Configuring Sophos Central Connectors

This connector allows Stellar Cyber to collect data from Sophos Central and add the records to the data lake and, optionally, to issue the contain a host response action.

Integration with Sophos enables organizations to monitor and detect security threats across their network, including endpoints, servers, and cloud infrastructure, while providing quick incident response capabilities. By combining Sophos' security solutions with Stellar Cyber's advanced security analytics and machine learning algorithms, organizations can effectively defend against cyber attacks.

Stellar Cyber connectors with the Collect function (collectors) may skip collecting some data when the ingestion volume is large, which potentially can lead to data loss. This can happen when the processing capacity of the collector is exceeded.

Connector Overview: Sophos Central

Capabilities

  • Collect: Yes

  • Respond: Yes

  • Native Alerts Mapped: Yes

  • Runs on: DP

  • Interval: Configurable (applicable to Collect only)

Collected Data

Content Type

Index

Locating Records

Alerts

Events

Syslog

Assets

msg_class:

sophos_alerts

sophos_events

msg_origin.source:

sophos_alerts

sophos_events

msg_origin.vendor

sophos

msg_origin.category:

endpoint

If there is asset information in the logs for Events and Alerts, the detected assets are reported in the Assets Index.

Domain

<API Access URL>

where <API Access URL> is a variable from the configuration of this connector

Response Actions

Action

Required Fields

Contain (Isolate) Host

sophos.hostid_assetid (endpoint_id)

Third Party Native Alert Integration Details

This connector ingests logs from Sophos Central to get the raw alerts that are stored in the Syslog index.

Stellar Cyber maps Sophos alerts and events. The alerts and events are read from the Syslog index, enriched with Stellar Cyber fields, and mapped (with deduplication) to the Alerts index.

Deduplication is by tenantid and sophos.id.

The subtype uses sophos.type. Only Endpoint-related alerts and events are integrated.

For details, see Integration of Third Party Native Alerts.

Required Credentials

  • Prior to 4.3.5:

    Respond not available. Collect requires API Access URL, x-api-key header value, and the Authorization header value

  • As of 4.3.5:

    Connectors configured for Collect ONLY can use the above or Client ID and Client Secret

    Connectors with Collect and Respond or Respond only must use Client ID and Client Secret

Locating Records

To search the alerts or events in the Alerts index or to search the Original Records in the Syslog index, use the queries:

  • msg_class: sophos_alerts AND event.type: Endpoint

  • msg_class: sophos_events AND event.type: Endpoint

               Let us know if you find the above overview useful.

Adding a Sophos Central Connector

To add a Sophos Central connector:

  1. Enable access to Sophos Central
  2. Add the connector in Stellar Cyber
  3. Test the connector
  4. Verify ingestion

Enabling Sophos Central Access

Before you create a Sophos Connector, you must create a Token and get the key values.

Use our example as a guideline, as you might be using a different software version.

  1. Login to Sophos Central Website (https://central.sophos.com) as the user you want to associate with your Stellar Cyber connector.

  2. If you are going to configure the Stellar Cyber Sophos connector to Collect only, you can use an API Access URL method for authentication. If you anticipate using the Respond (with or without the Collect function), you must use Client ID/Client Secret for authentication. Select the appropriate section below to obtain the needed credentials.

Adding the Connector to Stellar Cyber

With the token values ready, you can add a Sophos Central 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 Endpoint Security from the Category drop-down.

  5. Choose Sophos Central from the Type drop-down.

  6. For Function, enable Collect. If you want to be able to contain hosts, also check the box for Respond.

  7. Enter a Name.

    Notes:
    • This field does not accept multibyte characters.
    • It is recommended that you follow a naming convention such as tenantname-connectortype.
  8. Choose a 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. (Optional) When the Function is Collect, you can apply Log Filters. For information, see Managing Log Filters.

  11. Click Next. The Configuration tab appears. There is a toggle for Auth Method. Depending on what you selected as the Function in the previous screen, the authentication method: either API Key / Header or Client ID / Client Secret, will be selected.

    The configuration fields for the API Key / Header authentication method are as follows:

    The asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

    The configuration fields for the Client ID / Client Secret authentication method are as follows.

    The asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

  12. For the Auth Method of API Key/Header:

    1. Enter the API Access URL you obtained above.

    2. Using the Headers information you noted above, enter the x-api-key header value and the Authorization header value.

      The Authorization header value must include the string "Basic".

  13. For the Auth Method of Client ID / Client Secret:

    1. Enter the Client ID and Client Secret you obtained above.

  14. Set the Interval (min). This is how often the logs are collected.

  15. Choose the Content Type. The logs for Alerts and Events are supported.

    The Sophos API is a Tenant API. This Sophos Central connector pulls data for individual Sophos tenants (not for organizations or partners).

  16. Click Next. The final confirmation tab appears.

  17. Click Submit.

    To pull data, a connector must be added to a Data Analyzer profile if it is running on the Data Processor.

  18. If you are adding rather than editing a connector with the Collect function enabled and you specified for it to run on a Data Processor, a dialog box now prompts you to add the connector to the default Data Analyzer profile. Click Cancel to leave it out of the default profile or click OK to add it to the default profile.

    • This prompt only occurs during the initial create connector process when Collect is enabled.

    • Certain connectors can be run on either a Sensor or a Data Processor, and some are best run on one versus the other. In any case, when the connector is run on a Data Processor, that connector must be included in a Data Analyzer profile. If you leave it out of the default profile, you must add it to another profile. You need the Administrator Root scope to add the connector to the Data Analyzer profile. If you do not have privileges to configure Data Analyzer profiles, a dialog displays recommending you ask your administrator to add it for you.

    • The first time you add a Collect connector to a profile, it pulls data immediately and then not again until the scheduled interval has elapsed. If the connector configuration dialog did not offer an option to set a specific interval, it is run every five minutes. Exceptions to this default interval are the Proofpoint on Demand (pulls data every 1 hour) and Azure Event Hub (continuously pulls data) connectors. The intervals for each connector are listed in the Connector Types & Functions topic.

    The Connector Overview appears.

The new connector is immediately active. It does not collect any historical logs.

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.

Stellar Cyber conducts a basic connectivity test for the connector and reports a success or failure result. A successful test indicates that you entered all of the connector information correctly.

To aid troubleshooting your connector, the dialog remains open until you explicitly close it by using the X button. If the test fails, you can select the  button from the same row to review and correct issues.

The connector status is updated every five (5) minutes. A successful test clears the connector status, but if issues persist, the status reverts to failed after a minute.

Repeat the test as needed.

ClosedDisplay sample messages...

Success !

Failure with summary of issue:

Show More example detail:

If the test fails, the common HTTP status error codes are as follows:

HTTP Error Code HTTP Standard Error Name Explanation Recommendation
400 Bad Request This error occurs when there is an error in the connector configuration.

Did you configure the connector correctly?

401 Unauthorized

This error occurs when an authentication credential is invalid or when a user does not have sufficient privileges to access a specific API.

Did you enter your credentials correctly?

Are your credentials expired?

Are your credentials entitled or licensed for that specific resource?

403 Forbidden This error occurs when the permission or scope is not correct in a valid credential.

Did you enter your credentials correctly?

Do you have the required role or permissions for that credential?

404 Not Found This error occurs when a URL path does not resolve to an entity. Did you enter your API URL correctly?
429 Too Many Requests

This error occurs when the API server receives too much traffic or if a user’s license or entitlement quota is exceeded.

The server or user license/quota will eventually recover. The connector will periodically retry the query.

If this occurs unexpectedly or too often, work with your API provider to investigate the server limits, user licensing, or quotas.

For a full list of codes, refer to HTTP response status codes.

Verifying Ingestion

To verify ingestion:

  1. Click Investigate | Threat Hunting. The Interflow Search tab appears.
  2. Change the Indices to Syslog. Or change the Indices to Assets to view asset data ingested from the logs for Events and Alerts. The table immediately updates to show ingested Interflow records.