Collect Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) logs

This document explains how to ingest Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) logs to Google Security Operations using Bindplane. The parser extracts security-relevant information from the SYSLOG messages. It uses regular expressions to identify specific event types, extracts key data points like source or destination IP addresses and ports, and structures them into a Unified Data Model (UDM) for consistent analysis.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• Google SecOps instance
• Windows 2016 or later or a Linux host with systemd
• If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open
• Privileged access to Cisco Application Control Engine

Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file

1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
2. Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agents.
3. Download the ingestion authentication file. Save the file securely on the system where Bindplane will be installed.

Get Google SecOps customer ID

1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
2. Go to SIEM Settings > Profile.
3. Copy and save the Customer ID from the Organization Details section.

Install the Bindplane agent

Install the Bindplane agent on your Windows or Linux operating system according to the following instructions.

Windows installation

1. Open the Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.

2. Run the following command:

   msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet
   

Linux installation

1. Open a terminal with root or sudo privileges.

2. Run the following command:

   sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh)" install_unix.sh
   

Additional installation resources

For additional installation options, consult the installation guide.

Configure the Bindplane agent to ingest Syslog and send to Google SecOps

1. Access the configuration file:
   • Locate the config.yaml file. Typically, it's in the /etc/bindplane-agent/ directory on Linux or in the installation directory on Windows.
   • Open the file using a text editor (for example, nano, vi, or Notepad).

2. Edit the config.yaml file as follows:

   receivers:
       udplog:
           # Replace the port and IP address as required
           listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"
   
   exporters:
       chronicle/chronicle_w_labels:
           compression: gzip
           # Adjust the path to the credentials file you downloaded in Step 1
           creds_file_path: '/path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json'
           # Replace with your actual customer ID from Step 2
           customer_id: <customer_id>
           endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
           # Add optional ingestion labels for better organization
           log_type: 'CISCO_ACE'
           raw_log_field: body
           ingestion_labels:
   
   service:
       pipelines:
           logs/source0__chronicle_w_labels-0:
               receivers:
                   - udplog
               exporters:
                   - chronicle/chronicle_w_labels
   

   • Replace the port and IP address as required in your infrastructure.
   • Replace <customer_id> with the actual customer ID.
   • Update /path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json to the path where the authentication file was saved in the Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file section.

Restart the Bindplane agent to apply the changes

• To restart the Bindplane agent in Linux, run the following command:

  sudo systemctl restart bindplane-agent
  

• To restart the Bindplane agent in Windows, you can either use the Services console or enter the following command:

  net stop BindPlaneAgent && net start BindPlaneAgent
  

Configure the syslog on Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE)

1. Sign in to the Cisco ACE device.
2. Go to the Main Menu > Advanced Options > Syslog Configuration.
3. Click Add First Server and then click OK.
4. Enter the Bindplane agent IP address and port number in the First Syslog Server field.
5. Click OK; the system will restart with new settings.
6. Click OK again.
7. Click Return.

UDM mapping table

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