



TBD                                                           M. Parsons
Internet-Draft                                               F. Driscoll
Intended status: Informational         UK National Cyber Security Centre
Expires: 31 August 2026                                 27 February 2026


             Security Operations Fundamentals and Guidance
              draft-parsons-opsawg-security-operations-00

Abstract

   Security operators are responsible for detecting malicious activity,
   responding to threats and defending their networks and systems from
   cyber attacks.  Security operations are commonly entwined with other
   operational and management priorities to ensure that both security
   and operational priorities are considered holistically.

   With security operators being a crucial part of operation, management
   and security of the network, it is valuable to give consideration to
   them during the design of new protocols.  This document builds upon
   draft-ietf-opsawg-rfc5706bis, describing the fundamentals of security
   operations to provide a foundation for considerations for protocol
   design and guidance.  This document also describes how security
   operations considerations can be most usefully included in other IETF
   documents.

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-parsons-opsawg-security-
   operations/.


Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.







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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 31 August 2026.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Responsibilities of Security Operators  . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.1.  Threat Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  Security Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.3.  Incident Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  Artefact Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.1.  Asset Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.2.  Indictors of Compromise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.3.  Digital Forensics and Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   4.  Tooling Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  Additional Benefits of Security Operations  . . . . . . . . .  10
     5.1.  Vulnerability management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     5.2.  Threat Modelling and Architecture Review  . . . . . . . .  11
   6.  Security Operation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   7.  Operational Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   9.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   10. Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13








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1.  Introduction

   Security operations are a crucial part of both the security and
   management of a network, enterprise or system.  Security operators
   work to not only prevent cyber attacks but also to identify, limit
   the impact of and recover from attacks that bypass preventative
   security controls, through monitoring and responding to threats as
   part of day-to-day operation.

   The approach, tools and day-to-day work of security operators is
   deeply tied together with the protocols that run over their networks
   and are used by attackers and defenders.  As such, it is valuable to
   provide security operators with guidance to address any changes that
   may affect ability to detect and respond to threats when deploying a
   new protocol.  This document describes how one might consider how the
   range of functions of a security operator may be impacted and, where
   possible, suggests how to document these and provide guidance on
   deployment or operation.  This early guidance is particularly
   valuable as retrofitting mechanisms can be difficult and any impact
   may risk both the operational efficiency and security of the network.

   Security operations are commonly run from a Security Operations
   Centre (SOC); a centralised team or function that includes both cyber
   security analysts and operational engineers protect and defend the
   network.

   Those who work in security operations may have many different roles
   or job titles including, but not limited to, cyber security analyst,
   incident responder, security engineer and security operations
   manager.  In this document the term security operator is used to
   cover all roles in security operations.

   Security operators improve the security of the network through a
   broad range of functions.  These range from pre-emptive threat
   intelligence and knowledge building, through continuous network
   management and monitoring for suspicious activity, responding to
   incidents and defending the network during an attack, and recovery of
   the system to a secure state following an incident.













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   One organisational model is for operational and security
   responsibilities to be managed by separate teams with distinct
   objectives: security teams focusing on identifying and mitigating
   cyber security threats, and operational teams prioritising
   availability, performance, and the overall efficiency of network
   services.  This model can have advantages, for example in enabling
   separation of duties.  However, complete separation can also lead to
   conflicting priorities and outcomes.  For example, security or
   compliance requirements could delay the deployment of new services,
   while operational and efficiency requirements could inadvertently
   introduce weaknesses that increase security risks.

   The term SecOps [SECOPS], is commonly used to define an approach to
   combine operational and security teams, tools and processes to ensure
   both the protection and reliable operation of networks.  As cyber
   security threats continue to increase in both frequency and scale, a
   more integrated and coordinated approach is often necessary.  When
   security processes are siloed from operational processes, it can be
   challenging to adapt to emerging threats in a timely manner, and
   overall security may be reduced.  Embedding security practices
   directly into operation and management, rather than as a bolt-on, is
   often vital for security, hence security operations becoming an
   integral part of the operation and management of many environments
   and enterprises.  This approach considers the system as a whole in
   order to achieve both security and operational goals.

   As such, security operations should be considered during the design
   of new protocols.  This document outlines the key fundamentals of
   security operations to supplement the guidance provided in
   [I-D.ietf-opsawg-rfc5706bis] to support protocol designers.

2.  Responsibilities of Security Operators

   Security operators have key responsibilities to ensure the security
   of their network, which can be broken down into the categories below.
   During the design of new protocols, it may be useful to take these
   responsibilities into account to reduce or highlight any potential
   adverse impact.  Different organisations will consider different
   functions and roles as part of their security operations team, so
   these categories will not apply to all organisations.











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2.1.  Threat Intelligence

   Threat Intelligence (TI) is a term used to refer to the knowledge of
   cyber attackers' activities.  This may include an understanding of a
   threat actor's motivations, in-depth technical descriptions, and
   indicators of an attacker's activities.  Security operators can both
   produce their own Threat Intelligence and consume it from other
   sources to stay ahead of new attacker techniques.  Building Threat
   Intelligence includes the collection, analysis and dissemination of
   information about possible cyber security threats.  Security
   operators are responsible for developing their understanding of
   threat actor capabilities, tools and techniques in order to plan
   ahead to mitigate and respond to potential threats.  They also ensure
   Threat Intelligence information is deployed across their network to
   support detection of malicious activity.  Effective deployment of
   Threat Intelligence contributes not only to the security of the
   networks under the operators' responsibility but also strengthens the
   broader security community by enabling shared awareness of evolving
   threats.

2.2.  Security Monitoring

   Security operators are responsible for monitoring all parts of the
   environment that they are protecting and managing including any
   infrastructure, network traffic, endpoints, data flows and log
   sources.  The objective of this monitoring is to establish a baseline
   of normal activity and identify deviations that may indicate
   malicious activity.  It is essential that this monitoring is
   continuous as advanced actors frequently "dwell" in the network to
   evade immediate detection and conduct malicious activity at known
   operational downtimes to reduce the likelihood of being observed by
   security operators.  In addition to reactive monitoring, security
   operators perform proactive "threat hunting".  Rather than awaiting
   alerts generated by security tooling, threat hunting involves
   targeted analysis of the network and investigation to identify
   previously unknown indicators of malicious activity.  Based on the
   Threat Intelligence responsibility, security operators are
   responsible for developing their capability to detect attackers,
   through developing and using tooling, which will involve engineering
   and operational experts to ensure this capability is maintained and
   improved.










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2.3.  Incident Response

   Security operators are responsible for responding to cyber security
   incidents should the network be targeted by a cyber attack.  Such
   attacks can have significant impact, so a vital part of a security
   operator's role is to design, implement and update an incident
   response plan.  Through effective security monitoring, security
   operators discover potential suspicious activity, and it is their
   responsibility to investigate this and determine whether the activity
   is malicious.  In the event of confirming such an attack on the
   network, the security operators will follow their plan to conduct
   rapid response to defend against the attack, reduce its impact and
   return the network to a secure and operational state.  Following the
   resolution of an incident, security operators also conduct post
   incident analysis to understand the impact, for example if any data
   breaches occurred, and may perform a root-cause analysis to prevent
   similar attacks in future.

   Security operators have a range of tools and techniques that they
   commonly deploy and rely upon to be able to fulfil these
   responsibilities, which should be considered during protocol design.

3.  Artefact Requirements

   This section outlines some of the fundamental artefacts that are used
   by security operators to ensure security and operation of the
   network.

   With increasingly complex cyber threats, and to support both
   operational and security objectives, it is vital that security
   operators have multiple opportunities to detect malicious activity at
   different parts of the network and to account for different points of
   failure.  Thus, network defence techniques often use multiple layers
   of defence with several different mitigations at each layer - a
   concept referred to as "defence-in-depth".  This approach can apply
   to considering security at different parts of the network, for
   example detecting activity at the network edge and on endpoints, and
   security operators also apply network level controls to separate
   traffic to support their security monitoring responsibilities.
   Security operators rely upon artefacts from a variety of sources to
   achieve their goals.










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3.1.  Asset Management

   Defence and management of an environment relies on knowing what
   hardware and software assets have access to, or are installed on, a
   network or system.  An accurate inventory is necessary to manage the
   security of an organisation's assets, to ensure that unauthorised
   devices are not present on the system and to understand how an
   organisation may be impacted by a cyber incident.

   The term "Shadow IT" is often used to refer to assets that are not
   accounted for.  This can include devices which are not officially
   onboarded or are misconfigured, but also includes services, tools and
   accounts with access to the system.  Shadow IT may introduce threats
   to the security of the system as protections and controls put in
   place may be ineffective.

   A good asset management approach will use tools to scan the
   environment for new, modified or removed assets on a regular or
   continuous basis.  It should maintain an authoritative and accurate
   source of information, which should be made accessible to security
   operators.  It could use a variety of data sources including
   procurement records, mobile device management and logging platforms.
   Security operators are most likely to use asset management systems to
   identify devices or software that should not be on the system, as
   well as to identify legitimate assets that need to be protected as
   part of a cyber incident.

3.2.  Indictors of Compromise

   The identification of Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) is relied upon
   by security operators to identify and defend against malicious
   activity on the network and endpoints that they are responsible for.
   As outlined in [RFC9424], IoCs are observable artefacts relating to a
   cyber threat actor or their activities, such as their tactics,
   techniques, procedures (TTPs), or tooling and attack infrastructure.
   Examples of IoCs include hash values of known malicious files or
   executables, IP addresses or domain names associated with malicious
   traffic or software and tooling used by attackers.  These artefacts
   could be network based, such as information about Command and Control
   (C2) infrastructure embedded in network protocols, endpoint based,
   such as suspicious files or software, or behaviour based such as
   irregular account or access activity.

   These artefacts can be observed on the network or at hosts and
   endpoints, including infrastructure, services and applications.  They
   help security operators to proactively block malicious activity,
   whether that be blocking traffic or preventing code execution at a
   point in the network.  IoCs support Incident Response as they are



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   crucial in determining whether an attack has taken place.  Similarly,
   they can be used to link discovered suspicious activity to a known
   attackers, which enables further investigation and mitigations to be
   put in place.  Having IoCs deployed to various security control
   points across a system supports a defence-in-depth approach which
   should be used by security operators.

   Security operators not only discover, use and deploy IoCs in the
   systems that they are responsible for, but also consume and share
   IoCs with the wider security community to increase wider
   understanding of emerging cyber threats.

3.3.  Digital Forensics and Logging

   Alongside deployment of IoCs to detect and reduce the effects of
   compromise, security operators require digital forensics from the
   network, endpoints, hosts and applicationsto enable effective
   incident response or threat hunting.  For example, details of
   authentication or authorization events, network traffic or endpoint-
   detection events can be found in logs.

   Using a range of log sources is vital, as each log source will give a
   different view of attacker activity to build a full picture and
   enable effective defensive mitigations.  For example, authentication
   logs provide details when adversaries attempt to gain unauthorised
   access to systems, DNS logs can provide the first indications of a
   compromise device, and anti-malware software logs help to identify
   specific attacker capabilities.

   Understanding and interpreting log sources is not always
   straightforward, so security operators typically use log analytic
   techniques to index, enrich and query log data and thus take
   effective action.

   Security operators, through their Threat Intelligence insight play a
   role in threat modelling which enables effective identification of
   valuable log sources.  Security operators are responsible for
   ensuring that logging processes and data are secured effectively.

4.  Tooling Requirements

   Changes to protocols may require changes to tooling in order to
   continue to be effective for security operations, and this should be
   highlighted when writing drafts.  To assess this, the following
   section outlines the common tooling used and relied upon by security
   operators and which could be considered in protocol development.
   This is non-exhaustive, so other operational tools and techniques may
   also be worth considering.



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   Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools are deployed to
   endpoints, or end-user devices such as workstations, laptops or
   phones attached to the network that security operators are
   responsible for.  EDR tooling can also be deployed to workloads in
   cloud environments.  EDR tooling monitors events and provides
   security operators visibility of any malicious activity where they
   are deployed.  EDR tooling also allows security operators to not only
   monitor and identify threats, but also respond to them, for example
   by isolating potentially compromised devices from the network in
   order to prevent a cyber threat actor's next stages of attack.  A
   challenge that security operators face when using EDR tooling is the
   increase in cyber threat actors deploying "living off the land"
   techniques, so that their activity does not appear malicious and thus
   is not identified by EDR tooling.

   Network Detection and Response (NDR) tools are designed to detect
   threats by analysing network data and traffic flows to identify
   suspicious patterns.  As a complement to EDR, NDR tooling is often
   relied upon to detect threats that may be hard to detect at the
   endpoint, for example an attacker moving laterally through the
   network towards more sensitive data or suspicious behaviour such as
   unauthorized credential use or data exfiltration.  Security operators
   often use NDR tooling to establish a baseline of the network's normal
   behaviour patterns and deviations from this trigger alerts.  As with
   EDR, NDR tooling can offer the ability to respond to threats in
   addition to monitoring for them, for example by blocking malicious
   traffic.

   Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tooling is used by
   security operators to collect and analyse data from across the
   network in order to build a comprehensive view of the network
   activity, which is key to identify and respond to malicious activity.
   Note that, in comparison to EDR and NDR, SIEM tools collect and
   analyse events, rather than monitor the network directly.  SIEM
   analysis would not be possible manually, so security operators rely
   on tooling to combine and analyse a range of data, including log
   data, network events and threat intelligence feeds in order to
   identify suspected suspicious events that require further
   investigation.  SIEM tooling will send security operators automatic
   alerts based on predefined security rules to reduce the impact of
   compromise.  These rules require effective management, as false
   positive may lead to "alert fatigue", where too frequent alerts may
   be ignored, raising the risk of real compromises being missed.

   Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) tooling
   offers security operators the ability to automate routine security
   and operational tasks to improve efficiency of response.  Based on
   threat related data that is collected, SOAR tools are used to



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   automate responses without human intervention, based on predefined
   "playbooks".  These playbooks are designed by security operators with
   both incident response and operational priorities in mind.  This
   automation is vital to security operators who experience an
   overwhelming volume of threats and would otherwise be unable to
   defend their networks.  This automated action provided by SOAR tools
   complements the data analytic and insight provided by SIEM tools to
   respond to threats identified.

   Security operators rely upon Protocol Dissectors to parse and
   interpret individual network protocols.  Dissecting protocols across
   network layers allows security operators to understand, analyse and
   filter traffic on their system in order to detect and defend against
   attacks.  Dissectors support the identification of suspicious
   behaviour and malicious traffic that would otherwise be hidden within
   regular network traffic.  These tools also support forensic
   investigation after an attack to understand how an attacker gained
   access and prevent this in future.

5.  Additional Benefits of Security Operations

   Whilst the core responsibilities of security operators are outlined
   above, they may be well placed to support other important security
   functions.

5.1.  Vulnerability management

   Security operators are well positioned to proactively find
   vulnerabilities in the systems and infrastructure that they are
   responsible for.  As part of their investigations security operators
   may conduct vulnerability scanning and security assessments and thus
   be able to triage and report priority issues to system owners who are
   responsible for patch management.  This helps to mitigate security
   issues found before they can be exploited by cyber threat actors.
   This patching and remediation is an example where the joining of
   security and operational teams has particular value as patch
   management may involve prioritisation based on impact, risk and
   deployment considerations.  When designing new protocols,
   consideration should be given to enabling efficient patching, for
   example supporting cheap and fast connection handoffs and
   reconnections.










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5.2.  Threat Modelling and Architecture Review

   With their unique position, security operators are well placed to
   support wider security teams in developing the required security
   posture for their network.  Blending insight from Threat Intelligence
   with a deep understanding of the operational aspects of the network,
   security operators can work with design teams to ensure their
   priorities are supported.  This perspective of current cyber threats
   and operational experience can also be considered in protocol
   development.

6.  Security Operation Considerations

   The previous sections outline what security operations is, and the
   artefacts and tooling that it relies upon.  During the design and
   development of protocols, it is valuable to consider how security
   operators could be impacted by changes and mitigate such impact if
   possible.  If they cannot be mitigated, then clearly documenting such
   considerations will aid security operators if and when the new
   protocol is deployed.

   New protocols may have implications for the types, locations or
   availability of IoCs and it is important for security operators to
   understand these implications in order to continue to effectively
   monitor for malicious activity.

   Similarly, consideration should be given to how a new protocol or a
   change to a protocol may impact attackers' capabilities, such as
   Command and Control (C2) communications, network traversal or
   facilitation of exfiltration of data from the network.  Where there
   are new or different opportunities for performing such malicious
   activity or where current defence techniques are prevented, it is
   important that this is captured to inform security operations and
   mitigated where possible to ensure their Threat Intelligence function
   can be fulfilled.

   One indicator of malicious activity that security operators use is to
   consider traffic levels and traffic patterns in order to identify
   suspicious activity or to defend against malicious distributed
   denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.  Mitigations should be included or
   threats documented if new protocols could be used to create DDoS
   attacks, for example amplification attacks in DNS or NTP.  [RFC4732]
   provides further considerations for protocol designers with regards
   to denial-of-service.

   As outlined above, security operations rely on a variety of log
   sources enable effective incident response or threat hunting.  If a
   new protocol changes the properties or topology of the network, this



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   may impact the requirement for digital forensics.  The mitigation for
   this may be to design new ways, schema or formats to providing such
   logging information when designing a new protocol.
   [I-D.ietf-quic-qlog-main-schema] is an example of structured logging
   for network protocols.

   Impact on tooling should be considered.  Updating and augmenting
   existing tools is expected when the network is upgraded or new
   functionality is deployed, but having to completely rebuild such
   tooling will greatly reduce the effectiveness of security operators.
   A mitigation for this may be to consider designing flexibility for
   future versions and extensions into protocols so that code can be
   easily written to handle, identify and differentiate between protocol
   versions.

   In general, where protocols are being updated or replaced,
   consideration should be given to the current techniques employed by
   security operators who use the deployed protocol.  This should
   include the techniques, tooling and corresponding infrastructure used
   to provide security and effective operation of the network.  Where
   possible, these practices should remain consistent, or mitigations or
   documentation included to ensure security operations are not
   adversely affected.

7.  Operational Considerations

   This document focuses primarily on operational considerations in
   addition to [I-D.ietf-opsawg-rfc5706bis] .

8.  Security Considerations

   This document supports improving security by helping protocol
   designers consider security operators and their effort to mitigate
   cyber threats.  It focused on the operational aspects, rather than
   the security of the protocols.

   Security operators have access to sensitive data, which is critical
   to protect for the security and privacy of the network.  It is
   important that such data is suitably secured and that appropriate
   controls are in place to enforce this, for example ensuring security
   operations data is segregated from the rest of the network, security
   operations tools and actions audited, and logs and forensic data
   securely stored and access controlled.  Additional legal and
   governance requirements are often raised on security operators to
   ensure that such access is only being used for the intended purpose
   and thus benefiting the security of the system.





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9.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

10.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-opsawg-rfc5706bis]
              Claise, B., Clarke, J., Farrel, A., Barguil, S.,
              Pignataro, C., and R. Chen, "Guidelines for Considering
              Operations and Management in IETF Specifications", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-opsawg-rfc5706bis-02,
              19 February 2026, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-ietf-opsawg-rfc5706bis-02>.

   [I-D.ietf-quic-qlog-main-schema]
              Marx, R., Niccolini, L., Seemann, M., and L. Pardue,
              "qlog: Structured Logging for Network Protocols", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-quic-qlog-main-
              schema-13, 20 October 2025,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-quic-
              qlog-main-schema-13>.

   [RFC4732]  Handley, M., Ed., Rescorla, E., Ed., and IAB, "Internet
              Denial-of-Service Considerations", RFC 4732,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4732, December 2006,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4732>.

   [RFC9424]  Paine, K., Whitehouse, O., Sellwood, J., and A. Shaw,
              "Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and Their Role in Attack
              Defence", RFC 9424, DOI 10.17487/RFC9424, August 2023,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9424>.

   [SECOPS]   "NICCS Glossary", February 2026,
              <https://niccs.cisa.gov/resources/glossary>.

Acknowledgments

Authors' Addresses

   Michael Parsons
   UK National Cyber Security Centre
   Email: michael.p1@ncsc.gov.uk


   Florence Driscoll
   UK National Cyber Security Centre
   Email: florence.d@ncsc.gov.uk




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