analytic-story-builder

name	Analytic Story Builder
description	Create grouped detection narratives that tie individual rules into coherent threat stories. Covers Splunk Analytic Stories, Elastic detection rule groups, and Sentinel analytics grouping.

Analytic Story Builder Skill

Overview

An analytic story groups related detections into a narrative around a threat scenario, campaign, or attacker behavior chain. While the "analytic story" concept originated in Splunk's ESCU, the principle — grouping detections by threat context — applies to every SIEM.

SIEM	Concept	Implementation
Splunk ESCU	Analytic Story	YAML story file + detection references
Elastic Security	Detection rule group / Tag	Tags + rule grouping in Kibana
Microsoft Sentinel	Analytics rule template	Grouping via Solution/Content Hub
Sigma	Tags / rule collections	tags field + directory structure
Chronicle SOAR	Playbook grouping	Playbooks referencing detection sets

Story Structure (Splunk ESCU Format)

The canonical format. Other SIEMs can adapt this structure to their own grouping mechanism.

name: Story Name Here
id: <uuid>
version: 1
date: 'YYYY-MM-DD'
author: Your Name
description: >-
  One to three sentences describing the threat scenario. What is the attacker
  trying to do? Why should a defender care?
narrative: >-
  Three to five sentences providing deeper context. Include references to
  real-world campaigns, common attack chains, and why these detections were
  grouped together. Explain how the detections work together to provide
  coverage across the kill chain.
references:
  - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/TXXXX/
  - https://relevant-blog-or-advisory.example.com
tags:
  analytic_story: Story Name Here
  category:
    - Malware          # or: Adversary Tactics, Abuse, Cloud Security, etc.
  product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Cloud
  usecase: Security Monitoring
  mitre_attack:
    - T1059.001
    - T1547.001

Concise Format Guidance

Stories should be 17–19 lines of YAML (excluding blank lines). Keep it tight:

• description: 1–3 sentences. What is the threat?
• narrative: 3–5 sentences. Why do these detections belong together?
• references: 2–5 links. ATT&CK technique page + source blog/advisory.
• tags.mitre_attack: List every technique covered by detections in the story.

Anti-patterns to avoid:

• Narratives that just restate the description
• Stories with only 1 detection (group at least 2–3)
• Missing MITRE mappings
• Overly broad stories (e.g., "Windows Attacks") — be specific

When to Create a Story

Create a new story when:

1. New threat campaign — A new adversary campaign warrants grouped coverage (e.g., "STORM-0501 Ransomware")
2. Technique cluster — Multiple detections cover related sub-techniques (e.g., "Scheduled Task Abuse" covering T1053.002, T1053.005)
3. Kill chain segment — Detections span multiple tactics for a coherent attack path (e.g., "Initial Access via Phishing to Persistence")
4. Compliance/use case — A regulatory or operational requirement groups detections (e.g., "PCI DSS Monitoring")

Story Categories

Category	Description	Example
Malware	Specific malware families	"IcedID", "QakBot Execution Chain"
Adversary Tactics	Technique-focused groups	"Windows Persistence Techniques"
Abuse	Legitimate tool abuse	"Living Off The Land Binaries"
Cloud Security	Cloud-specific threats	"AWS IAM Privilege Escalation"
Vulnerability	CVE-specific detection sets	"Log4Shell CVE-2021-44228"
Compliance	Regulatory monitoring	"PCI DSS Log Monitoring"

Building a Story: Workflow

Step 1: Identify the Grouping

Start from one of:

• A threat intel report mentioning multiple techniques
• A coverage gap analysis showing related uncovered techniques
• A PR adding multiple related detections

Step 2: Find Existing Stories

Check if a story already exists that this fits into:

search_stories("ransomware")
search_stories("persistence")

Step 3: Draft the Story

Use the YAML format above. Focus on:

• Clear threat description — What is the attacker doing?
• Narrative that connects the dots — How do these detections work together?
• Complete MITRE mappings — Every technique referenced by included detections

Step 4: Associate Detections

Each detection references its story via tags:

# In the detection YAML
tags:
  analytic_story:
    - Story Name Here

For non-Splunk SIEMs, use whatever grouping mechanism is available (tags, folders, rule groups).

Step 5: Validate

• Every detection in the story maps to at least one MITRE technique
• The story's mitre_attack list matches the union of all detection technique mappings
• The narrative explains why these detections are grouped (not just "these are all Windows detections")

Adapting to Other SIEMs

Elastic Security

Group detections using tags in the rule YAML:

tags:
  - "campaign:storm-0501"
  - "story:ransomware-encryption"

Microsoft Sentinel / KQL

Use Sentinel Solutions or Content Hub packages to group related analytics rules. Alternatively, use consistent naming prefixes: [STORM-0501] - Detection Name.

Sigma

Use directory structure and tags:

rules/
  windows/
    storm-0501/
      proc_creation_storm0501_initial_access.yml
      proc_creation_storm0501_persistence.yml

Tips

• Stories evolve. As new detections are added for a threat, update the story's narrative and technique list.
• Cross-reference stories. A detection can belong to multiple stories (e.g., a PowerShell detection might appear in both "Living Off The Land" and "STORM-0501 Ransomware").
• Use stories for reporting. Stories make excellent units for executive reporting — "We added coverage for the STORM-0501 campaign (8 new detections across 5 techniques)."