Collect Barracuda Email Security Gateway logs

Supported in:

This document explains how to ingest Barracuda Email Security Gateway logs to Google Security Operations using Bindplane.

Barracuda Email Security Gateway is an email security appliance that provides inbound filtering for spam, viruses, spoofing, and phishing attacks. It also provides outbound filtering for data loss prevention and email encryption. The gateway logs all email transactions, policy actions, and threat detections via syslog.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

  • A Google SecOps instance.
  • A Windows 2016 or later or Linux host with systemd.
  • If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open per the Bindplane agent requirements.
  • Privileged access to the Barracuda Email Security Gateway management console.

Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file

  1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
  2. Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agent.
  3. Download the Ingestion Authentication File.
    • Save the file securely on the system where Bindplane will be installed.

Get Google SecOps customer ID

  1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
  2. Go to SIEM Settings > Profile.
  3. Copy and save the Customer ID from the Organization Details section.

Install the Bindplane agent

Install the Bindplane agent on your Windows or Linux operating system according to the following instructions.

Windows installation

  1. Open the Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.

  2. Run the following command:

    msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet

Linux installation

  1. Open a terminal with root or sudo privileges.

  2. Run the following command:

    sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh)" install_unix.sh

Additional Installation Resources

For additional installation options, consult this installation guide.

Configure the Bindplane agent to ingest Syslog and send to Google SecOps

  1. Access the Configuration File:

    • Locate the config.yaml file. Typically, it's in the /observiq-otel-collector/ directory on Linux or in the installation directory on Windows.
    • Open the file using a text editor (for example, nano, vi, or Notepad).

  2. Edit the config.yaml file as follows:

    receivers:
    tcplog:
        # Replace the port and IP address as required
        listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"

exporters:
    chronicle/chronicle_w_labels:
        compression: gzip
        # Adjust the path to the credentials file you downloaded in Step 1
        creds_file_path: '/path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json'
        # Replace with your actual customer ID from Step 2
        customer_id: <your_customer_id>
        endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
        # Add optional ingestion labels for better organization
        log_type: 'BARRACUDA_EMAIL'
        raw_log_field: body
        ingestion_labels:

service:
    pipelines:
        logs/source0__chronicle_w_labels-0:
            receivers:
                - tcplog
            exporters:
                - chronicle/chronicle_w_labels
  • Replace the port and IP address as required in your infrastructure.
  • Replace <your_customer_id> with the actual Customer ID.
  • Update /path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json to the file path where the authentication file was saved in Step 1.

Restart the Bindplane agent to apply the changes

To restart the Bindplane agent in Linux:

  1. Run the following command:

    sudo systemctl restart observiq-otel-collector

  2. Verify the service is running:

    sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector

  3. Check logs for errors:

    sudo journalctl -u observiq-otel-collector -f

To restart the Bindplane agent in Windows:

  1. Choose one of the following options:

    • Command Prompt or PowerShell as administrator:
    net stop observiq-otel-collector && net start observiq-otel-collector
    • Services console:
      1. Press Win+R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
      2. Locate observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector.
      3. Right-click and select Restart.

  2. Verify the service is running:

    sc query observiq-otel-collector

  3. Check logs for errors:

    type "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\log\collector.log"

Configure syslog forwarding on Barracuda Email Security Gateway

  1. Sign in to the Barracuda Email Security Gateway web interface.
  2. Go to ADVANCED > Advanced Networking.
  3. In the Syslog section, configure the following fields:
    • Syslog Server: Enter the IP address or hostname of the Bindplane agent host (for example, 192.168.1.100).
    • Syslog Port: Enter 514 (or your configured Bindplane agent port).
    • Syslog Protocol: Select TCP.

  4. Click Save Changes.

Verify syslog delivery

  1. After configuring syslog forwarding, send a test email through the gateway.
  2. To confirm that the gateway is sending syslog data, go to ADVANCED > Troubleshooting and view the Syslog section to monitor real-time mail syslog output.

  3. On the Bindplane agent host, verify that logs are being received:

    sudo journalctl -u observiq-otel-collector -f

For more information, see the Barracuda Email Security Gateway syslog documentation.

UDM mapping table

Log Field UDM Mapping Logic
dst_domain target.hostname Value of dst_domain field.
dst_domain target.asset.hostname Value of dst_domain field.
geoip target.location.country_or_region Value of geoip field.
hdr_from network.email.from Value of hdr_from field if it is an email address.
hdr_to network.email.to Value of hdr_to field if it is an email address, otherwise parsed from JSON array in hdr_to field.
host principal.hostname Value of host field.
host principal.asset.hostname Value of host field.
message_id network.email.mail_id Value of message_id field.
product_log_id metadata.product_log_id Value of product_log_id field.
queue_id security_result.detection_fields Value of queue_id field.
recipient_email network.email.to Value of recipient_email field if it is not empty or -.
recipients.action security_result.action Mapped to ALLOW if value is "allowed", otherwise mapped to BLOCK.
recipients.action security_result.action_details Value of recipients.action field.
recipients.delivery_detail security_result.detection_fields Value of recipients.delivery_detail field.
recipients.delivered security_result.detection_fields Value of recipients.delivered field.
recipients.email network.email.to Value of recipients.email field if it is an email address.
recipients.reason security_result.detection_fields Value of recipients.reason field.
recipients.reason_extra security_result.detection_fields Value of recipients.reason_extra field.
recipients.taxonomy security_result.detection_fields Value of recipients.taxonomy field.
service security_result.summary Value of service field.
size network.received_bytes Value of size field converted to an unsigned integer.
src_ip principal.ip Value of src_ip field if it is not empty or 0.0.0.0.
src_ip principal.asset.ip Value of src_ip field if it is not empty or 0.0.0.0.
src_ip security_result.about.ip Value of src_ip field if it is not empty or 0.0.0.0.
subject network.email.subject Value of subject field.
target_ip target.ip Value of target_ip field.
target_ip target.asset.ip Value of target_ip field.
timestamp metadata.event_timestamp Parsed timestamp from the log entry.
metadata.event_type Hardcoded to EMAIL_TRANSACTION.
metadata.log_type Hardcoded to BARRACUDA_EMAIL.
metadata.vendor_name Hardcoded to "Barracuda".
network.application_protocol Set to SMTP if process field contains "smtp".
network.direction Set to INBOUND if process field contains "inbound", set to OUTBOUND if process field contains "outbound".
security_result.action Set based on a combination of action, action_code, service, and delivered fields.
security_result.category Set based on a combination of action, reason, and other fields.

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