Integration Details

ThreatQuotient provides the following details for this integration:

Introduction

ThreatQ v6 Users – while the connector’s overall operation remains the same, installation and usage commands for ThreatQ v6 users will differ from what is listed in this guide. See the Installing Custom Connectors in ThreatQ v6 and Installing Custom Connectors on Another Instance topics for additional information.

The ThreatQuotient for Snort Community Rules Application downloads and ingests the Snort community rules into the ThreatQ platform.

The versions of Snort rules can be downloaded and ingested together (both versions included) or split into separate versions (versions 2 or 3).  See the Versions parameter setting under Configuration for more information.

Prerequisites

Review the following requirements before attempting to install the connector.  

Time Zone

The time zone steps are for ThreatQ v5 only.  ThreatQ v6 users should skip these steps.  

You should ensure all ThreatQ devices are set to the correct time, time zone, and date (UTC is recommended), and using a clock source available to all.

To identify which time zone is closest to your present location, use the timedatectl command with the list-timezones command line option.

For example, enter the following command to list all available time zones in Europe:

Enter the following command, as root, to change the time zone to UTC:

Integration Dependencies

The integration must be installed in a python 3.6 environment.

The following is a list of required dependencies for the integration.  These dependencies are downloaded and installed during the installation process.  If you are an Air Gapped Data Sync (AGDS) user, or run an instance that cannot connect to network services outside of your infrastructure, you will need to download and install these dependencies separately as the integration will not be able to download them during the install process.

Items listed in bold are pinned to a specific version.  In these cases, you should download the version specified to ensure proper function of the integration.

Installation

The following provides you with steps on installing a Python 3 Virtual Environment and installing the connector.

Creating a Python 3.6 Virtual Environment  

Run the following commands to create the virtual environment:

Proceed to Installing the Connector.

Installing the Connector

Upgrading Users - Review the Change Log for updates to configuration parameters before updating.  If there are changes to the configuration file (new/removed parameters), you must first delete the previous version's configuration file before proceeding with the install steps listed below.  Failure to delete the previous configuration file will result in the connector failing.

1. Navigate to the ThreatQ Marketplace and download the .whl file for the integration.
2. Activate the virtual environment if you haven't already:
   source /opt/tqvenv/<environment_name>/bin/activate
3. Transfer the whl file to the /tmp directory on your ThreatQ instance.  
4. Install the connector on your ThreatQ instance:
   pip install /tmp/tq_conn_snort_comm_rules-<version>-py3-none-any.whl 

   A driver called tq-conn-snort-comm-rules will be installed.   After installing, a script stub will appear in /opt/tqvenv/<environment_name>/bin/tq-conn-snort-comm-rules.

5. Once the application has been installed, a directory structure must be created for all configuration, logs and files, using the mkdir -p command. Use the commands below to create the required directories:
   mkdir -p /etc/tq_labs/
   mkdir -p /var/log/tq_labs/
6. Perform an initial run using the following command:
   /opt/tqvenv/<environment_name>/bin/tq-conn-snort-comm-rules -ll /var/log/tq_labs/ -c /etc/tq_labs/ -v3
7. Enter the following parameters when prompted:

   Parameter	Description
   ThreatQ Host	This is the host of the ThreatQ instance, either the IP Address or Hostname as resolvable by ThreatQ.
   ThreatQ Client ID	This is the OAuth id that can be found at Settings Gear → User Management → API details within the user’s details.
   ThreatQ Username	This is the Email Address of the user in the ThreatQ System for integrations.
   ThreatQ Password	The password for the above ThreatQ account.
   Status	This is the default status for objects that are created by this Integration.

   Example Output

   /opt/tqvenv/<environment_name>/bin/tq-conn-snort-comm-rules -ll /var/log/tq_labs/ -c /etc/tq_labs/ -v3
   ThreatQ Host: <ThreatQ Host IP or Hostname> 
   ThreatQ Client ID: <ClientID> 
   ThreatQ Username: <EMAIL ADDRESS> 
   ThreatQ Password: <PASSWORD>
   Status: Review 
   Connector configured. Set information in UI

You will still need to configure and then enable the connector.

Configuration

ThreatQuotient does not issue API keys for third-party vendors. Contact the specific vendor to obtain API keys and other integration-related credentials.

To configure the integration:

1. Navigate to your integrations management page in ThreatQ.
2. Select the Labs option from the Category dropdown (optional).
3. Click on the integration entry to open its details page.
4. Enter the following parameters under the Configuration tab:

   Parameter	Description
   Feed Name	The name of the feed.
   Base URL	This is the base URLfor snort community downloads. Do not change this field unless instructed to do so.  Changing this parameter may result in SNORT rules not being uploaded.
   Versions	This parameter tells the connector which community rules to download. You can set this to v2, v3, or both. Entering both will download both the v2 and v3 rules.
   Standard Rule Status	This option will determine the status given to the rules that are not commented out. When downloaded, the community rules file contains a list of rules. Some of these rules are commented out while others are not.
   Non-Standard Rule Status	This option determines the status given to the rules that are commented out. If set to None, the connector will not add these (commented out) rules to ThreatQ.

5. Review any additional settings, make any changes if needed, and click on Save.
6. Click on the toggle switch, located above the Additional Information section, to enable it.

Usage

Use the following command to execute the driver:

Command Line Arguments

This connector supports the following custom command line arguments:

CRON

Automatic CRON configuration has been removed from this script. To run this script on a recurring basis, use CRON or some other jobs scheduler. The argument in the CRON script must specify the config and log locations.

Add an entry to your Linux crontab to execute the connector at a recurring interval. Depending on how quickly you need updates, this can be run multiple times a day (no more than once an hour) or a few times a week.

In the example below, the command will execute the connector every two hours.

1. Log into your ThreatQ host via a CLI terminal session.
2. Enter the following command:
   crontab -e

   This will enable the editing of the crontab, using vi. Depending on how often you wish the cronjob to run, you will need to adjust the time to suit the environment.

3. Enter the commands below:

   Every 2 Hours Example

   0 */2 * * * /opt/tqvenv/<environment_name>/bin/tq-conn-snort-comm-rules -c /etc/tq_labs/ -ll /var/log/tq_labs/ -v3  
4. Save and exit CRON.

Known Issues / Limitations

• The connector should take about 2-4 minutes to run (when downloading from both rulesets).
• Snort Community Rules are only updated every so often. To prevent the connector from re-downloading and re-uploading the same signatures, hashes of the rules are saved, and checked on each run.
• An attribute, Snort Version, is added to each signature so you will know which ruleset it came from.
• Many signatures contain CVE references. These CVE values are added to ThreatQ and related to the signature.

Change Log

• Version 1.1.1
  • Added value parameter in order to allow users to default settings without explicitly submitting the form.  
• Version 1.1.0
  • Added python 3 support.
• Version 1.0.5
  • Signatures now related to indicators (CVE).  
• Version 1.0.3
  • Fixed an issue where bulk uploading of indicators (400+) would cause the connector to stop. 
• Version 1.0.2
  • Added the ability to change indicator status from the ThreatQ UI.
• Version 1.0.0
  • Initial Release