Collect BMC Helix Discovery logs

Parser Version: 2.0

Supported in:

This parser extracts fields from BMC Helix Discovery syslog messages using grok patterns. It focuses on login/logout events and status updates. It maps extracted fields like timestamps, usernames, source IPs, and descriptions to the UDM. Events are categorized based on the extracted product_event_type and log details.

Before you begin

  • Ensure that you have a Google Security Operations instance.
  • Ensure that you are using Windows 2016 or later, or a Linux host with systemd.
  • If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open.
  • Ensure that you have privileged access to the BeyondTrust instance.

Get Google SecOps credentials for the Bindplane agent

To authenticate the Bindplane agent to Google SecOps, choose one of the following methods:

  • New deployments: Use the Chronicle API (Option 1).
  • Legacy deployments: Continue using the ingestion authentication file (Option 2) until the Ingestion API is discontinued on July 20, 2027.
  1. Sign in to the Google Cloud console and select the Google Cloud project that is linked to your Google SecOps instance.
  2. Go to IAM & Admin > Service Accounts.
  3. Click Create service account.
  4. Provide the following configuration details:
    • Service account name: Enter a name for the account (for example, bindplane-ingest).
    • Service account description: Enter a description (for example, Bindplane agent log ingestion).
  5. Click Create and continue.
  6. In the Grant this service account access to project section, click Select a role and select Chronicle Editor.
  7. Click Continue, and then click Done.
  8. Click the service account you created, and then go to the Keys tab.
  9. Click Add key > Create new key.
  10. Select JSON and click Create. The key file is downloaded to your computer.
  11. Save the key file as ingestion-auth.json in the Bindplane collector directory (/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json on Linux or C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\ingestion-auth.json on Windows), or update creds_file_path in config.yaml to match the path where you save it.
  12. Go to IAM & Admin > Settings and copy the Project number. You'll need it for the exporter configuration.

Option 2: Download the ingestion authentication file (legacy)

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

  1. For Windows installation, run the following script:
    msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet
  2. For Linux installation, run the following script:
    sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh)" install_unix.sh
  3. Additional installation options can be found in this installation guide.

Configure Bindplane Agent to ingest Syslog and send to Google SecOps

  1. Access the machine where Bindplane is installed.
  2. Edit the config.yaml file as follows:

    receivers:
      tcplog:
        # Replace the below port <54525> and IP <0.0.0.0> with your specific values
        listen_address: "0.0.0.0:54525"
    
    exporters:
      chronicle/chronicle_w_labels:
        protocol: https
        # Region of your instance, for example us, europe, asia-southeast1
        location: <LOCATION>
        # Project number of the Google Cloud project linked to the instance
        project: '<PROJECT_NUMBER>'
        compression: gzip
        # Adjust the path to the credentials file you saved in Step 1
        creds: '{ json file for creds }'
        # Replace <customer_id> below with your actual ID that you copied
        customer_id: <customer_id>
        endpoint: chronicle.googleapis.com
        # You can apply ingestion labels below as preferred
        ingestion_labels:
        log_type: SYSLOG
        namespace: BMC_HELIX_DISCOVERY
        raw_log_field: body
    service:
      pipelines:
        logs/source0__chronicle_w_labels-0:
          receivers:
            - tcplog
          exporters:
            - chronicle/chronicle_w_labels
    
    • Replace the port and IP address as required in your infrastructure.
    • Replace <LOCATION> with the region of your Google SecOps instance (for example, us, europe, or asia-southeast1). The exporter prefixes chronicle.googleapis.com with this value.
    • Replace <PROJECT_NUMBER> with the project number from IAM & Admin > Settings.
    • Replace <customer_id> with the actual customer ID.
    • Update { json file for creds } to the path where the service account key file (Option 1) was saved.
  3. Restart the Bindplane Agent to apply the changes:

    sudo systemctl restart bindplane
    

Legacy ingestion API exporter

  • If you use the ingestion authentication file from Option 2, replace the exporters block with the following. Set creds to the path to the ingestion authentication file, and if your instance is outside the US, replace malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com with your regional endpoint (for example, europe-malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com).

    exporters:
      chronicle/chronicle_w_labels:
        compression: gzip
        # Adjust the path to the credentials file you saved in Step 1
        creds: '{ json file for creds }'
        # Replace <customer_id> below with your actual ID that you copied
        customer_id: <customer_id>
        endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
        # You can apply ingestion labels below as preferred
        ingestion_labels:
        log_type: SYSLOG
        namespace: BMC_HELIX_DISCOVERY
        raw_log_field: body
    

Export Syslog from BMC Helix Discovery

  1. Access the BMC Discovery instance as a root user.
  2. Edit the syslog configuration file: etc/rsyslog.conf
  3. Add the following entry at the top: # Send everything to the remote syslog server.
  4. Replace the IP address with that of your syslog server:

    # Send everything to the remote syslog server
    
    *.* @192.168.1.100
    
  5. Restart the syslog service on the appliance:

    sudo /usr/bin/systemctl restart rsyslog.service
    
  6. Test the forwarding configuration.

  7. Use the logger utility to send a syslog message:

    logger this is a test of remote logging
    
  8. Verify this has been logged:

    su -
    Password:
    
    tail -n5 /var/log/messages
    Jan 17 11:42:10 localhost seclab: this is a test of remote logging
    
  9. Sign in to Google SecOps and check that the same messages appear.

UDM Mapping Table

Log Field UDM Mapping Logic
data metadata.description The description of the event, extracted from the log message.
data metadata.product_event_type The raw event type, extracted from the log message.
data principal.ip The source IP address, extracted from the description field in the log message.
data security_result.summary A summary of the event, extracted from the log message.
data target.user.userid The username, extracted from the log message. An empty object is created by the parser. Copied from the top-level timestamp field in the raw log. Determined by the parser based on product_event_type and desc fields. If product_event_type is "logon" or desc contains "logged on", it's set to "USER_LOGIN". If product_event_type is "logoff" or desc contains "logged off", it's set to "USER_LOGOUT". Otherwise, if src_ip is present, it's set to "STATUS_UPDATE". Defaults to "GENERIC_EVENT". Hardcoded to "BMC_HELIX_DISCOVERY". Hardcoded to "BMC_HELIX_DISCOVERY". Hardcoded to "BMC_HELIX_DISCOVERY".

Change Log

View the Change Log for this parser

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