Configuring F5 BIG-IP Firewall Connectors

You can connect Stellar Cyber to firewalls so that you can quickly and easily implement firewall rules on those firewalls from within Stellar Cyber, while you are threat hunting. You can configure firewall actions or manually trigger a firewall action from the event display. For either action you must already have your firewall connected.

Connector Overview: F5 BIG-IP Firewall

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Adding an F5 BIG-IP Firewall Connector

To add a new F5 BIG-IP firewall connector:

1. Create firewall rules
2. Add the connector in Stellar Cyber
3. Test the connector

You can also send F5 BIG-IP telemetry data to a sensor using API calls.

Creating Firewall Rules

To trigger firewall actions you must have rules on your F5 BIG-IP firewall that you can trigger. We suggest two rules, one to block outgoing destinations and one to block incoming.

On your F5 BIG-IP firewall:

1. Create two address lists. You will use these when adding the connector in Stellar Cyber. When a firewall action is triggered, Stellar Cyber adds the IP address to one of these lists. For our examples, we used dst_group and src_group.

2. Create a deny policy to all destinations with the src_group as the source.

3. Create a deny policy with the dst_group as the destination and all sources.

The Block IP action adds an IP address to the corresponding address list. The Unblock IP action removes the IP address from the corresponding address list.

Adding the Connector in Stellar Cyber

To add a new F5 BIG-IP firewall connector in Stellar Cyber:

1. Log in to Stellar Cyber.

2. Click System | Integration | Connectors. The Connector Overview appears.

   

3. Click Create. The General tab of the Add Connector screen appears. The information on this tab cannot be changed after you add the connector.

   

   The asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

4. Choose Firewall from the Category drop-down.

5. Choose F5 BIG-IP Firewall from the Type drop-down.

6. For this connector, the supported Function is Respond, which is enabled already.

7. Enter a Name.

   This field does not accept multibyte characters.

8. Choose a Tenant Name. The Interflow records created by this connector include this tenant name.

9. Choose the device on which to run the connector.

   • Certain connectors can be run on either a Sensor or a Data Processor. The available devices are displayed in the Run On menu. If you want to associate your collector with a sensor, you must have configured that sensor prior to configuring the connector or you will not be able to select it during initial configuration. If you select Data Processor, you will need to associate the connector with a Data Analyzer profile as a separate step. That step is not required for a sensor, which is configured with only one possible profile.

   • If the device you're connecting to is on premises, we recommend you run on the local sensor. If you're connecting to a cloud service, we recommend you run on the DP.

10. Click Next. The Configuration tab appears.

    

    The asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

11. Enter the User Name to log in to the firewall. This user must have access rights to modify a rule.

12. Enter the Password to log in to the firewall.

    The password should not include non-ASCII special characters.

13. Enter the Device IP Address. This is the management IP address for the firewall.

14. Enter the Source Address List to which to add the IP address. This is the source address list you created that is used to include IP addresses that should be blocked as source.

15. Enter the Destination Address List to which to add the IP address. This is the destination address list you created that is used to include IP addresses that should be blocked as destination.

16. Enter the Device Port. This is the API port.

17. Click Next. The final confirmation tab appears.

    

18. Click Submit.

The new firewall connector is immediately active.

Testing the Connector

When you add (or edit) a connector, we recommend that you run a test to validate the connectivity parameters you entered. (The test validates only the authentication / connectivity; it does not validate data flow).

1. Click System | Integrations | Connectors. The Connector Overview appears.

   

2. Locate the connector that you added, or modified, or that you want to test.

3. Click Test at the right side of that row. The test runs immediately.

   Note that you may run only one test at a time.