Syslog

Scanner supports Syslog, which is a standard protocol used for message logging in various systems, especially in network devices and Unix/Linux-based systems. Many security tools emit Syslog data.

In order for Scanner to receive Syslog events, you need to configure a worfklow to push these logs to an S3 bucket that Scanner is linked to.

We recommend running Fluentd to receive Syslog data over the Syslog protocol and forward it to your S3 bucket, writing output files in JSON format.

Step 1: Set up a log flow from Syslog to Fluentd to S3

You can follow the Fluentd documentation to configure it to receive Syslog input and write output logs to your S3 bucket. Make sure to configure the output format to be JSON. See the following Fluentd articles:

When you configure your syslog input module, in the parsing section, make sure to set keep_time_key to true so that Fluentd adds a time field to your log events. See: Fluentd syslog parser module - keep_time_key.

Step 2: Link the S3 bucket to Scanner

If you haven't done so already, link the S3 bucket containing your Syslog logs to Scanner using the Linking AWS Accounts guide.

Step 3: Set up an S3 Import Rule in Scanner

  1. Within Scanner, navigate to Settings > S3 Import Rules.

  2. Click Create Rule.

  3. For Rule name, type a name like my_team_name_syslog_logs.

  4. For Destination Index, choose the index where you want these logs to be searchable in Scanner.

  5. For Status, set to Active if you want to start indexing the data immediately.

  6. For Source Type, we recommend syslog:generic, but you are free to choose any name. However, out-of-the-box detection rules will expect syslog:generic.

  7. For AWS Account, choose the account that contains the S3 bucket containing Syslog logs.

  8. For S3 Bucket, choose the S3 bucket containing Syslog logs.

  9. For S3 Key Prefix, type the prefix (i.e. directory path) of the S3 objects that Fluentd is writing.

  10. For File type, choose JsonLines with Gzip compression.

  11. For Timestamp extractors, under Column name, type time. This is the field in each log event that contains the timestamp information.

  12. Click Preview rule to try it out. Check that the S3 keys you expect are appearing, and check that the log events inside are being parsed properly with the timestamp detected properly.

  13. When you're ready, click Create.

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