Collect Sophos Capsule8 logs
This document explains how to collect Sophos Linux Sensor (formerly Capsule8) logs using Bindplane. Sophos Capsule8 provides runtime protection for Linux workloads, containers, and Kubernetes environments by detecting and responding to threats at the kernel level using eBPF technology. The parser first extracts and structures JSON-formatted log data. It then maps the extracted fields to their corresponding attributes within the Chronicle Unified Data Model (UDM), focusing on metadata, security results, and principal information.
Before you begin
Make sure you have the following prerequisites:
- A Google SecOps instance
- Windows 2016 or later, or a Linux host with
systemd
- An additional Windows or Linux machine, capable of continuously running Python
- If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open per the Bindplane agent requirements
- Privileged access to Sophos Central Admin console
- Sophos Linux Sensor (formerly Capsule8) deployed on your Linux systems
Configure Sophos Linux Sensor to export alerts to Sophos Central
Before configuring the integration, you must first configure Sophos Linux Sensor to send alert data to Sophos Central.
Prerequisites for Sophos Central integration
- Sophos Linux Sensor version 5.5.2.22 or later.
- One of the following licenses:
- Intercept X Advanced for Server with XDR
- Central Managed Detection and Response Essential Server
- Central Managed Detection and Response Complete Server
- Your Sophos Central MCS URL and tenant ID.
- A valid SLS package repository API token.
Finding your MCS URL
- Sign in to Sophos Central.
- Click your account name > Support settings.
- Look for the line that starts with
This account is located
in to find out what geographical region your Sophos Central account is in. Use the following table to find your MCS URL based on your region:
Region MCS URL United States (Oregon) mcs2-cloudstation-us-west-2.prod.hydra.sophos.com United States (Ohio) mcs2-cloudstation-us-east-2.prod.hydra.sophos.com Ireland mcs2-cloudstation-eu-west-1.prod.hydra.sophos.com Germany mcs2-cloudstation-eu-central-1.prod.hydra.sophos.com Canada mcs2.stn100yul.ctr.sophos.com Australia mcs2.stn100syd.ctr.sophos.com Asia Pacific (Tokyo) mcs2.stn100hnd.ctr.sophos.com South America (Sao Paulo) mcs2.stn100gru.ctr.sophos.com
If you don't see your region in the table, use mcs2.stn100bom.ctr.sophos.com
as your MCS URL.
Configure Sophos Linux Sensor alert output
- Open
/etc/sophos/runtimedetections.yaml
in a text editor. Add the following lines, replacing the placeholder values with your actual Sophos Central details:
send_labs_telemetry: true endpoint_telemetry_enabled: true cloud_meta: auto # Set your customer id: customer_id: "{tenant-id}" mcs: token: "{LINUX_REPO_API_KEY}" url: "{MCS_URL}" enabled: true
Save the changes and exit.
Restart the sensor:
systemctl restart sophoslinuxsensor
Optional: Configure Sophos Linux Sensor to send meta events to Data Lake
Starting from version 5.11.0, SLS supports sending event data to the Sophos Data Lake.
- Open
/etc/sophos/runtimedetections.yaml
in a text editor. Add the following configuration:
investigations: reporting_interval: 5s zeromq: topics: - process_events: running_processes_linux_events audit_user_msg: user_events_linux sinks: - backend: mcs name: "mcs" type: mcs flight_recorder: enabled: true tables: - name: "process_events" enabled: true rows: 1000 filter: - match eventType == "PROCESS_EVENT_TYPE_EXEC" - match eventType == "BASELINE_TASK" - default ignore - name: "audit_user_msg" enabled: true rows: 1000 filter: - ignore programName == "cron" - ignore processPid == 1 - default match
Save the changes and exit.
Restart the sensor:
systemctl restart sophoslinuxsensor
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
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 this 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: 'SOPHOS_CAPSULE8' 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 Sophos Central API access
- Sign in to Sophos Central Admin.
- Select Global Settings > API Token Management.
- Click Add Token to create a new token.
- Enter a token name and click Save; (The API Token Summary for the provided token is displayed).
- In the API Token Summary section, click Copy to copy the API access URL and headers.
Install Python on an additional machine
- Open the web browser and go to the Python website.
- Click Download Python for your operating system.
Install Python:
- On Windows:
- Run the installer.
- Check the box that says Add Python to PATH.
- Click Install Now.
On Mac:
- Python may already be installed, if not you can install the latest version using the terminal.
Open Terminal and type the following command:
python --version
- On Windows:
Download the Sophos integration script
- Go to the GitHub page for Sophos Central SIEM Integration GitHub Repository.
- Click the green Code button > Download ZIP.
- Extract the ZIP file.
Set up the script configuration
- Open the
config.ini
file in the directory where you extracted the ZIP archive. - Edit the configuration file:
- API Token: Enter the API Key copied earlier from Sophos Central.
- Syslog Server Details: Enter the details of your syslog server.
- Host: Enter the BindPlane Agent IP address.
- Port: Enter the BindPlane Agent port number.
- Protocol: Enter UDP (you can also use TCP or TLS depending on your setup).
- Save the file.
Run the script
Go to the script folder.
On Windows:
- Press the Windows key and type
cmd
. - Click Command Prompt.
- Go to the script folder:
cd C:/Users/YourName/Downloads/Sophos-Central-SIEM-Integration
- Press the Windows key and type
On macOS:
- Go to Applications > Utilities.
- Open Terminal.
- Go to the script folder:
cd /Users/YourName/Downloads/Sophos-Central-SIEM-Integration
Run the script:
Type the following command to start the script:
python siem.py
Automate the script to run continuously on Windows (using Task Scheduler):
- Open the Task Scheduler by typing Task Scheduler in the Start menu.
- Click Create Task.
- In the General tab:
- Name your task; (for example,
Sophos AV Log Export
).
- Name your task; (for example,
- In the Triggers tab:
- Click New and set the task to run Daily or At startup (depending on your preference).
- In the Actions tab:
- Click New and select Start a program.
- Browse for the
python.exe
executable (usually found atC:/Python/XX/python.exe
). - In the Add arguments field, type the path to the script; (for example,
C:/Users/YourName/Downloads/Sophos-Central-SIEM-Integrationsiem.py
).
- Click OK to save the task.
Automate the script to run continuously on Mac (using Cron Jobs):
- Open Terminal.
- Type
crontab -e
and press Enter. Add a new line at the end of the file:
* * * * * /usr/bin/python /Users/YourName/Downloads/Sophos-Central-SIEM-Integration/siem.py
Click Save and exit the editor.
UDM Mapping Table
Log Field | UDM Mapping | Logic |
---|---|---|
categories | read_only_udm.security_result.category_details | Each element in the categories array is added as a separate category_details. |
comments | read_only_udm.security_result.description | Directly mapped from the comments field. |
confidence | read_only_udm.security_result.severity_details | Directly mapped from the confidence field. |
description | read_only_udm.security_result.summary | Directly mapped from the description field. |
incident_id | read_only_udm.security_result.rule_id | Directly mapped from the incident_id field. |
lineage | principal.process.parent_process... | The lineage array is used to populate a chain of parent processes, up to 15 levels deep. Each element in the lineage array represents a process in the chain, with index 0 being the immediate parent and higher indices representing further ancestors. The pid and name fields of each lineage element are mapped to the corresponding fields in the UDM. |
location.container_id | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.container_id field. The corresponding key is set to "container_id". |
location.container_labels.maintainer | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.container_labels.maintainer field. The corresponding key is set to "maintainer". |
location.container_name | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.container_name field. The corresponding key is set to "container_name". |
location.image_id | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.image_id field. The corresponding key is set to "image_id". |
location.image_name | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.image_name field. The corresponding key is set to "image_name". |
location.kubernetes_namespace | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.kubernetes_namespace field. The corresponding key is set to "kubernetes_namespace". |
location.kubernetes_pod | principal.labels.value | Directly mapped from the location.kubernetes_pod field. The corresponding key is set to "kubernetes_pod". |
matched_rule | read_only_udm.security_result.rule_name | Directly mapped from the matched_rule field. |
metadata.gcp_instance_hostname | principal.hostname | Directly mapped from the metadata.gcp_instance_hostname field. |
metadata.gcp_instance_zone | principal.cloud.availability_zone | The availability zone is extracted from the metadata.gcp_instance_zone field using a regular expression. |
metadata.gcp_project_id | principal.cloud.project.name | Directly mapped from the metadata.gcp_project_id field. |
metadata.gcp_project_numeric_id | principal.cloud.project.id | Directly mapped from the metadata.gcp_project_numeric_id field. |
metadata.network_interface_eth0_addr_0 | principal.ip | The IP address is extracted from the metadata.network_interface_eth0_addr_0 field using a regular expression. |
metadata.network_interface_eth0_hardware_addr | principal.mac | Directly mapped from the metadata.network_interface_eth0_hardware_addr field. |
policy_type | read_only_udm.metadata.product_event_type | Directly mapped from the policy_type field. |
process_info.args | principal.labels.value | Each element in the process_info.args array is added as a separate label. The key is set to "process_info.arg[index]", where index is the position of the argument in the array. |
process_info.name | principal.process.file.full_path | Directly mapped from the process_info.name field. |
process_info.pid | principal.process.pid | Directly mapped from the process_info.pid field. |
process_info.ppid | principal.process.parent_process.pid | Directly mapped from the process_info.ppid field. |
priority | read_only_udm.security_result.severity | Directly mapped from the priority field, converted to uppercase. |
timestamp | read_only_udm.metadata.event_timestamp | Directly mapped from the timestamp field. |
uuid | read_only_udm.metadata.product_log_id | Directly mapped from the uuid field. |
N/A | read_only_udm.metadata.log_type | Set to a constant value of "SOPHOS_CAPSULE8". |
N/A | read_only_udm.metadata.event_type | Set to a constant value of "SCAN_HOST". |
N/A | read_only_udm.metadata.vendor_name | Set to a constant value of "Sophos". |
N/A | read_only_udm.metadata.product_name | Set to a constant value of "Capsule8". |
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