From https://www.zeek.org/:
Zeek is a powerful network analysis framework that is much different from the typical IDS you may know. (Zeek is the new name for the long-established Bro system. Note that parts of the system retain the "Bro" name, and it also often appears in the documentation and distributions.)
Bro logs are stored in /nsm/bro/logs. They are consumed by syslog-ng, parsed and augmented by Logstash, stored in Elasticsearch, and viewable in Kibana.
By default, we configure Bro to output in JSON for higher performance and better parsing. We recommend that most folks leave Bro configured for JSON output. If you really need the traditional Bro TSV (Tab Separated Values) format, you can disable JSON:
sudo sed -i 's|@load json-logs|#@load json-logs|g' /opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro
and then restart Bro:
sudo so-bro-restart
Bro monitors your network traffic and creates logs, such as:
- TCP/UDP/ICMP connections
- For more information, see:
https://docs.zeek.org/en/latest/scripts/base/protocols/conn/main.bro.html#type-Conn::Info
- DNS activity
- For more information ,see:
https://docs.zeek.org/en/latest/scripts/base/protocols/dns/main.bro.html#type-DNS::Info
- FTP activity
- For more information, see:
https://docs.zeek.org/en/latest/scripts/base/protocols/ftp/info.bro.html#type-FTP::Info
- HTTP requests and replies
- For more information, see:
https://docs.zeek.org/en/latest/scripts/base/protocols/http/main.bro.html#type-HTTP::Info
- SSL/TLS handshake info
- For more information, see:
https://docs.zeek.org/en/latest/scripts/base/protocols/ssl/main.bro.html#type-SSL::Info
- Bro notices
- For more information, see:
https://docs.zeek.org/en/latest/scripts/base/frameworks/notice/main.bro.html#type-Notice::Info
As you can see, Bro log data can provide a wealth of information to the analyst, all easily accessible through Kibana.
You can add your own Intel to
/opt/bro/share/bro/intel/intel.dat.- When editing
/opt/bro/share/intel/intel.dat, ensure there are no leading/trailing spaces or lines, and that only (single) tabs are used as field delimiters. - If you experience an error, or do not notice
/nsm/bro/logs/current/intel.logbeing generated, try having a look in/nsm/bro/logs/current/reporter.logfor clues. - You may also want to restart Bro after making changes, by running the following command:
sudo so-bro-restart.
- When editing
For more information, please see:
To install and configure an Alienvault OTX Connector, please see:
/opt/bro/etc/node.cfg
We compile Bro to support both PF_RING and AF-PACKET so that you can spin up multiple Bro workers to handle more traffic. Modern versions of Setup now default to AF-PACKET.
pin_cpus setting:/opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro
- You can add custom scripts in
/opt/bro/share/bro/policy/and then reference the scripts in/opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro.
Below is an example how to do so:
Create a new directory under
/opt/bro/share/bro/policy/.sudo mkdir /opt/bro/share/bro/policy/custom-scriptsAdd your custom script(s) and
__load__.broto this directory.Modify
__load__.broto reference the scripts in thecustom-scriptsdirectory:@load ./script1.bro@load ./script2.broEdit
/opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.broso that it will load the new scripts in/opt/bro/share/bro/policy/custom-scripts, by adding@load custom-scriptsat the bottom of the file and saving the file.Restart Bro.
sudo so-bro-restartCheck
/nsm/bro/logs/current/loaded_scripts.logto see if your custom script(s) has/have been loaded.Check
/nsm/bro/logs/current/reporter.logfor clues if your custom script(s) is/are not working as desired.
To check and see if a Bro script has fired a Notice, go to Kibana and check our Bro Notices dashboard. Alternatively, you can check for entries in /nsm/bro/logs/current/notice.log.
PLEASE NOTE: In a distributed deployment, all custom scripts created
under /opt/bro/share/bro/policy/ on a master server will be
replicated to sensors via Salt, however, they will not be enabled, as
/opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro is not replicated. Therefore, you
will either need to manually add a reference to the scripts in
/opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro, or add additional configuration
in /opt/onionsalt/salt/sensor/init.sls for Salt to replicate this
information.
- Make a symlink to
local.bro:
sudo ln -s /opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro /opt/onionsalt/salt/sensor/bro/local.bro
Then add the following to /opt/onionsalt/salt/sensor/init.sls:
localbro: file.managed: - name: /opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro - source: salt://sensor/bro/local.bro
Then test, using:
sudo salt "SENSOR" state.highstate
You can then have Bro automatically restart upon a detected change in local.bro from the master by modifying init.sls similar to the following:
restart-bro
cmd.wait:
- name: /usr/sbin/nsm_sensor_ps-restart --only-bro
- cwd: /
- watch:
- file: /opt/bro/share/bro/site/local.bro
/opt/bro/etc/broctl.cfg
- To configure email notifications, please see:
Email#how-do-i-configure-bro-to-send-emails
/etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf
- To forward Bro logs to an external syslog collector, please see:
ThirdPartyIntegration#how-do-i-send-bro-and-ossec-logs-to-an-external-syslog-collector
- To view "top-like" information for Bro logs, consider using BroTop.
- "Brotop lets you stream your bro logs to the browser for easy debugging and a real-time glimpse into whats being processed".
- Written in Go, BroTop is a dependency-free binary that can be downloaded and run immediately, auto-detecting Bro log paths.
- For more information about BroTop, please see:
If you find that /nsm/bro/spool/tmp contains lots of old crash files, you can clean them up with:
sudo su sguil -c '/opt/bro/bin/broctl cleanup --all'