splunk Add-on Builder 2: Splunk Developer Portal - Develop Splunk Apps

According to the Splunk Reference Architecture document1, for ES, Splunk recommends sizing based on 80 to 100 GB ingest per indexer per day. This means an ES deployment with 2 TB daily ingest will require up to 20 indexers. This recommendation is for a non-cloud (on-prem) ES deployment. For a cloud-based ES deployment, the recommended volume of indexing per day, per indexer, is 50 GB2. The other options, 300 GB and 500 MB, are not recommended by Splunk for ES deployments. References =

• Splunk Reference Architecture
• Performance reference for Splunk Enterprise Security

According to the Splunk Enterprise Security documentation, an asset is a physical or logical device that is part of your network infrastructure, such as a server, a workstation, a router, or a firewall. An asset can have various attributes, such as IP address, MAC address, DNS name, NT host name, priority, business unit, owner, and others. Splunk Enterprise Security uses asset data to enrich and correlate security events and provide context for analysis. You can manage asset data using the Asset and Identity Management page in Splunk Enterprise Security. See Manage assets and identities in Splunk Enterprise Security for more details.

The other options are not examples of ES assets, but they may be related to other types of data. A MAC address is an attribute of an asset, not an asset itself. A user name is an example of an identity, which is a person or group that is associated with an asset or an event. Splunk Enterprise Security uses identity data to enrich and correlate security events and provide context for analysis. You can manage identity data using the Asset and Identity Management page in Splunk Enterprise Security. See Manage assets and identities in Splunk Enterprise Security for more details. People is a data model in the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM), which provides a common standard for organizing and naming data fields across different data sources. Splunk Enterprise Security uses the CIM to enable cross-source analysis and correlation of security events. The People data model contains the fields and tags for events that are related to people, such as user names, email addresses, phone numbers, and others. See People for more details. Therefore, the correct answer is C. Server. References =

• Manage assets and identities in Splunk Enterprise Security
• People

 According to the Splunk Enterprise Security documentation, the Status Configuration window allows you to customize the status values and transitions for notable events. You can define which roles can change the status of a notable event from one value to another, and which roles can view the notable events with a specific status. To restrict the users with the ess_user role from being able to change the status of Resolved notable events to closed, you need to do the following steps:

• On the Enterprise Security menu bar, select Configure > Incident Management > Status Configuration.
• In the Status Configuration window, select the Resolved status from the list of values.
• In the Status Transitions section, find the row for the closed status and click the Edit icon.
• In the Edit Status Transition dialog box, remove the ess_user role from the Roles field and click Save.
• Click Save Changes to apply the changes to the Status Configuration window.

This will prevent the users with the ess_user role from changing the status of any notable event from Resolved to closed. They will still be able to change the status of other notable events to closed, if they have the permission to do so. Therefore, the correct answer is A. From the Status Configuration window select the Resolved status. Remove ess_user from the status transitions for the closed status. References = Customize status values and transitions for notable events.

The setting that is used in indexes.conf to specify alternate locations for accelerated storage is tstatsHomePath. Accelerated storage is the location where Splunk Enterprise stores the summary data for accelerated data models and reports. By default, acceleration storage is allocated in the same location as the index containing the raw events being accelerated. However, if you need to specify alternate locations for your accelerated storage, you can use the tstatsHomePath setting in indexes.conf. This setting allows you to define a different path for the summary data, which can improve the performance and efficiency of the data model acceleration. For example, you can set the tstatsHomePath to a faster disk or a different volume than the index homePath12. References = 1: Managing data models in Enterprise Security - Splunk Lantern - Indexes allow list. 2: indexes.conf - Splunk Documentation - tstatsHomePath.

A network anomaly notable is a type of notable event that indicates a possible network attack or misconfiguration. It is generated by the Network - Anomaly Detection - Rule correlation search, which uses the Splunk Stream app to monitor network traffic and detect anomalies based on predefined thresholds. A security analyst who is investigating a network anomaly notable would use the Protocol intelligence dashboard to gain more insight into the network activity and protocols involved in the anomaly. The Protocol intelligence dashboard provides a summary of network traffic by protocol, such as TCP, UDP, ICMP, and others. It also shows the top sources, destinations, ports, and applications for each protocol. The dashboard allows the analyst to filter the data by time range, protocol, source, destination, port, and application. The dashboard also provides drilldown links to other dashboards, such as the Network Resolution dashboard and the Traffic Size Analysis dashboard, for further analysis. Therefore, the correct answer is D. Protocol intelligence dashboard. References =

• Network - Anomaly Detection - Rule
• Protocol intelligence dashboard
• Splunk Stream app