Collect Cisco PIX logs

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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 Firewallappliance

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 IDfrom the Organization Detailssection.

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 Promptor PowerShellas 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_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 Servicesconsole or enter the following command:

     net stop BindPlaneAgent && net start BindPlaneAgent 
    

Configure Syslog on Cisco PIX Firewall

  1. Sign in to your Cisco PIX appliance using SSH or a console connection.
  2. Enter the following for privilegedmode:

      enable 
     
    
  3. Enter the following command for configuration mode:

     conf  
    t 
    
  4. Enter the following commands to enable logging and timestamp:

     logging  
    on
    logging  
    timestamp 
    
  5. Enter the following command to configure log level:

     logging  
     trap 
      
    information 
    
  6. 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.

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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