Arjun
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SOC Alert Triage: A Beginner's Playbook
November 1, 20251 min readCybersecurity

SOC Alert Triage: A Beginner's Playbook

How I approach L1 SOC alerts — from initial SIEM notification to escalation, with practical examples from my lab.

#soc#cybersecurity#siem

Why Triage Matters

In a SOC, speed and accuracy matter. Every alert needs a consistent first response.

My L1 Checklist

  1. Validate — Is this a true positive or noisy rule?
  2. Context — User, host, time, and related events
  3. Classify — Map to MITRE ATT&CK where possible
  4. Contain or escalate — Follow the playbook, document everything

Common Alert Types

  • Multiple failed logins → possible brute force
  • Suspicious outbound traffic → check destination reputation
  • New scheduled task → verify with asset owner

Tools I Use

Splunk searches, VirusTotal for IOCs, and internal CMDB for asset context.