Sentinel POC- Architecture and Recommendations For MSSPs (Part 5)

By Ashwin Venugopal -

 






To read part 1, please click here
To read part 2, please click here
To read part 3, please click here
To read part 4, please click here
To read part 6, please click here





Storage Options

The default storage option for Sentinel ingestion is Analytics table whose retention time can be adjusted for all tables within the workspace or individually per table. A different cost efficient plan can also be used which is called Basic which has interactive retention of 8 days. However, it does have some restrictions, like- not able to trigger alerts and limited KQL commands. This tables are meant to be used with noisy logs, such as firewall logs or flow logs, and are normally used for debugging or troubleshooting purposes. 

A total retention can be set for both Analytic and Basic tables by configuring a total retention period, after which the data will be moved to Archive completing the retention period. The total retention is maximum 7 years. Search feature can be useful to query and rehydrate data from Archive as and when needed.

All these options above are readily available in Log Analytics Workspace, but some of the external storage options are- Blob Storage and Azure Data Explorer (ADX). Blob storage can be queried via externaldata operator in KQL, which can also be used within an analytic rule. Besides, ADX and Blob Storage can be combined and an external table can be created in ADX pointing the whole container.

Following is the summary of various storage options available currently:



Update: Workspace Manager

It is new feature introduced recently. It allows MSSPs to configure the MSSP workspace to act as the parent or grandparent of various other workspaces, typically customer workspaces. However, Workspace Manager still depends on Azure Lighthouse, which is essential to be able to configure workspaces managed from a central MSSP workspace. Workspace Manager can help an MSSP in publishing content to the child workspaces. 

This feature allows MSSPs to group customer workspaces depending on their requirements. For example, healthcare customers may have different analytic rule and workbook requirements than education customers; hence, MSSPs can group them and publish different content to each of those workspaces. Since workspaces can be a [art of different groups, contents from different groups to the same workspace can be published. An ideal MSSP solution should include a combination of both Repositories and Workspace Manager.










To read part 1, please click here
To read part 2, please click here
To read part 3, please click here
To read part 4, please click here
To read part 6, please click here













































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deployment (Part 3)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here To read part 2, please click  here Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA) MMA is used across multiple Microsoft solutions and has undergone a few name changes as its features and functionality have evolved. If it is being considered to be used, then following areas should be covered during a Microsoft Sentinel deployment project: Consider the timelines and the strategy for a migration to AMA (Azure Monitor Agent) before the MMA end-of-life.  Consider the central deployment and management methodology for MMA. Determine which endpoints are in scope for deployment as these affect the log ingestion volume significantly.  Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) Organizations with MMA as the main Microsoft Sentinel agent should start planning the migration to AMA as soon as possible to avoid a rushed migration. One of the main advantages of AMA is the ability to control the log collection policy centrally and apply different policies against different groups of computers, re
Read more

Project Resourcing (Part 2)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here Engineering - SIEM The SIEM engineers configures Microsoft Sentinel, including Log Analytics, Logic Apps, workbooks, and playbooks. They are also responsible for the following high-level tasks: Initial configuration of Azure tenant, including provisioning required resources, assigning access roles, and configuring workspace parameters like log retention, resource tagging, and blueprints.  Deployment and configuration of syslog/CEF log collection agents in appropriate locations to collect logs from on-premises devices. Generally, it will be joint effort of both system engineer and SIEM engineer, involving configuration and potential troubleshooting.  Working with system owners to enable log forwarding and configuring any required parsing of log data in Log Analytics.  Working with security operations to create and deploy KQL analytic rules to offer detections for SOC/Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSRIT) use. Tuning of alert rule parameter
Read more

Design Planning (Part 3)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here To read part 2, please click  here Complex Organizational Structures SIEM can be an expensive security control, hence, it is common multiple businesses to contribute to the overall expense. Various organizational units may require a level of access to specific dashboards or sets of data. Microsoft Sentinel offers the ability to assign table-level permissions and limit the level of access to the minimum required to perform requisite job functions.  Role-based Access Control (RBAC) Requirements Microsoft Sentinel offers an extensive list of Azure built-in roles that can be used to provide granular access according to the job requirements and permitted level of access. Some of them are various Microsoft Sentinel dedicated roles: Microsoft Sentinel Contributor- Can perform all engineering-related configuration, such as creating alert rules, configuring data connectors, and additional similar tasks.  Microsoft Sentinel Reader- Can query the log data stor
Read more