The Ultimate Microsoft Sentinel Cheat Sheet

Whether you’re just getting started with Microsoft Sentinel or need a quick refresher on its key features, this cheat sheet breaks it all down into simple, digestible points. Think of it as your SecOps compass, guiding you through every critical component of the platform.

🔌Data Connectors

Every great investigation starts with good data. Sentinel offers pre-built connectors to ingest logs from a wide range of sources.

• Integrate logs from Azure, Microsoft 365, AWS, firewalls, endpoints, and more

• Built-in and custom connectors for flexibility

• Normalize data for easier querying and correlation

• Foundation for all detection, investigation, and response activities

📊 Workbooks

Workbooks are interactive dashboards that help you visualize data, monitor trends, and create stunning reports.

• Pre-built or custom dashboards

• Drag-and-drop visuals from your logs

• Monitor real-time data insights

• Shareable across teams for collaboration

🧠 Analytics Rules

This is where the magic of detection begins! Analytics rules let you define logic that triggers alerts when suspicious behavior is detected.

• Rule templates based on MITRE ATT&CK

• Custom KQL-based detection rules

• Alert tuning to reduce noise

• Set severity levels, tactics, and response actions

🚨 Incidents

When alerts come together, they form an incident—your actionable case to investigate.

• Automatically groups related alerts

• Add comments, assign analysts, track lifecycle

• Incident tagging and prioritization

• Links directly to investigation tools and playbooks

🤖 Playbooks

Think of playbooks as your automated response superheroes 🦸‍♀️.

• Built on Azure Logic Apps

• Trigger actions like sending emails, disabling users, or isolating devices

• Save time on repetitive tasks

• Chain actions together for full response automation

🔐 Threat Intelligence

Threat intel is the fuel for smarter detection. Sentinel makes it easy to incorporate it into your workflow.

• Integrate third-party feeds or Microsoft threat intel

• Enrich alerts with IPs, URLs, file hashes, etc.

• Query indicators from the ThreatIntelligenceIndicator table

• Correlate known IOCs with your telemetry

🕵️‍♂️ Hunting Queries

Go beyond alerts with proactive hunting. Discover hidden threats using powerful query tools.

• Use Kusto Query Language (KQL) for deep dives

• Built-in hunting queries for quick wins

• Pivot across multiple tables to trace attacker movements

• Tag and bookmark suspicious findings

⚙️ Automation Rules

Set the ground rules for how Sentinel reacts—without writing a single line of code.

• Automatically trigger playbooks or update incidents

• Filter based on severity, entity type, or specific rules

• Streamlines triage and reduces manual steps

• Great for high-volume alert environments

📓 Notebooks

For the data science crowd, notebooks offer deep analytics power within Sentinel.

• Jupyter notebooks powered by Python

• Built-in templates for anomaly detection, ML, and more

• Combine investigation with machine learning

• Integrate with Azure ML for advanced workflows

📋 Watchlists

Watchlists add contextual awareness to your detections and queries.

• Lists of critical users, VIPs, or known bad actors

• Easily reference in analytics rules and hunting queries

• Enhance rules without hardcoding data

• Great for dynamic environments and compliance

🧭 Wrapping Up: Navigate with Confidence

Microsoft Sentinel is more than just a SIEM—it’s a full-fledged, cloud-native security operations platform. With this cheat sheet, you’ve got a bird’s-eye view of the most powerful tools it offers.

Whether you’re investigating an alert, automating responses, or proactively hunting threats, this quick guide keeps everything clear and connected.

💬 What’s your favorite feature in Sentinel? Let us know in the comments or share how you’ve built your own playbooks or workbooks!

Anuradha Samaranayake