Grep_Tribe Blue Team Shares SOC Defense Lessons from Standoff 17 Cyber Battle

The Grep_Tribe blue team returned to Standoff 17 for the third consecutive year, this time protecting the infrastructure of the retail company RetailSTF Group inside the virtual State F. In contrast to routine SOC work with familiar systems and historical context, the cyber battle featured simultaneous attacks from multiple red teams, rapidly changing tactics, and a dramatically higher volume of security events.

Over the course of the exercise the defenders recorded 37 confirmed incidents, 22 detected incidents, five investigated critical events, and sustained an 88 percent average infrastructure availability. Team members who normally work in an internal SOC used the event to stress-test established processes under conditions that cannot be replicated in production environments.

Team Organization and Preparation

Before the competition began, roles were assigned across infrastructure analysis, vulnerability assessment, firewall rule review, and network topology mapping. During the battle the team applied a “tribal” model first tested the previous year: analysts initially triaged the general event stream, while complex attack scenarios triggered the formation of small two- or three-person groups for in-depth investigation and response. Newer participants focused on indicator analysis and basic containment, freeing experienced members for attribution and Threat Intelligence tasks.

Tools and Automation

The primary detection and response stack consisted of Positive Technologies solutions: MaxPatrol SIEM, MaxPatrol VM, MaxPatrol EDR, PT Application Firewall, and PT Sandbox. For the first time the team also operated R-Vision SOAR, using it as a central interface for automated playbooks that blocked IP addresses, submitted files to sandbox analysis, and enforced time-limited blocks that automatically expired to avoid service disruption.

Participants noted that the SOAR platform reduced context switching and allowed analysts to launch common actions in a few clicks while maintaining visibility into every response status. Support from the R-Vision engineering team enabled rapid customization of playbooks during the event.

Key Takeaways

After the competition the team concluded that pre-built automation for repetitive tasks significantly lowers analyst workload during sustained high-intensity periods. They intend to apply the same approach in their daily SOC operations. The event also reinforced the value of early infrastructure reconnaissance and the use of Threat Intelligence to link disparate events to specific red-team actors.

Grep_Tribe’s traditional mascot—frogs in various forms—accompanied the team once again, and several new internal memes were added to the collection. For first-time participants the advice was straightforward: study the rules in advance, ask experienced colleagues questions without hesitation, prepare contingency plans, and enjoy the unique learning opportunity that a live cyber battle provides.