Collect Forseti Open Source logs

This document explains how to ingest Forseti Open Source logs to Google Security Operations using Google Cloud Storage V2.

Forseti Security is a community-driven collection of open source tools to improve the security of Google Cloud Platform environments. Forseti takes inventory snapshots of GCP resources on a recurring cadence, scans resources to ensure that access controls are set as intended, and provides visibility into Cloud IAM policies.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

• Google SecOps instance.
• GCP project with Cloud Storage API enabled.
• Permissions to create and manage GCS buckets.
• Permissions to manage IAM policies on GCS buckets.
• An existing Forseti Security deployment (for example, deployed using the Forseti Terraform module on Google Compute Engine).
• Access to the Forseti server configuration file ( forseti_conf_server.yaml ).

Create Google Cloud Storage bucket

Using Google Cloud Console

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console .
2. Select your project or create a new one.
3. In the navigation menu, go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
4. Click Create bucket.

5. Provide the following configuration details:

   Setting	Value
   Name your bucket	Enter a globally unique name (for example, forseti-violations-export )
   Location type	Choose based on your needs (Region, Dual-region, Multi-region)
   Location	Select the location (for example, us-central1 )
   Storage class	Standard (recommended for frequently accessed logs)
   Access control	Uniform (recommended)
   Protection tools	Optional: Enable object versioning or retention policy

6. Click Create.

Using gcloud command-line tool

Alternatively, create a bucket using the gcloud command:

 gcloud  
storage  
buckets  
create  
gs://forseti-violations-export  
 \ 
  
--location = 
us-central1  
 \ 
  
--default-storage-class = 
STANDARD 

Replace:

• forseti-violations-export : Your desired bucket name (globally unique).
• us-central1 : Your preferred region (for example, us-central1 , europe-west1 ).

Configure Forseti Security to export violations to GCS

Forseti Security uses a notifier configuration in the forseti_conf_server.yaml file to export scanner violations to Google Cloud Storage.

1. Connect to your Forseti server VM using SSH:

    gcloud  
   compute  
   ssh  
   forseti-server-vm  
   --project = 
   YOUR_PROJECT_ID  
   --zone = 
   YOUR_ZONE 
   

   Replace YOUR_PROJECT_ID and YOUR_ZONE with your Forseti deployment values.

2. Open the Forseti server configuration file for editing:

    sudo  
   nano  
   /home/ubuntu/forseti-security/configs/forseti_conf_server.yaml 
   

   If your Forseti deployment uses a GCS-based configuration, download the file from your Forseti server bucket:

    gsutil  
   cp  
   gs://YOUR_FORSETI_SERVER_BUCKET/configs/forseti_conf_server.yaml  
   ~/forseti_conf_server.yaml 
   

3. Navigate to the notifier section and locate the resources subsection.

4. For each violation resource type you want to export, configure the gcs_violations notifier. Add or update the configuration as follows:

     notifier 
    : 
     
    resources 
    : 
     
    - 
     
    resource 
    : 
     
    iam_policy_violations 
     
    should_notify 
    : 
     
    true 
     
    notifiers 
    : 
     
    - 
     
    name 
    : 
     
    gcs_violations 
     
    configuration 
    : 
     
    data_format 
    : 
     
    csv 
     
    gcs_path 
    : 
     
    gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/ 
     
    - 
     
    resource 
    : 
     
    firewall_rule_violations 
     
    should_notify 
    : 
     
    true 
     
    notifiers 
    : 
     
    - 
     
    name 
    : 
     
    gcs_violations 
     
    configuration 
    : 
     
    data_format 
    : 
     
    csv 
     
    gcs_path 
    : 
     
    gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/ 
     
    - 
     
    resource 
    : 
     
    cloudsql_acl_violations 
     
    should_notify 
    : 
     
    true 
     
    notifiers 
    : 
     
    - 
     
    name 
    : 
     
    gcs_violations 
     
    configuration 
    : 
     
    data_format 
    : 
     
    csv 
     
    gcs_path 
    : 
     
    gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/ 
     
    - 
     
    resource 
    : 
     
    bucket_acl_violations 
     
    should_notify 
    : 
     
    true 
     
    notifiers 
    : 
     
    - 
     
    name 
    : 
     
    gcs_violations 
     
    configuration 
    : 
     
    data_format 
    : 
     
    csv 
     
    gcs_path 
    : 
     
    gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/ 
     
    - 
     
    resource 
    : 
     
    config_validator_violations 
     
    should_notify 
    : 
     
    true 
     
    notifiers 
    : 
     
    - 
     
    name 
    : 
     
    gcs_violations 
     
    configuration 
    : 
     
    data_format 
    : 
     
    csv 
     
    gcs_path 
    : 
     
    gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/ 
    
   

   Replace:

   • forseti-violations-export : Your GCS bucket name created in the previous step.
   • violations/ : Optional prefix path for organizing violation files.

   Configuration parameters:

   • resource : The violation resource type. Available resource types depend on which Forseti scanners are enabled in your deployment. Common types include iam_policy_violations , firewall_rule_violations , cloudsql_acl_violations , bucket_acl_violations , config_validator_violations , groups_settings_violations , and others.
   • should_notify : Set to true to enable notifications for this resource type.
   • data_format : The format of the exported data. Valid values are csv or json . The default is csv .
   • gcs_path : The Cloud Storage path where violations will be exported. The path must begin with gs:// and should include a trailing slash.

5. Save the configuration file.

6. If you downloaded the configuration from GCS, upload the updated file back to your Forseti server bucket:

    gsutil  
   cp  
   ~/forseti_conf_server.yaml  
   gs://YOUR_FORSETI_SERVER_BUCKET/configs/forseti_conf_server.yaml 
   

7. Reload the Forseti server configuration:

    forseti  
   server  
   configuration  
   reload 
   

8. Verify the configuration was loaded successfully:

    forseti  
   server  
   configuration  
   get  
    | 
     
   grep  
   gcs_violations 
   

Retrieve the Google SecOps service account

Google SecOps uses a unique service account to read data from your GCS bucket. You must grant this service account access to your bucket.

Configure a feed in Google SecOps to ingest Forseti Open Source logs

1. Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
2. Click Add New Feed.
3. Click Configure a single feed.
4. In the Feed namefield, enter a name for the feed (for example, Forseti Violations ).
5. Select Google Cloud Storage V2as the Source type.

6. Select Forseti Open Sourceas the Log type.

7. Click Get Service Account.

8. A unique service account email will be displayed, for example:

     chronicle 
    - 
    12345678 
    @chronicle 
    - 
    gcp 
    - 
    prod 
    . 
    iam 
    . 
    gserviceaccount 
    . 
    com 
    
   

9. Copy this email address. You will use it in the next step.

10. Click Next.

11. Specify values for the following input parameters:

    • Storage bucket URL: Enter the GCS bucket URI with the prefix path:

      gs 
     : 
     // 
     forseti 
     - 
     violations 
     - 
     export 
     / 
     violations 
     / 
     
    

    • Replace:
      • forseti-violations-export : Your GCS bucket name.
      • violations/ : Optional prefix/folder path where logs are stored (leave empty for root).

    • Source deletion option: Select the deletion option according to your preference:

      • Never: Never deletes any files after transfers (recommended for testing).
      • Delete transferred files: Deletes files after successful transfer.
      • Delete transferred files and empty directories: Deletes files and empty directories after successful transfer.
    • Maximum File Age: Include files modified in the last number of days. Default is 180 days.
    • Asset namespace: The asset namespace .
    • Ingestion labels: The label to be applied to the events from this feed.

12. Click Next.

13. Review your new feed configuration in the Finalizescreen, and then click Submit.

Grant IAM permissions to the Google SecOps service account

The Google SecOps service account needs Storage Object Viewerrole on your GCS bucket.

Using Google Cloud Console

1. Go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
2. Click your bucket name.
3. Go to the Permissionstab.
4. Click Grant access.
5. Provide the following configuration details:
   • Add principals: Paste the Google SecOps service account email.
   • Assign roles: Select Storage Object Viewer.
6. Click Save.

Using gcloud command-line tool

Alternatively, grant permissions using the gcloud command:

 gcloud  
storage  
buckets  
add-iam-policy-binding  
gs://forseti-violations-export  
 \ 
  
--member = 
 "serviceAccount:chronicle-12345678@chronicle-gcp-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com" 
  
 \ 
  
--role = 
 "roles/storage.objectViewer" 
 

Replace:

• forseti-violations-export : Your bucket name.
• chronicle-12345678@chronicle-gcp-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com : The Google SecOps service account email.

Using gsutil command-line tool (legacy)

 gsutil  
iam  
ch  
serviceAccount:chronicle-12345678@chronicle-gcp-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com:objectViewer  
 \ 
  
gs://forseti-violations-export 

Verify permissions

To verify the permissions were granted correctly:

 gcloud  
storage  
buckets  
get-iam-policy  
gs://forseti-violations-export  
 \ 
  
--flatten = 
 "bindings[].members" 
  
 \ 
  
--filter = 
 "bindings.role:roles/storage.objectViewer" 
 

You should see the Google SecOps service account email in the output.

UDM mapping table

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