Documentation
QRadar 7.3.1, should you upgrade?
The IBM QRadar 7.3.1 was released in the beginning of 2018. However, several companies still using past versions of the tool. One of the most asked question every time a new release is out is “Why should I upgrade?”. To answer this question, I compiled a list of interesting improvements in the past four major releases. This list was based on the official IBM release notes and several QRadar open mics.
- Indexing offence by any field, including custom fields
- Customize columns on log activity tab, create custom layouts
- See average EPS for each log source, on admin tab and reports
- Support of if/then/else and case statements on AQL queries
- Release of a software version of QRadar
- All logs and flows are compressed when stored
- Paging on searches (improving search performance)
- Change network interface configuration through the web console (IP address, interfaces, bonding, etc)
- Change firewall rules through the web console
- New APIs for QVM and incident retrieval
- Resource restrictions for specific users (searches)
- X-Force is already included in the QRadar subscription
- Reference sets are now domain specific, each client has their own domain set
- Data retention buckets now can be per tenant
- Offence assignment is improved and offence screen support tenants
- Web interface for DSM editor
- AQL support nested queries
- IBM Security Master Console now included with qradar. Provides a holistic view of the environment
- EPS/FPM is now a shared pool that can be distributed across devices
- QRadar now runs on RedHat 7.3, which allows LVM for partition management. It also uses the SystemD for service management, meaning that you have to use “systemclt” to manage things in the system, like service start/stop
- Activation keys are not necessary anymore. You select the type on a list
- No more limit on log source numbers. The limit is by EPS
- Tenant management is improved, the tenants can create their own reference sets and custom properties.
- AQL now supports advanced statements, such as session queries, bitwise operators and functions.
- Apps now can be outsourced to an external AppNode
- New interfaces for remote networks and remote services
- Java deployment editor doesn’t exist anymore, all device management happens through the admin interface
- New login screen, new logos and design.
- New app called Pulse, very interesting dashboards, provide “SOC Views” and fancy graphs
- Custom properties can now be based in AQL queries
- Now it is possible to identify if QRadar inverted the flow in the network activity tab
- Minor patch updates does not cause downtime anymore
- Event collection now runs as a separated service, meaning you can restart just the event collection in a device
- New left side menu, allows creating shortcuts and favourites
- Browser-based notifications
- New “QRadar Deployment Intelligence App” provides a lot of system health information
- Possibility to enforce password policy
- New “QRadar Assistant App” comes already with QRadar. It gives tips on how to use the tool, suggest apps, and provide a live feed of the IBM Security Support twitter.
- Log source auto-detection can now be controlled, allowing only certain types of log sources to be auto-detected
- Auto-discovery of event properties.
- New offering of a Data Storage solution for QRadar, this allows to some of the logs to be collected only and not parsed by the pipeline (saving EPS). This can be interesting if one of the devices is on debug mode.
- Support to JSON formats in log source extension parsing
- AQL can now be targeted by event processor, improving search time
- Geolocation is improved. Now you can manually enter the geolocation of IPs on the network hierarchy, so maps are correct.
- New App Developer Center, so people can develop their own apps with the IBM SDK
- Rules can now be triggered by distance on geolocation. “If a traffic comes from more than 100km from here”..
- The vulnerability manager and risk manager are completely redesigned.
- The incident forensics module supports packet capture and more advanced features
QRadar Certification – Certified Deployment Professional (C2150-196)
IBM recently released the new “IBM Security QRadar Certified Deployment Professional” or also called ” IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.1 Implementation”. For the most of the people certifications are just accomplishments to attach on their CV, but the real value of the certification is not the paper itself, but is the study to get the certification. Even people that work years with the product, when studying to the certification discover new features or new ways to work with the solution, and being certified (after the proper study) gives you the necessary confidence that at least you already saw all the features of the product and you are able to use the tool in its best way.
The new certification (code C2150-196) consists in a 90-minutes test containing 64 questions involving all the phases of the project. From installing the hardware to tuning the rules. As mentioned in the first paragraph, studying and getting certified will give you a broader vision about the product, not only the tasks that you are used. The test passing score is 70%, a high score compared to another certifications from IBM, and as it involves all phases of the project, you should dedicate part of you time to study the tool.
The best way to prepare yourself to the certification is exploring the tool. Don’t try to go to the certification having never even logged on QRadar. Another good source of information, is the study guide from IBM that you can find on this link. It basically provides you with all the topics of the certification.
A personal tip to you is focus in the following categories: Difference between the versions (SIEM, LogManager, etc); theory behind the offences (how it is generates, how to configure the rules, etc); Interface usage (where can you find the features, how to do things in the interface, etc); and Solution Architecture (Components).
Another suggestion for people who have budget for it, go for the IBM classes. I went to two QRadar courses (2 years ago) and both were very helpful and practical. The courses were filled with useful exercises and hands-on activities. The bad point is the prices, but usually the companies pays for the training. To learn more about the IBM QRadar course, check this link out.
After studying the study guide (or attending the official training), exploring the tool and practicing the theory, you will be good to go for the certification. To get more information about how to schedule your certification visit the official IBM learning center.
Configuring the Log Sources
When implementing a large QRadar environment we can face several types of log sources across the network. QRadar support more than one hundred type of devices out-of-the-box and can integrate with any another log source using customized parsers. The log source parsers are known in QRadar as Device Support Modules (DSMs).
A personal recommendation to integrate log sources with QRadar is: always use syslog when it is possible. Why? Basically syslog is the standard log protocol for many devices, and QRadar can easily collect, identify and receive logs using this protocol. The syslog typically uses UDP connections, so make the log collection more fast and with almost zero latency. Make sure that all the firewalls of your environment allow traffic to QRadar in the port 514 (default syslog port).
IBM provide a good documentation explaining thorougly how to configure each type of device to send logs to QRadar. You can find the DSM configuration guide in the following link:
QRadar_721_DSMConfigurationGuide
Do you have another tips to configure your devices? Share with us!
Migration from IBM TSIEM to QRadar
A couple of months ago one friend ask me how to migrate from the IBM TSIEM solution to the QRadar.
Pause: For the folks that don’t know what is the Tivoli Security Information and Event Management (aka. TSIEM), it was the old SIEM solution from IBM that was discontinued in 2011, when IBM acquired the Q1Labs (and the QRadar). Who only worked with TSIEM will be impressed about how simple QRadar is compared to the TSIEM.
After some research, I found this documentation from IBM explaining thoroughly how to migrate from the old TSIEM solution to the QRadar. The documentation is based on the version 7.0 of the QRadar, but it can be easily used as base for the migration for any QRadar version (including the new 7.2).
QRadar Official Documentation
Finding the official documentation sometimes is a painful task. In this post you can find the IBM official product documentation for all the recent QRadar versions.
Current IBM QRadar 7.2.1 Documentation:
IBM QRadar 7.2.1 SIEM: All the documents related with the SIEM solution, including administration guide, user guide, etc.
IBM QRadar 7.2.1 Vulnerability Manager: All the documentation related with the new Vulnerability Manager feature.
IBM QRadar 7.2.1 Risk Manager: Documentation regarding with the Risk Manager feature, part of the QRadar framework.
Old Versions:
IBM QRadar 7.1 MR2 SIEM: All the documents related with the SIEM solution version 7.1.
IBM QRadar 7.0 SIEM: All the documents related with the SIEM solution version 7.1.
For more QRadar documentation, please visit the IBM QRadar Documentation Centre.
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