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Add categorization fields usage docs (elastic#1242)
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[[ecs-using-the-categorization-fields]] | ||
=== Using the Categorization Fields | ||
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The event categorization fields work together to identify and group similar events from multiple data sources. | ||
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These general principles can help guide the categorization process: | ||
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* Events from multiple data sources that are similar enough to be viewed or analyzed together, should fall into the same `event.category` field. | ||
* Both `event.category` and `event.type` are arrays and may be populated with multiple allowed values, if the event can be reasonably classified into more than one category and/or type. | ||
* `event.kind`, `event.category`, `event.type` and `event.outcome` all have allowed values. This is to normalize these fields. Values that aren't in the list of allowed values should not be used. | ||
* Values of `event.outcome` are a very limited set to indicate success or failure. Domain-specific actions, such as deny and allow, that could be considered outcomes are not | ||
captured in the `event.outcome` field, but rather in the `event.type` and/or `event.action` fields. | ||
* Values of `event.category`, `event.type`, and `event.outcome` are consistent across all values of `event.kind`. | ||
* When a specific event doesn't fit into any of the defined allowed categorization values, the field should be left empty. | ||
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The following examples detail populating the categorization fields and provides some context for the classification decisions. | ||
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[float] | ||
==== Firewall blocking a network connection | ||
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This event from a firewall describes a successfully blocked network connection: | ||
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[source,json] | ||
---- | ||
... | ||
{ | ||
"source": { | ||
"address": "10.42.42.42", | ||
"ip": "10.42.42.42", | ||
"port": 38842 | ||
}, | ||
"destination": { | ||
"address": "10.42.42.1", | ||
"ip": "10.42.42.1", | ||
"port": 443 | ||
}, | ||
"rule": { | ||
"name": "wan-lan", | ||
"id": "default" | ||
}, | ||
... | ||
"event": { | ||
"kind": "event", <1> | ||
"category": [ <2> | ||
"network" | ||
], | ||
"type": [ <3> | ||
"connection", | ||
"denied" | ||
], | ||
"outcome": "success", <4> | ||
"action": "dropped" <5> | ||
} | ||
} | ||
... | ||
---- | ||
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<1> Classifying as an `event`. | ||
<2> `event.category` categorizes this event as `network` activity. | ||
<3> The event was both an attempted network `connection` and was `denied`. | ||
<4> The blocking of this connection is expected. The outcome is a `success` from the perspective of the firewall emitting the event. | ||
<5> The firewall classifies this denied connection as `dropped`, and this value is captured in `event.action`. | ||
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A "denied" network connection could fall under different action values: "blocked", "dropped", "quarantined", etc. The `event.action` field captures the action taken as described by the source, and populating `event.type:denied` provides an independent, normalized value. | ||
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A single query will return all denied network connections which have been normalized with the same categorization values: | ||
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[source,sh] | ||
---- | ||
event.category:network AND event.type:denied | ||
---- | ||
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[float] | ||
==== Failed attempt to create a user account | ||
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User `alice` attempts to add a user account, `bob`, into a directory service, but the action fails: | ||
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[source,json] | ||
---- | ||
{ | ||
"user": { | ||
"name": "alice", | ||
"target": { | ||
"name": "bob" | ||
} | ||
}, | ||
"event": { | ||
"kind": "event", <1> | ||
"category": [ <2> | ||
"iam" | ||
], | ||
"type": [ <3> | ||
"user", | ||
"creation" | ||
], | ||
"outcome": "failure" <4> | ||
} | ||
} | ||
---- | ||
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<1> Again classifying as an `event`. | ||
<2> Categorized using `iam` for an event user account activity. | ||
<3> Both `user` and `creation` | ||
<4> The creation of a user account was attempted, but it was not successful. | ||
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[float] | ||
==== Informational listing of a file | ||
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A utility, such as a file integrity monitoring (FIM) application, takes inventory of a file but does not access or modify the file: | ||
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[source,json] | ||
---- | ||
{ | ||
"file": { | ||
"name": "example.png", | ||
"owner": "alice", | ||
"path": "/home/alice/example.png", | ||
"type": "file" | ||
}, | ||
"event": { | ||
"kind": "event", <1> | ||
"category": [ <2> | ||
"file" | ||
], | ||
"type": [ <3> | ||
"info" | ||
] | ||
} | ||
} | ||
---- | ||
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<1> Classifying as `event`. | ||
<2> The event is reporting on a `file`. | ||
<3> The `info` type categorizes purely informational events. The target file here was not accessed or modified. | ||
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The source data didn't include any context around the event's outcome, so `event.outcome` should not be populated. | ||
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[float] | ||
=== Security application failed to block a network connection | ||
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An intrusion detection system (IDS) attempts to block a connection but fails. The event emitted by the IDS is considered an alert: | ||
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[source,json] | ||
---- | ||
{ | ||
"source": { | ||
"address": "10.42.42.42", | ||
"ip": "10.42.42.42", | ||
"port": 38842 | ||
}, | ||
"destination": { | ||
"address": "10.42.42.1", | ||
"ip": "10.42.42.1", | ||
"port": 443 | ||
}, | ||
... | ||
"event": { | ||
"kind": "alert", <1> | ||
"category": [ <2> | ||
"intrusion_detection", | ||
"network" | ||
], | ||
"type": [ <3> | ||
"connection", | ||
"denied" | ||
], | ||
"outcome": "failure" <4> | ||
} | ||
} | ||
---- | ||
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<1> The IDS emitted this event when a detection rule generated an alert. The `event.kind` is set to `alert`. | ||
<2> With the event emitted from a network IDS device, the event is categorized both as `network` and `intrusion_detection`. | ||
<3> The alert event is a `connection` that was `denied` by the IDS' configuration. | ||
<4> The IDS experienced an issue when attempting to deny the connection. Since the action taken by the IDS failed, the outcome is set as `failure`. |
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