Advanced Runtime Threat Hunting, Response & ACS Automation

Duration: ~30 minutes

Overview

Learn advanced techniques for runtime threat hunting, automated threat response, and integration with Advanced Cluster Security (ACS) for comprehensive security operations. You’ll implement proactive hunting strategies, automated response playbooks, and security orchestration workflows.

Practice proactive runtime hunting with ACS-oriented detections and automated response playbooks that shorten time to contain incidents.

Why it matters

Advanced threats require proactive detection and rapid response. Threat hunting goes beyond automated alerts to actively search for indicators of compromise. Automated response reduces mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR), while ACS integration provides comprehensive visibility and control.

What does it solve

  • Advanced persistent threats

  • Slow detection times

  • Manual response delays

  • Security operations complexity

  • Incident response automation

Your Mission

Complete the examples below to close the attack paths this lab covers—treat each step as defending the cluster, not just clicking through commands.

Click each step only if you need a hint.

Access ACS console
echo "Access ACS console for threat hunting and analysis"
oc get route -n stackrox central -o jsonpath='{.spec.host}'
Create hunting query (example)
echo "Example: Search for suspicious process executions"
# Use ACS API or UI to create custom queries
Configure automated response policy
oc apply -f - <<'EOF'
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: response-playbook
  namespace: stackrox
data:
  playbook.yaml: |
    - name: Detect suspicious activity
      action: alert
    - name: Isolate affected pod
      action: network-policy-block
EOF
Review ACS policies and violations
echo "Review ACS policies and violations through console or API"
Cleanup

No cleanup needed for this lab.

Debrief

Advanced hunting plus automated response shortens dwell time—you query for weak signals, then act (isolate, policy, terminate) without waiting on a ticket.

What breaks without this:

  • Alert-only monitoring → known TTPs missed between dashboards

  • Manual response lag → attackers finish lateral movement first

Controls that matter: ACS hunting queries, playbooks, orchestration hooks, and clear human-approve vs auto-act boundaries.

Quick facts: hunting is proactive search, not just triage of fired alerts. Measure MTTD/MTTR as you automate.

giphy

Cleanup

Before moving to the next module, run the lab cleanup script to reset transient resources from this module.

cd ~/openshift-security-roadshow
bash setup/lab-cleanup.sh --module 301-13