Sysmon Configuration and Tuning

Turn Windows into a sensor you can trust.

Native Windows logging notes that a process ran. It rarely tells you what the process was, what launched it, or what it reached out to, which is the detail detection depends on. Sysmon fills that gap, but only if you configure it well: a default install floods a log no one reads, and an untuned one buries the signal you deployed it to catch. This course teaches the whole capability end to end. You learn what Sysmon records, build and tune a config that captures attacker behavior without the noise, deploy it across a fleet, feed its events to a SIEM, map them to detections tied to ATT&CK, prove those detections fire, and operate the sensor so your coverage stays real.

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Your subscription also includes the Practice Hub: graded scenarios, forensic cases, query drills and the response playbooks.

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What you'll be able to do

✓Choose what to log across every Sysmon event type, from process creation and credential access to network, DNS, file, and registry, based on what each one is worth

✓Write a config from a community baseline with precise include and exclude logic, the condition operators, rule groups, and the precedence rule that resolves every conflict

✓Tune a config to a real environment with a measure-first method that cuts noise without silently deleting the detections you depend on

✓Deploy at scale with versioning, staged rollout, and rollback, including the native Windows Sysmon feature, and forward events to a SIEM

✓Map Sysmon events to Sigma detections and ATT&CK, convert them with the Sysmon pipeline, and prove each one fires with atomic technique tests

✓Operate the sensor day to day and detect the silence of a host that has gone dark, the one health signal a stopped sensor cannot send for itself

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Course overview

Sysmon Configuration and Tuning teaches you to run Sysmon as a real detection capability, not a checkbox. You build a tuned config and take it all the way to a live, validated, monitored deployment, and you keep the config you build. Across the course you learn how to:

✓ Read what every Sysmon event records and decide which attacker behaviors earn a place in your log

✓ Write a config from a community baseline, with precise include and exclude logic, and tune it to your environment

✓ Deploy at scale with versioning, staged rollout, and rollback, including the native Windows Sysmon feature

✓ Feed events to a SIEM, map them to Sigma detections tied to ATT&CK, and validate coverage with atomic tests

✓ Operate the sensor and detect the silence of a host that has gone dark, the one health signal an attacker cannot fake

By the end you can stand up endpoint visibility that catches attacker behavior, prove it works, and keep it working.

Who this course is for

This course is for anyone who wants to learn Sysmon properly, from a SOC analyst or detection engineer to a system administrator or architect who wants real endpoint visibility. There is no minimum experience and no gatekeeping. Every concept is explained at first use, so you can start here whether Sysmon is new to you or you have run it for years and want to tune it well. It is for you if you want to:

✓ Deploy Sysmon for the first time and get it right rather than shipping a default install

✓ Fix an untuned config that floods your log and buries the signal

✓ Turn events you already collect into detections you can prove actually fire

✓ Understand why your detection coverage depends on what your config chose to log

What you'll learn

By the end of Sysmon Configuration and Tuning you will be able to:

✓ Explain what each Sysmon event captures and what native Windows logging leaves out

✓ Write a config using include and exclude logic, the condition operators, rule groups, and precedence

✓ Read a community baseline as a peer and tune it with a measured, repeatable method

✓ Deploy at scale, use the native Windows Sysmon feature, and forward events to a SIEM

✓ Convert Sigma rules with the Sysmon pipeline and map your detections to ATT&CK for a coverage view

✓ Validate a detection with an atomic test and localize a failure to config, collection, or rule

✓ Monitor sensor health and detect the silence of a host that stops reporting

Key course takeaways

✓ A tuned Sysmon config you build and keep, ready to deploy in your own environment

✓ The judgment to decide what to log, because coverage is the events you log and the detections you run together

✓ The discipline to prove a detection fires rather than assuming it does

✓ The operating habit that keeps coverage real: watch sensor health and treat a host going dark as an alert

Things you need to know

What are the prerequisites for this course?

None that gate you. Comfort reading a command line and a config file helps, but every concept is explained at first use, and an experienced reader can skip past what they already know. The course is for anyone who wants to learn Sysmon, from newcomer to experienced cybersecurity professional.

Do I need a lab to follow along?

A Windows environment to practice on gets the most from the course, and a SIEM helps for the collection and detection stages, though the concepts stand without one. The validation stage uses a dedicated test host that mirrors production, never a live machine.

Is this vendor-specific?

Sysmon is a Windows sensor, but the detection work is vendor-neutral. You write detections in Sigma and convert them to whichever SIEM you run, so the skill travels regardless of platform.

How does this course fit with the rest of the catalog?

Sysmon is the telemetry source that makes endpoint detection work, so this course is a foundation for the detection, hunting, and investigation courses. Get the sensor right here, and the detections you build elsewhere have the events they need to fire.

Usage rights and disclaimer

Course materials: Licensed for individual professional development. You may not redistribute course content or share account credentials.

Fictional environment: All scenarios use Northgate Engineering. Any resemblance to real organizations is coincidental.

Version and changelog

Current version: 1.0 | Last updated: July 2026

July 2026, v1.0: Full course. Four modules and thirty sections taking a Sysmon config from what the sensor records, through configuration and tuning, to deployment, SIEM collection, Sigma detections mapped to ATT&CK, validation with atomic tests, and health monitoring, closing with a capstone that runs the whole arc end to end. Free preview available on the course orientation.

This course is actively maintained.

COURSE ASSESSMENT

End of Course Exam

Complete the course, then prove your skills under time pressure. Pass mark: 70. Earn your certificate with CPE credits.

40minutes

3phases

100points

1scenario

Take End of Course Exam

Requires 80% course completion. One random scenario per attempt. Certificate issued on pass.

Sysmon Configuration and Tuning

What you'll be able to do

Phase 0: Course Resources

Course Orientation

Phase 1: The Telemetry

Phase 2: Configuration and Tuning

Phase 3: Deploy, Detect, and Operate

Course Completion