Enhancing Threat Detection with Splunk ES: Overcoming Data Quality Challenges for Improved Security Insights

Solution

In collaboration with the customer, the bitsIO consultant conducted an in-depth assessment of the customer's data sources and ingestion pipelines. During this analysis, we identified several key issues:

• Inconsistencies in source data formatting.
  
• Issues with event field mapping.
  
• Problems with timestamp normalization, which were negatively impacting data quality for effective use of the Splunk ES app.
  

To address these issues, the team implemented a series of data onboarding best practices:

1. Development of Custom Technology Add-ons (TAs): Tailored to meet the customer’s specific needs.
   
2. Normalization Using the Common Information Model (CIM): Ensured all data was structured and standardized for better compatibility with Splunk ES.
   
3. Data Validation Scripts: Employed to guarantee that the data was clean, structured, and CIM-compliant.
   
4. Collaborative Working Sessions: We worked closely with the customer to prioritize log sources and establish robust data hygiene standards.
   

By applying these strategies, we significantly improved data quality, enabling:

• Accurate correlation searches.
  
• Reduced false positives.
  
• Reliable threat detection through the Splunk ES app.