So how are your analytical skills? Analytical thinking is difficult work and its a skill that you can improve upon. The nice thing though is that the more that you do it the easier it will be for you to think analytically. Though before we get into how you can improve thinking analytically lets define what analytics is and the process of thinking analytically (the process that analyst do). Per dictionary.com analytics is
Logic. the science of logical analysis. the analysis of data, typically large sets of business data, by the use of mathematics, statistics, and computer software: the patterns and other meaningful information gathered from the analysis of data
As an analyst we get paid to think about issues and try to figure out what is going on using this part of our brain. So it always good to improve that side of your brain. Some things we is as follows.
Be observant:
Be observant about what is going on in a situation. look for things that might have an effect on the flow of information that created an event. so for example if you have an IR for virus in email. Think about the different stages that caused that IR to pop and how it got into the organization. You might have exchange logs, bro logs, IDS logs, firewall logs, email IPS/virus scanner, desktop AV logs, etc depending on what stage the detection happened and you can investigate whats going on. In every day life just watching what is going on around you. Taking a moment when you are shopping and just watching people and the flow of people and how they are moving around you and how the operation of the store has things set up to manage the people. There are a lot of science around moving people through a store to get the most money out of them while their in store. being observant can help you realize how things are interconnected and the more you learn how they work together the easier it will be fore you to think through the logical steps on an issue.
Learn how things work:
When you start to become more observant you will start to learn how things work more and how things are interconnected. This is critical to being able to think analytically. Because it requires a lot of knowledge to lean on to process in logical steps how the applications and data work together. So if you are hacking a web application its important to know how the form your working with might have underlining security flaws that you can abuse. But as you learn more about how things work it will help you just that knowledge to go through the logical steps where something can be broken.
Ask questions:
One of the best attributes to an analyst is to ask questions. Never be afread to ask question. This will help you learn how things work and can help you think of things that the developers might not have thought about. This is a critial step in offensive security as it helps you process though potential ways to exploit a server that might not have been thought of. In defensive security it helps you ask your self things you might not know the answer to. Someone might see an AV alert and see that the the AV software removed it and end their investigation there. But you might go further and ask your self questions like "how did this file get here?", "are there other files that the AV missed?", "how can i be sure this system is secure now?", etc. Asking your self questions can help expand your own knowledge but can be uncomfortable ask it can cause you more work.
play out situations and solving problems:
Playing games in your head and trying to solve problems will help you learn more about how things work and just practice thinking about things. People don't naturally think because it takes effort. When you put the work in in solving issues it helps you improve in thinking about all the possabilities. If you get the chance to do root cause analysis it will help work though problems to find out what truely caused the issue. When ever you get a chance to problem solve jump at it. because the more you solve problems the easier it will be for you to think analytically.
Think about your decisions:
Thinking about your decisions is a great way to ask questions like "what if?". Thinking about your decisions might not be the easiest because a lot of times when we make a decision we want to put the situation behind us because why waste more time on something thats resolved? well it not a waste if it can help you improve and think of potential things that you might have missed in your intial analysis. Reworking things you have done before helps you find mistakes you might have made and improve your self and your work.
Working on your analytical side of your brain is something that can help you in all parts of your life. Analytical thinking is part of the greater critical thinking process. It doesn't matter what job you are in analytical thinking will help you improve and I highly recommend anyone work on improving this side of your brain as it can only benefit you. In the security world we live on analytical thinking and we need to excel at it to do well in the field. If your wanting to be an expert in the field then practice these things and you will get there in no time.
if your are looking for ways to improve your learning how things work we have a few articles here that can help.
if you are just starting out
College not required: A guide to starting in InfoSec
if your looking for more
Information Security Training
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