Mandiant Security Validation: Step 1 - Access & Planning

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Table of Contents

Below you'll find a table of contents for the Access & Planning journey.

• Table of Contents
• Prerequisites
• Actions
• Planning Considerations
• Director Install Type
• Actor Install Type
• Access to Mandiant Advantage

In traditional security deployments, it's extremely difficult - nearly impossible - to validate that your security controls are effective. Mandiant Security Validation (MSV) is a SaaS solution that continuously tests your security controls to ensure they are working as expected.

Prerequisites

• Entitlement for Mandiant Security Validation.

Actions

Planning Considerations

Mandiant Security Validation (MSV) is an extremely powerful platform with a number of features that can be utilized to ensure your security controls are working as expected. In this section we will cover some of the key considerations to keep in mind when planning your deployment.

 

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Prerequisites

See the Relevant Links section for more documentation regarding the prerequisites.

• Entitlement for Mandiant Security Validation.

Steps

1. For MSV SaaS, you do not need to deploy a director, just simply login. 
2. For MSV onPrem deployments, determine where and how you want to deploy the Director. The Director is the central component of MSV that orchestrates the testing of your security controls and can be deployed as a Virtual Appliance or as Installable Software. | Docs
3. Determine what type of Actors are necessary in your environments. Actors are the entities that will be used to test your security controls. MSV provides a number of different Actors that can be used, including Linux, Windows, and MacOS Actors.
4. Determine where and how you want to deploy the Actors. You may find you have a mix and match scenario where some Actors are deployed as a Virtual Appliance or as Installable Software

Relevant Links

• 1: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/msv-installation-decisions

Director Install Type

The MSV Director can be deployed as SaaS or OnPrem. For the OnPrem solution the MSV Director can be deployed as a Virtual Appliance or as Installable Software. There are some minor differences between the two installations that should be considered when planning your deployment.

 

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Prerequisites

See the Relevant Links section for more documentation regarding the prerequisites.

• Entitlement to Mandiant Security Validation.
• Mandiant Advantage Account

Steps

1. If SaaS, log into SaaS. Your director has already been deployed as part of your purchase. 
2. If deploying OnPrem, make a decision on OVA or Software Install. | Docs
3. Utilize the deployment workbook to help organize your deployment planning. | Docs

Relevant Links

• 1: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/msv-installation-decisions
• 2: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/security-validation-quick-start-workbook

Actor Install Type

Actors can be deployed as a Virtual Appliance or as Installable Software. You will likely deploy a number of Actors, each with a specific role in your environment. As such, you will need to determine the best method of deployment for each Actor.

 

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Prerequisites

See the Relevant Links section for more documentation regarding the prerequisites.

• Entitlement to Mandiant Security Validation.
• Inventory of Systems to monitor and which operating systems they run.

Steps

1. Review the differences between feature availability for Actor types in the linked documentation. | Docs
2. Review the Pre-Installation Decisions page regarding actors. | Docs
3. It is recommended that you deploy one endpoint that everyone in your network uses, a major OS version in your environment (IE: Windows 11), a major server OS version in your environment (IE: Windows Server), and one network actor in a major datacenter or cloud environment.
4. Utilize the deployment workbook to help organize your deployment planning. | Docs
5. Obtain the installation files for the Actor Software. | Docs

Relevant Links

• 1: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/msv-installation-decisions
• 2: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/msv-pre-installation-decisions-actor
  
• 3: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/security-validation-quick-start-workbook
  
• 4: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/msv-actor-installers

Access to Mandiant Advantage

In order to access Mandiant Security Validation (MSV), you will need access to Mandiant Advantage.

 

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Prerequisites

See the Relevant Links section for more documentation regarding the prerequisites.

• Entitlement for Mandiant Security Validation.
• Mandiant Advantage Account.

Steps

1. Administrators should have received an email invitation to Mandiant Advantage from our support team. If you have not, follow the password reset instructions at the login page. | Docs  
2. Navigate to the Mandiant Advantage Login Page, sign in using your credentials. | Docs
3. Upon login, you will see your profile page. Fill out your profile appropriately.
4. At the top of the profile page, there is an Applications section. In there are links to your deployment of Attack Surface Management, Threat Intelligence, and anything else you are entitled to. Click on Mandiant Security Validation.
5. For Mandiant Security Validation SaaS, Refer to the following page for how to add additional members of your team Mandiant Advantage accounts, and how to assign them permissions to the Mandiant Security Validation application.  | Docs

Relevant Links

• 1: https://login.mandiant.com/
• 2: https://docs.mandiant.com/home/ma-manage-users-in-mandiant-advantage 

 

Next Step: Mandiant Security Validation: Step 2 - Deployment

Previous Step: Mandiant Security Validation - Journey Overview