Correlating Security Events in QRadar
When to Use
Use this skill when:
- SOC analysts need to investigate QRadar offenses and correlate events across multiple log sources
- Detection engineers build custom correlation rules to identify multi-stage attacks
- Alert tuning is required to reduce false positive offenses and improve signal quality
- The team migrates from basic event monitoring to behavior-based correlation
Do not use for log source onboarding or parsing — that requires QRadar administrator access and DSM editor knowledge.
Prerequisites
- IBM QRadar SIEM 7.5+ with offense management enabled
- AQL knowledge for ad-hoc event and flow queries
- Log sources normalized with proper QID mappings (Windows, firewall, proxy, endpoint)
- User role with offense management, rule creation, and AQL search permissions
- Reference sets/maps configured for whitelist and watchlist management
Workflow
Step 1: Investigate an Offense with AQL
Open an offense in QRadar and query contributing events using AQL (Ariel Query Language):
SELECT DATEFORMAT(startTime, 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss') AS event_time,
sourceIP, destinationIP, username,
LOGSOURCENAME…