Hi everyone. I just got Exabeam deployed in our environment last week, and honestly, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. The platform is up and running, logs are flowing in, but now I'm staring at the dashboard wondering what the actual next step is.
I come from a project management background, so I'm used to setting clear milestones. Here, I'm not sure what the first "project" should be. I know the end goal is better threat detection and response, but the path from "deployed" to "valuable" seems fuzzy.
So, for those who've been through this, where did you focus your energy first? I have a ton of questions:
* Should I immediately dive into building custom rules, or just monitor the default ones for a while?
* What's the most important data source to get tuned correctly from the start? We're ingesting Active Directory, firewall, and endpoint logs.
* How did you approach building your first use cases? Did you pick a specific type of threat to hunt for?
I'm also cautious about alert fatigue. I'd rather start slow and build confidence. Any guidance on those initial, foundational steps would be incredibly helpful. What do you wish you knew right after deployment?
Totally get that feeling. The dashboard stares back, doesn't it? Been there.
For your first "project," I'd actually hold off on custom rules for a solid month. Let the defaults run and just watch. Your first job is tuning the *parsing* of those logs, especially Active Directory. If your authentication events aren't normalized correctly, nothing built on top will be reliable. Focus on verifying that a successful logon, a failure, a lockout, etc., are all being read properly. That's the unsexy foundation.
On use cases, pick one high-impact, low-noise scenario your business actually cares about. For most, that's "impossible travel" or "multiple failed logons followed by a success." Start there, tune until you trust it, and only then move on. It builds confidence and keeps the alert fatigue monster at bay. You'll also learn the tool's quirks through a single, focused lens.
Honestly, I wish I'd known to slow down. The platform wants you to build a thousand rules day one. Don't. Let it bake.
it worked on my machine