Security Onion - ELSA Integration with Security Validation

This integration validates that security tools are writing log events to Security Onion ELSA to ensure compliance with security policies and regulations, and collects events generated by security tools that write to Security Onion ELSA to test the efficacy and configuration of security controls using Security Validation jobs.

Use this document to configure the integration using one of the following methods:

  • MSI (Supported and recommended for new integration configurations)
  • Legacy (Supported for existing integration configurations)

Configure MSI Integration

This feature is released as a Public Preview.
Pre-GA products and features are available "as is" and might have limited support. For more information, please contact your TSC, your CSM, or go to Support.

API calls

API Usage
/elsa/API/query Query for events in Security Onion ELSA

Supported Versions

  • All

Before You Begin

To configure this integration, you need the following:

  • The hostname or IP address of your Security Onion ELSA instance
  • A username and password for an account with the required access OR an API token

Configure Security Validation

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations.
  2. From the Integrations table, click Add Integration > Security Onion ELSA.
    You can add this as either a Direct or Remote Integration.
  3. Enter a meaningful Integration Name.
  4. Optional: From the Proxy drop-down, choose a proxy profile if one is available. If one isn't available and all outbound connections go through a proxy, first, set up a Proxy Rule.
  5. Optional: Change the HttpProtocols value to determine what protocol is used for requests (Https or Http).
  6. Enter the Host for the Security Onion ELSA instance. 
  7. Enter a Port value. The default is 443.
  8. Select your authentication type, and enter either a Username and Password, or a Token.
  9. Optional: Check Verify Ssl if you want this verification done for requests to an upstream server.
  10. Optional: Change the Timeout value if you want a different frequency of requests to an upstream server. The default is 30 (seconds).
  11. Optional: Modify Queries, as needed. Default values are provided for the IP Query and Domain Query.
  12. Optional: Modify the FieldMapModel values, as necessary.
    • Each field map box can hold a JSON-formatted comma-separated list of columns returned by the API to be considered for each field when translating into the normalized event object format. Example: description could be configured to be 'msg_s' or 'SyslogMessage' in some environments. The field map tries both if set to: ['msg_s','SyslogMessage'] and whichever matches first is the column that is used.
    • When configuring an integration in Security Validation, you can assign additional host values in the Field Map settings. If none of the assigned fields return a valid host name, Network Actions may miss matched events from the third-party technology. Additional hosts values helps ensure the likelihood of a match between the two environments.
  13. Optional: Expand Advanced options and update the information as necessary.

    1. Update Query Time and Delay Time.
      The Query time is the amount of time (minutes) before and after the query runs that the platform looks for events, while the Delay time is the amount of time (minutes) that the platform waits to run the first query after a Job Action starts. For example, you configure your integration with the following values: Query time = 5, Query interval = 30 seconds, and Delay time = 0. When a Job Actions starts at 12:00:00, the first time the query runs, the platform looks for events from 11:55:00 to 12:00:00. Then 30 seconds later, it looks for events from 11:55:30 to 12:00:30. This interval continues, with the last query looking from 12:00:00 to 12:05:00. If you instead configured the Delay time to equal 10, it would run the same query, but it wouldn't start that query until 12:10:00.
      If your monitors are set to run more frequently than the query time, this configuration impacts the pass/fail results for AEDA monitors.
    2. Update Query Interval (seconds).
    3. If supported by your integration, configure correlation queries:
      1. Select Correlation Query Enabled and fill in the Correlation Query.
      2. Modify the Correlation Query Interval, if necessary (minutes).
    4. Select Discover network devices automatically, the default and recommended option.
      If unselected, reported events won't include product information for any matching network security technology.
    5. Select Save Suspicious Events.
    6. Modify the Event Time Adjustment (seconds). The default is 0.
    7. Modify the Limit value if you need to prevent a flood of results. This value is set to 10000 by default. This limit applies to both events and alerts individually, so if you set it to 10, you can still see a maximum of 10 events and 10 alerts.

  14. Click Save.

Verify connectivity

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations.
  2. From the Direct Integrations table, click > Test to verify that:
    • The Director can communicate with the integration host on the port and protocol specified.
    • The integration credentials are valid and working.

For more information on setting up queries, see Manage Integrations.

Configure Legacy Integration

This document applies to Classic/Legacy Integrations. You may continue to use these integration configurations. While no active development is happening for these integrations, we continue to provide Classic/Legacy Integrations in the product. You do not have to move to MSI Integrations. If your support engineer or TSC recommends or you choose to move to MSI Integrations, you can take advantage of the latest features and functionality. For more information, see the MSI Integration documentation in the Integrations Overview.

This integration is remote capable.

Update Security Onion - ELSA

to update Security Onion - ELSA

  1. Create a username.
  2. If using API authentication, identify the token to be used.

Update the Validation Platform

Prerequisites

Information to gather before you start:

  1. Host and port used for Security Onion - ELSA (defaults are auto-populated).
  2. Identify whether the protocol is HTTP or HTTPS for connections.
  3. Identify or create the credentials to access Security Onion.

Configuration

To add the Security Onion - ELSA integration

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations.

  2. Click Add Integration > Security Onion - ELSA.

    Security Onion ELSA Integration

  3. If necessary, change the Host and Port.
  4. Choose the Protocol and Credential type.
  5. Enter the credentials. Expand Advanced options.

                                                                                                                     

    Security Onion ELSA Integration


  6. (Optional) Update Query time and Delay time.
The Query time is the amount of time (minutes) before and after the query runs that the looks for events, while the Delay time is the amount of time (minutes) that the platform waits to run the query after a Job Action. For example, you configure your integration with the following values: Query time = 5, Query interval = 30 seconds, and Delay time = 0. When a Job Actions starts at 12:00:00, the first time the query runs, the platform looks for events from 11:55:00 to 12:00:00. Then 30 seconds later, it looks for events from 11:55:30 to 12:00:30. This interval continues, with the last query looking from 12:00:00 to 12:05:00. If you instead configured the Delay time to equal 10, it would run the same query, but it wouldn't start that query until 12:10:00.
If your monitors are set to run more frequently than the query time, it will impact the pass/fail results for AEDA monitors.
  1. (Optional) Select Enable query for Malicious DNS Actions and configure the Query. This query will only be used when you run Malicious DNS Actions or Captive DNS Actions.

  2. (Optional) Select Discover network devices automatically.

  3. Modify the Query Interval and Event Time Adjustment, if necessary.

  4. (Optional) Assign a Name.

  5. (Optional) Choose Yes to save suspicious events.

  6. Click Submit.

Verify connectivity

To verify connectivity to Security Onion - ELSA

Click Test to verify that:

  • The Director can communicate with Security Onion - ELSA with the host, port, and credentials provided.

Run a Malicious or Captive DNS Action and then review the last run query to verify:

  • The custom DNS query works as expected (if configured).
  • June 3, 2022
  • June 25, 2026
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