security-threat-hunting

name	security-threat-hunting
description	Interactive threat hunting workflow using ES|QL and Elasticsearch queries — from hypothesis formulation through data exploration, IOC search, and finding documentation.

Security Threat Hunting Workflow

Guide the user through proactive threat hunting in their Elastic Security deployment.

Trigger

Use when the user asks to:

• "Hunt for threats"
• "Find suspicious activity"
• "Search for IOCs"
• "MITRE hunt"
• "Proactive threat detection"
• "Lateral movement"

Also activates on keywords: "threat hunt", "IOC search", "suspicious activity", "behavioral hunt", "anomaly hunt"

Do NOT use when:

• "Set up security" (→ use security-full-setup)
• "Create detection rule" (→ use security-detection-engineering)

Steps

0. Get Cluster Context

Call get_cluster_context to get cached cluster awareness — version, health, installed features, and security data availability. This informs which data sources and query capabilities are available for the hunt.

1. Define the Hunt Hypothesis

Ask the user what they want to hunt for. Common starting points:

• MITRE technique — e.g., "Hunt for T1059.001 PowerShell abuse"
• IOC-based — e.g., "Search for known malicious IPs/domains/hashes"
• Behavioral — e.g., "Find unusual outbound connections from servers"
• Anomaly-driven — e.g., "Identify hosts with abnormal process execution"

2. Identify Relevant Data Sources

Call discover_security_data with relevant data_sources to confirm data availability.

Map the hypothesis to required data:

• Process activity → logs-endpoint* (Elastic Defend)
• Network connections → packetbeat-*, logs-network_traffic*
• Authentication → auditbeat-*, logs-system*, winlogbeat-*
• Cloud activity → logs-aws.cloudtrail*, logs-gcp.audit*, logs-azure.activitylogs*
• DNS → packetbeat-*, logs-* with dns.* fields
• File activity → logs-endpoint* with file.* fields

3. Explore with ES|QL

Build iterative ES|QL queries to explore the data. Start broad and narrow down.

Example: Hunt for unusual PowerShell execution

FROM logs-endpoint* 
| WHERE process.name == "powershell.exe" AND @timestamp >= NOW() - 7d 
| STATS exec_count = COUNT(*), unique_args = COUNT_DISTINCT(process.args) BY host.name, user.name 
| WHERE exec_count > 50 OR unique_args > 20 
| SORT exec_count DESC 
| LIMIT 20

Call esql_query to run each iteration. Present results and refine based on findings.

Example: Hunt for rare outbound connections

FROM logs-network_traffic* 
| WHERE @timestamp >= NOW() - 24h AND direction == "outbound" 
| STATS conn_count = COUNT(*), unique_hosts = COUNT_DISTINCT(source.ip) BY destination.ip, destination.port 
| WHERE unique_hosts == 1 AND conn_count < 5 
| SORT conn_count ASC 
| LIMIT 50

Example: Hunt for brute force attempts

FROM logs-* 
| WHERE event.category == "authentication" AND event.outcome == "failure" AND @timestamp >= NOW() - 24h 
| STATS fail_count = COUNT(*) BY source.ip, user.name 
| WHERE fail_count > 20 
| SORT fail_count DESC

4. IOC Enrichment (Optional)

If specific IOCs are identified during the hunt:

Search for IP addresses:

FROM logs-* | WHERE (source.ip == "1.2.3.4" OR destination.ip == "1.2.3.4") AND @timestamp >= NOW() - 30d | STATS hits = COUNT(*) BY _index | SORT hits DESC

Search for file hashes:

FROM logs-endpoint* | WHERE process.hash.sha256 == "<hash>" AND @timestamp >= NOW() - 30d | STATS hits = COUNT(*) BY host.name, process.name

Search for domains: Call elasticsearch_api with a wildcard query against dns.question.name or url.domain.

5. Document Findings

For each significant finding, present:

• What was found (hosts, users, processes, network activity)
• Why it's suspicious (deviation from baseline, known bad pattern)
• Confidence level (high, medium, low)
• Recommended response action

6. User Decision Point — Act on Findings

For each finding, ask the user:

• Create detection rule — convert the hunt query into a persistent detection (use manage_detection_rules)
• Create case — escalate to investigation (use manage_cases)
• Add exception — if it's a known benign pattern
• Continue hunting — refine the query and dig deeper
• Document only — note the finding for future reference

7. Operationalize Findings

For findings that should become detections:

• Call manage_detection_rules to create a rule from the hunt query
• Set appropriate severity and MITRE mapping
• Configure alert actions

For findings that need investigation:

• Call manage_cases to create a case
• Attach relevant evidence and queries

8. Summary

Present the hunt results:

• Hypothesis tested
• Data sources queried
• Findings (with confidence levels)
• Actions taken (rules created, cases opened)
• Suggested follow-up hunts

Tools Used

• get_cluster_context — cached cluster awareness (version, health, capabilities)
• discover_security_data — verify data source availability for the hunt
• esql_query — run iterative hunt queries
• elasticsearch_api — complex search queries (EQL sequences, nested, wildcard)
• manage_detection_rules — convert hunt findings into detection rules
• manage_cases — escalate findings to investigation cases
• triage_alerts — check if existing detections already cover the finding
• kibana_api — timeline creation, saved query management

API References

• elastic://docs/api/elasticsearch — Search API for complex hunt queries
• elastic://docs/api/kibana — Detection Engine for operationalizing hunt findings
• elastic://docs/api/security — Timeline and investigation APIs

Prerequisites

• ES_URL and ES_API_KEY configured
• Security data sources with sufficient history (7+ days recommended for behavioral hunts)
• KIBANA_URL configured for rule creation and case management

Interactive Dashboard

Interactive Dashboard: When using Claude Desktop or other ext-apps hosts, threat_hunt renders an investigation graph with entity expansion and attack_discovery shows an ATT&CK flow diagram with kill chain visualization. In Cursor/CLI, both return markdown.

Related Skills

• security-detection-engineering — operationalize hunt findings into persistent detection rules
• security-case-management — track and manage investigations from hunt findings