Textbook in PDF format As cyberthreats grow and infrastructure evolves, organizations must prioritize effective, dynamic, and adaptable incident response. Based on the original print bestseller, Blue Team Handbook: Incident Response is now available for the first time in a digital format. This trusted and widely used field guide for cybersecurity incident responders, SOC analysts, and defensive security professionals distills incident response essentials into a concise, field-ready format. Author Don Murdoch draws on decades of real-world experience in incident response and cybersecurity operations to provide actionable guidance and sample workflows you can immediately apply in your own work. Whether you're investigating an alert, analyzing suspicious traffic, or strengthening your organization's IR capability, you'll find this updated edition an essential resource for hands-on practitioners. Understand how modern adversaries operate and recognize common indicators of compromise in networks Analyze network traffic with common tools to identify and investigate suspicious activity Execute structured incident response procedures and follow a clear response plan Conduct basic forensic analysis on both Windows and Linux systems Use proven methodologies and tools to carry out effective, dynamic incident response Chapter 1 provides several working definitions of incident response and then covers two aspects of how IR has changed to respond to today’s threat actors. Next, it presents several topics that help define some of the key thought processes for IR with time-based security: a discussion of how to leverage the MITRE ATT&CK framework (https://attack.mitre.org) and an outline of how adversaries operate today. Chapter 2 presents the overall recipe for the IR process. The chapter offers a checklist for all the phases, from Preparation to Lessons Learned, to help you apply a structure and framework to your IR processes. Chapter 3 covers a wide variety of skills and tactics that augment the entire IR process, ranging from roles to templates to the traffic light protocol for information sharing. Chapter 4 provides an overview of adversary tactics, tools, and procedures, most of which can be encountered during an actual incident. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 go over specific technical aspects of the IR process and examine various platforms. Chapter 5 covers Windows examination using a variety of command-line tools; Chapter 6 focuses on triage and collecting volatile data on Linux systems; and Chapter 7 discusses PowerShell. Chapter 8 provides information on analyzing Active Directory. Chapter 9 covers network examinations at the packet capture and traffic levels. Chapter 10 discusses Endpoint Detection and Response capabilities. The book also includes appendices with reference materials, including a list of common TCP and UDP ports. BTHb:INRE has a companion GitHub repository and wiki, providing numerous scripts and command-line analysis techniques drawn from my experience, many of which are used in this book. Who Should Read This Book: Incident response is a critical aspect of security operations and follows a well-structured process. Incident responders often find themselves needing key pieces of information or thought processes to safely move on to the next phase, all the while realizing that continued discovery can cause rescoping of the incident. Blue Team Handbook provides responders with immediately applicable techniques to handle security incidents today and is filled with life lessons learned from the field. Whether you are new to the field, work in a security operations center and want to move up to the next level, or are a seasoned pro, there is something here for you to up your game