Collect Cofense logs

Parser Version: 2.0

Supported in:

Google SecOps SIEM

This document explains how to ingest Cofense logs into Google Security Operations using the Bindplane agent.

Cofense Triage is a phishing incident response platform that automates the detection, analysis, and response to phishing emails reported by employees. It clusters similar threats, assigns risk scores, extracts indicators of compromise (IOCs), and integrates with security orchestration tools to accelerate phishing incident resolution.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• A Google SecOps instance
• Windows Server 2016 or later, or Linux host with systemd
• Network connectivity between the Bindplane agent and the Cofense Triage server
• If running behind a proxy, ensure that firewall ports are open according to the Bindplane agent requirements
• Privileged access to the Cofense Triage administration console
• Cofense Triage version 1.20 or later

Get Google SecOps credentials for the Bindplane agent

To authenticate the Bindplane agent to Google SecOps, choose one of the following methods:

• New deployments: Use the Chronicle API (Option 1).
• Legacy deployments: Continue using the ingestion authentication file (Option 2) until the Ingestion API is discontinued on July 20, 2027.

Option 1: Create a service account for the Chronicle API (recommended)

1. Sign in to the Google Cloud console and select the Google Cloud project that is linked to your Google SecOps instance.
2. Go to IAM & Admin > Service Accounts.
3. Click Create service account.
4. Provide the following configuration details:
   • Service account name: Enter a name for the account (for example, bindplane-ingest).
   • Service account description: Enter a description (for example, Bindplane agent log ingestion).
5. Click Create and continue.
6. In the Grant this service account access to project section, click Select a role and select Chronicle Editor.
7. Click Continue, and then click Done.
8. Click the service account you created, and then go to the Keys tab.
9. Click Add key > Create new key.
10. Select JSON and click Create. The key file is downloaded to your computer.
11. Save the key file as ingestion-auth.json in the Bindplane collector directory (/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json on Linux or C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\ingestion-auth.json on Windows), or update creds_file_path in config.yaml to match the path where you save it.
12. Go to IAM & Admin > Settings and copy the Project number. You'll need it for the exporter configuration.

Note: The JSON key is a credential. Restrict access to the file on the Bindplane host and rotate the key according to your organization's policy.

Option 2: Download the ingestion authentication file (legacy)

1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
2. Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agents.
3. Download the ingestion authentication file.
4. Save the file securely on the system where the Bindplane agent will be installed.

Note: This file authenticates the agent to the legacy Ingestion API (malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com), which Google has scheduled for end of life on July 20, 2027. Plan to move to Option 1 before that date.

Get the 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.

   Note: The customer ID is required for configuring the Bindplane agent exporter.

Install the Bindplane agent

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

Windows installation

1. Open 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
   

3. Wait for the installation to complete.

4. Verify the installation by running:

   sc query observiq-otel-collector
   

   The service status should be RUNNING.

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
   

3. Wait for the installation to complete.

4. Verify the installation by running:

   sudo systemctl status observiq-otel-collector
   

   The service status should be active (running).

Additional installation resources

For additional installation options and troubleshooting, see Bindplane agent installation guide.

Note: The Chronicle API exporter configuration requires Bindplane collector v1.106.0 or later. The previous commands install the latest release. If you're updating an existing installation, upgrade the collector before changing the configuration.

Configure Bindplane agent to ingest syslog and send logs to Google SecOps

Locate the configuration file

• Linux:

  sudo nano /opt/observiq-otel-collector/config.yaml
  

• Windows:

  notepad "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\config.yaml"
  

Edit the configuration file

1. Replace the entire contents of config.yaml with the following configuration:

   receivers:
     tcplog:
       listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"
   
   exporters:
     chronicle/cofense:
       protocol: https
       # Region of your instance, for example us, europe, asia-southeast1
       location: <LOCATION>
       # Project number of the Google Cloud project linked to the instance
       project: '<PROJECT_NUMBER>'
       compression: gzip
       creds_file_path: '/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json'
       customer_id: 'your-customer-id'
       endpoint: chronicle.googleapis.com
       log_type: COFENSE_TRIAGE
       raw_log_field: body
   
   service:
     pipelines:
       logs/cofense_to_chronicle:
         receivers:
           - tcplog
         exporters:
           - chronicle/cofense
   

2. Replace the following placeholders:

   • Receiver configuration:

     • listen_address: IP address and port to listen on:

       • 0.0.0.0:514 to listen on all interfaces on port 514 (requires root on Linux)
       • 0.0.0.0:1514 to listen on an unprivileged port (recommended for Linux non-root)

     • Receiver type options:

       • tcplog for TCP syslog (recommended for Cofense Triage)
       • udplog for UDP syslog

   • Exporter configuration:

     • creds_file_path: Full path to the service account JSON key file (Option 1):

       • Linux: /opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json
       • Windows: C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\ingestion-auth.json

     • customer_id: Google SecOps customer ID

     • location: Replace <LOCATION> with the region of your Google SecOps instance (for example, us, europe, or asia-southeast1). The exporter prefixes chronicle.googleapis.com with this value. See Regional Endpoints for the complete list.

     • project: Replace <PROJECT_NUMBER> with the project number from IAM & Admin > Settings.

     • endpoint: Keep set to chronicle.googleapis.com.

Legacy ingestion API exporter

• If you use the ingestion authentication file from Option 2, replace the exporters block with the following. Set creds_file_path to the path to the ingestion authentication file, and if your instance is outside the US, replace malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com with your regional endpoint (for example, europe-malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com).

  exporters:
    chronicle/cofense:
      compression: gzip
      creds_file_path: '/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json'
      customer_id: 'your-customer-id'
      endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
      log_type: COFENSE_TRIAGE
      raw_log_field: body
  

Note: This exporter will stop working when the Ingestion API is discontinued on July 20, 2027.

Save the configuration file

After editing, save the file:

• Linux: Press Ctrl+O, then Enter, then Ctrl+X
• Windows: Click File > Save

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 the 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 the logs for errors:

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

Configure Cofense Triage syslog forwarding

Cofense Triage can forward phishing report events and alerts in CEF (Common Event Format) via syslog to external SIEM collectors.

Enable syslog output in Cofense Triage

1. Sign in to the Cofense Triage web interface with administrator credentials.
2. Go to Administration > System > Syslog.
3. Enable the Syslog toggle.
4. Configure the following syslog parameters:
   • Syslog Server: Enter the IP address or hostname of the Bindplane agent host (for example, 192.168.1.100).
   • Port: Enter the port matching the Bindplane agent listen_address (for example, 514).
   • Protocol: Select TCP (recommended) or UDP to match the Bindplane agent receiver type.
   • Format: Select CEF (Common Event Format).
5. Click Save.

Configure syslog alerts

1. In the Cofense Triage web interface, go to Administration > System > Syslog Alerts.
2. Select the event types to forward:
   • Phishing reports: Forwarded when new phishing reports are received and processed
   • Cluster events: Forwarded when reports are clustered
   • Threat indicator events: Forwarded when IOCs are extracted from reports
   • Health alerts: Forwarded for system health and performance events

3. Click Save.

   Note: Syslog alert categories and granularity depend on the Cofense Triage version and license level. Refer to the Cofense Triage documentation for your specific version.

Verify syslog forwarding

1. After saving the syslog configuration, trigger a test event in Cofense Triage (for example, process a phishing report).
2. Check the Bindplane agent logs for incoming syslog messages:
   • Linux: sudo journalctl -u observiq-otel-collector -f
   • Windows: type "C:\Program Files\observIQ OpenTelemetry Collector\log\collector.log"

3. Verify that CEF-formatted messages appear in the logs, for example:

   CEF:0|Cofense|Triage|1.0|100|Phishing Report Processed|5|suser=[e-mail] duser=[e-mail] cs4=Urgent: Account Verification cat=Processed:Threats
   

UDM mapping table

Log Field	UDM Mapping	Logic
msg, rule_id, start, rt	additional.fields	Merged with labels for msg if not empty, rule_id if not empty, start if not empty, rt if not empty
event_data, descrip	metadata.description	Value from event_data if not empty, else descrip
deviceCustomDate1, log_datetime	metadata.event_timestamp	Parsed from deviceCustomDate1 if not empty, else log_datetime using format MMM d yyyy HH:mm:ss or MMM d HH:mm:ss
suser, duser, has_principal	metadata.event_type	Set to EMAIL_TRANSACTION if suser and duser match email pattern, else GENERIC_EVENT, then STATUS_UPDATE if has_principal true and was GENERIC_EVENT
cs3	metadata.product_log_id	Extracted from cs3 using grok pattern /%{INT:productlogid}
	metadata.product_name	Set to "Triage"
cs3	metadata.url_back_to_product	Value copied directly
	metadata.vendor_name	Set to "Cofense"
suser	network.email.from	Value copied directly
cs4	network.email.subject	Value copied directly
duser	network.email.to	Value copied directly
host	principal.asset.hostname	Value copied directly
ipaddress	principal.asset.ip	Value copied directly
host	principal.hostname	Value copied directly
ipaddress	principal.ip	Value copied directly
processID	principal.process.pid	Value copied directly
descrip	principal.user.userid	Extracted from descrip using grok pattern User: (%{WORD:user_id})
cat, cs2	security_result.action	Set to ALLOW if cat in ["health","Processed:Marketing","Processed:Non-Malicious"], BLOCK if cat == "Processed:Spam" or "Processed:Threats" or cs2 in ["PM_Intel_CoronaVirus_Keywords","PM_Intel_CredPhish_106159","VU_Potential_Credential_Stealer"]
severity	security_result.alert_state	Set to ALERTING if severity in ["8","10","11","12","13","14"], else NOT_ALERTING
cat, cs2, severity	security_result.category	Set to MAIL_SPAM if cat == "Processed:Spam", MAIL_PHISHING if cs2 in ["PM_Intel_CoronaVirus_Keywords","PM_Intel_CredPhish_106159","VU_Potential_Credential_Stealer"] or severity in ["8","10","11","12","13","14"]
cat	security_result.description	Value copied directly
severity	security_result.rule_id	Value copied directly
cs2	security_result.rule_name	Value copied directly
cat, cs2	security_result.severity	Set to INFORMATIONAL if cat in ["health","Processed:Marketing","Processed:Non-Malicious"], HIGH if cat == "Processed:Spam", CRITICAL if cat == "Processed:Threats", else HIGH if cs2 in ["PM_Intel_CoronaVirus_Keywords","PM_Intel_CredPhish_106159","VU_Potential_Credential_Stealer"]
msg", "rule_id", "start", and "rt	additional.fields	Mapped from changelog
ProcessID	principal.process.pid	Mapped from changelog

Change Log

View the Change Log for this parser

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