Collect Cisco PIX logs
This document explains how to ingest Cisco PIX logs to Google Security Operations using Bindplane. The parser extracts fields from the firewall syslog messages using regular expressions (grok patterns) and conditional logic. It then maps these extracted fields to the Unified Data Model (UDM), categorizing events as network connections, status updates, or generic events based on the presence of source and destination IP addresses.
Before you begin
Make sure you have the following prerequisites:
- A 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 the Cisco PIX Firewall appliance
Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file
- Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
- Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agents.
- Download the Ingestion Authentication File.
- Save the file securely on the system where Bindplane will be installed.
Get Google SecOps customer ID
- Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
- Go to SIEM Settings > Profile.
- 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
- Open the Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.
Run the following command:
msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet
Linux installation
- Open a terminal with root or sudo privileges.
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
- 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).
- Locate the
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_PIX_FIREWALL' 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 Syslog on Cisco PIX Firewall
- Sign in to your Cisco PIX appliance using SSH or a console connection.
Enter the following for privileged mode:
enable
Enter the following command for configuration mode:
conf t
Enter the following commands to enable logging and timestamp:
logging on logging timestamp
Enter the following command to configure log level:
logging trap information
Enter the following command to configure syslog information:
logging host <interface> <bindplane_IP_address>
- Change
<interface>
to the interface that has access to your Bindplane agent. - Change
<bindplane_IP_address>
to your actual Bindplane agent IP address.
- Change
UDM mapping table
Log Field | UDM Mapping | Logic |
---|---|---|
datetime | metadata.event_timestamp.seconds | Convert the extracted timestamp to epoch seconds |
datetime | metadata.event_timestamp.nanos | Convert the extracted timestamp to epoch nanoseconds |
descrip | metadata.description | Directly mapped from the extracted descrip field |
observer_ip | observer.ip | Directly mapped from the extracted observer_ip field |
proto | network.ip_protocol | Directly mapped from the extracted proto field after converting to uppercase. Only mapped if the value is one of UDP , TCP , or ICMP . |
src_ip | principal.ip | Directly mapped from the extracted src_ip field |
src_port | principal.port | Directly mapped from the extracted src_port field after converting to integer |
facility | principal.resource.type | Directly mapped from the extracted facility field |
action | security_result.action_details | Directly mapped from the extracted action field |
severity_level | security_result.severity | Mapped based on the value of severity_level : - 7, 6: INFORMATIONAL - 5: LOW - 4: MEDIUM - 3: ERROR - 2: HIGH - Otherwise: CRITICAL |
dest_ip | target.ip | Directly mapped from the extracted dest_ip field |
dest_port | target.port | Directly mapped from the extracted dest_port field after converting to integer |
direction | network.direction | Mapped to INBOUND if the direction field is inbound |
metadata.event_timestamp.seconds | Value taken from the top level 'create_time.seconds' field | |
metadata.event_timestamp.nanos | Value taken from the top level 'create_time.nanos' field | |
metadata.event_type | Determined based on the presence of src_ip and dest_ip: - Both present: NETWORK_CONNECTION - Only src_ip present: STATUS_UPDATE - Otherwise: GENERIC_EVENT |
|
metadata.product_event_type | Concatenation of facility , - , severity_level , - , and mnemonic fields. |
|
metadata.product_name | Hardcoded value: CISCO_FWSM |
|
metadata.vendor_name | Hardcoded value: CISCO |
|
security_result.action | Mapped to BLOCK if the action field is one of Deny , Teardown , denied , or Denied . |
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