SOC Automation & Threat Intelligence Platform (Sentinel + SOAR)

Category: Security

Architecture diagram

High-level view of the main components and data/control flows.

Low-level architecture diagram (Visio-style)

Implementation view (networking, security, ops). Click to open full size.

Low-level architecture details

Step-by-step implementation

Step 1/6

Define SOC use cases and data sources

• Identify top alert categories (phishing, malware, impossible travel).
• Choose data connectors and ingestion strategy.
• Define incident severity matrix.

Validation checklist

• Stakeholders have signed off the scope, SLAs, and data/security requirements.
• You have documented naming standards, environments, and ownership (RACI).

Step 2/6

Deploy Sentinel in Defender portal and connect logs

• Create Log Analytics workspace and enable Sentinel.
• Connect Entra ID, M365, Defender, Azure Activity.
• Normalize with ASIM where appropriate.

Validation checklist

• Logs and metrics are flowing (check Log Analytics / Monitor).
• Alerts trigger correctly (test alert path to email/Teams/ITSM).

Step 3/6

Threat intelligence ingestion

• Connect TAXII servers or TI platforms.
• Store TI indicators and expiry dates.
• Correlate indicators with logs.

Validation checklist

• Connections/authentication succeed and test messages/records flow through.
• Retries/DLQ/error handling are configured and validated with a forced failure.

Step 4/6

Automation playbooks (SOAR)

• Use Logic Apps to enrich with WHOIS, geo-IP, TI.
• Automate containment: disable account, block IP, isolate endpoint.
• Record all actions for audit.

Validation checklist

• Security baseline applied (Defender/Policy/WAF/Firewall rules as applicable).
• No public endpoints unless explicitly approved; private endpoints verified where applicable.
• Alerts are configured for high-risk events.

Step 5/6

Long-term retention and hunting

• Archive logs to Data Lake for cost efficiency.
• Use hunting queries for proactive detection.
• Maintain dashboards for MITRE coverage.

Validation checklist

• The storage/lakehouse/warehouse resources are created and accessible via least privilege.
• A sample dataset lands successfully and can be queried/read end-to-end.
• Retention, encryption, and backup settings match requirements.

Step 6/6

SOC drills and tuning

• Run tabletop exercises and alert simulation (safe).
• Tune analytics rules to reduce noise.
• Review KPIs: MTTD, MTTR, false positive rate.

Validation checklist

• UAT completed with representative users and scenarios.
• Performance meets baseline; issues tracked and remediated.

Video tutorials

• Create playbooks for Microsoft Sentinel solutions (docs + screenshots)
• Azure Friday playlist (search: Microsoft Sentinel SOAR)

References

• Microsoft Sentinel in Defender portal
• Azure Logic Apps