Lion Cipher Lab
Prioritize detections with the Pyramid of Pain
- Threat Intel Analyst
- Intermediate
- ~45 min
- Free · no account required
Why it matters
The moment you have more indicators than time — which is always — you have to choose which ones to build detections around, and beginners choose wrong. They block the hashes and IPs a report hands them, feel productive, and then watch the same adversary sail back in the next day with a recompiled binary and a fresh IP, because those indicators cost the attacker almost nothing to change. David Bianco's Pyramid of Pain reframes the whole problem: rank each indicator not by how easy it is for YOU to detect, but by how much PAIN it inflicts on the adversary to evade. Detecting a file hash is a…
What you'll learn
- the six levels of the Pyramid of Pain in order
- classifying incident indicators onto a pyramid level
- reasoning about indicator shelf life and adversary rework cost
- turning a classification into a prioritized detection plan
- writing a behavioral (Sigma-style) detection instead of an IOC match
- mapping a TTP to a MITRE ATT&CK technique
- the precision-vs-durability tradeoff and the do-both maturity judgment
Steps in this lab
- What the Pyramid of Pain is, in one breath
- The six levels, bottom to top — with a concrete example each
- Meet the incident: one messy indicator set
- Hands-on: classify the set and print a pain-ranked plan
- Write the top-of-pyramid detection: a behavioral rule, not an IOC
- The tradeoff: precision vs durability, and losing the whack-a-mole
- The maturity move: do BOTH, deliberately
- What you just learned to do — and where it goes next