Collect Forseti Open Source logs

Supported in:

Google secops SIEM

Note: This feature is covered by Pre-GA Offerings Terms of the Google Security Operations Service Specific Terms. Pre-GA features might have limited support, and changes to pre-GA features might not be compatible with other pre-GA versions. For more information, see the Google SecOps Technical Support Service guidelines and the Google SecOps Service Specific Terms.

This document explains how to ingest Forseti Open Source logs to Google Security Operations using Google Cloud Storage V2.

Forseti Security is a community-driven collection of open source tools to improve the security of Google Cloud Platform environments. Forseti takes inventory snapshots of GCP resources on a recurring cadence, scans resources to ensure that access controls are set as intended, and provides visibility into Cloud IAM policies.

Important: The Forseti Security project was archived on January 11, 2025, and is now read-only. This integration guide is intended for existing Forseti deployments. Organizations should evaluate whether to continue using Forseti or migrate to alternative security monitoring solutions.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

• Google SecOps instance.
• GCP project with Cloud Storage API enabled.
• Permissions to create and manage GCS buckets.
• Permissions to manage IAM policies on GCS buckets.
• An existing Forseti Security deployment (for example, deployed using the Forseti Terraform module on Google Compute Engine).
• Access to the Forseti server configuration file (forseti_conf_server.yaml).

Create Google Cloud Storage bucket

Using Google Cloud Console

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Select your project or create a new one.
3. In the navigation menu, go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
4. Click Create bucket.

5. Provide the following configuration details:

   Setting	Value
   Name your bucket	Enter a globally unique name (for example, forseti-violations-export)
   Location type	Choose based on your needs (Region, Dual-region, Multi-region)
   Location	Select the location (for example, us-central1)
   Storage class	Standard (recommended for frequently accessed logs)
   Access control	Uniform (recommended)
   Protection tools	Optional: Enable object versioning or retention policy

6. Click Create.

Using gcloud command-line tool

Alternatively, create a bucket using the gcloud command:

gcloud storage buckets create gs://forseti-violations-export \
    --location=us-central1 \
    --default-storage-class=STANDARD

Replace:

• forseti-violations-export: Your desired bucket name (globally unique).
• us-central1: Your preferred region (for example, us-central1, europe-west1).

Configure Forseti Security to export violations to GCS

Forseti Security uses a notifier configuration in the forseti_conf_server.yaml file to export scanner violations to Google Cloud Storage.

1. Connect to your Forseti server VM using SSH:

   gcloud compute ssh forseti-server-vm --project=YOUR_PROJECT_ID --zone=YOUR_ZONE
   

   Replace YOUR_PROJECT_ID and YOUR_ZONE with your Forseti deployment values.

2. Open the Forseti server configuration file for editing:

   sudo nano /home/ubuntu/forseti-security/configs/forseti_conf_server.yaml
   

   If your Forseti deployment uses a GCS-based configuration, download the file from your Forseti server bucket:

   gsutil cp gs://YOUR_FORSETI_SERVER_BUCKET/configs/forseti_conf_server.yaml ~/forseti_conf_server.yaml
   

3. Navigate to the notifier section and locate the resources subsection.

4. For each violation resource type you want to export, configure the gcs_violations notifier. Add or update the configuration as follows:

   notifier:
     resources:
       - resource: iam_policy_violations
         should_notify: true
         notifiers:
           - name: gcs_violations
             configuration:
               data_format: csv
               gcs_path: gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/
       - resource: firewall_rule_violations
         should_notify: true
         notifiers:
           - name: gcs_violations
             configuration:
               data_format: csv
               gcs_path: gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/
       - resource: cloudsql_acl_violations
         should_notify: true
         notifiers:
           - name: gcs_violations
             configuration:
               data_format: csv
               gcs_path: gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/
       - resource: bucket_acl_violations
         should_notify: true
         notifiers:
           - name: gcs_violations
             configuration:
               data_format: csv
               gcs_path: gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/
       - resource: config_validator_violations
         should_notify: true
         notifiers:
           - name: gcs_violations
             configuration:
               data_format: csv
               gcs_path: gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/
   

   Replace:

   • forseti-violations-export: Your GCS bucket name created in the previous step.
   • violations/: Optional prefix path for organizing violation files.

   Configuration parameters:

   • resource: The violation resource type. Available resource types depend on which Forseti scanners are enabled in your deployment. Common types include iam_policy_violations, firewall_rule_violations, cloudsql_acl_violations, bucket_acl_violations, config_validator_violations, groups_settings_violations, and others.
   • should_notify: Set to true to enable notifications for this resource type.
   • data_format: The format of the exported data. Valid values are csv or json. The default is csv.
   • gcs_path: The Cloud Storage path where violations will be exported. The path must begin with gs:// and should include a trailing slash.

5. Save the configuration file.

6. If you downloaded the configuration from GCS, upload the updated file back to your Forseti server bucket:

   gsutil cp ~/forseti_conf_server.yaml gs://YOUR_FORSETI_SERVER_BUCKET/configs/forseti_conf_server.yaml
   

7. Reload the Forseti server configuration:

   forseti server configuration reload
   

8. Verify the configuration was loaded successfully:

   forseti server configuration get | grep gcs_violations
   

Retrieve the Google SecOps service account

Google SecOps uses a unique service account to read data from your GCS bucket. You must grant this service account access to your bucket.

Configure a feed in Google SecOps to ingest Forseti Open Source logs

1. Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
2. Click Add New Feed.
3. Click Configure a single feed.
4. In the Feed name field, enter a name for the feed (for example, Forseti Violations).
5. Select Google Cloud Storage V2 as the Source type.

6. Select Forseti Open Source as the Log type.

7. Click Get Service Account.

8. A unique service account email will be displayed, for example:

   [e-mail]
   

9. Copy this email address. You will use it in the next step.

   Note: Each Google SecOps instance has a unique service account. Do not use service accounts from other documentation or examples.

10. Click Next.

11. Specify values for the following input parameters:

    • Storage bucket URL: Enter the GCS bucket URI with the prefix path:

    gs://forseti-violations-export/violations/
    

    • Replace:
      • forseti-violations-export: Your GCS bucket name.
      • violations/: Optional prefix/folder path where logs are stored (leave empty for root).
    Note: Always include the trailing slash (/) at the end of the URI.

    • Source deletion option: Select the deletion option according to your preference:

      • Never: Never deletes any files after transfers (recommended for testing).
      • Delete transferred files: Deletes files after successful transfer.
      • Delete transferred files and empty directories: Deletes files and empty directories after successful transfer.
    Note: If you select a deletion option, the service account must have Storage Object Admin role instead of Storage Object Viewer. Update IAM permissions accordingly.
    • Maximum File Age: Include files modified in the last number of days. Default is 180 days.
    • Asset namespace: The asset namespace.
    • Ingestion labels: The label to be applied to the events from this feed.

12. Click Next.

13. Review your new feed configuration in the Finalize screen, and then click Submit.

Grant IAM permissions to the Google SecOps service account

The Google SecOps service account needs Storage Object Viewer role on your GCS bucket.

Using Google Cloud Console

1. Go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
2. Click your bucket name.
3. Go to the Permissions tab.
4. Click Grant access.
5. Provide the following configuration details:
   • Add principals: Paste the Google SecOps service account email.
   • Assign roles: Select Storage Object Viewer.
6. Click Save.

Using gcloud command-line tool

Alternatively, grant permissions using the gcloud command:

gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding gs://forseti-violations-export \
    --member="serviceAccount:[e-mail]" \
    --role="roles/storage.objectViewer"

Replace:

• forseti-violations-export: Your bucket name.
• [e-mail]: The Google SecOps service account email.

Using gsutil command-line tool (legacy)

gsutil iam ch serviceAccount:[e-mail]:objectViewer \
    gs://forseti-violations-export

Verify permissions

To verify the permissions were granted correctly:

gcloud storage buckets get-iam-policy gs://forseti-violations-export \
    --flatten="bindings[].members" \
    --filter="bindings.role:roles/storage.objectViewer"

You should see the Google SecOps service account email in the output.

Note: If you plan to use the deletion option "Delete transferred files" or "Delete transferred files and empty directories," grant the Storage Object Admin role instead of Storage Object Viewer.

UDM mapping table

Log field	UDM mapping	Logic
data.resource_data.instanceGroupUrls	about	Merged from array of instanceGroupUrls
data.resource_data.nodePools.*.statusMessage	metadata.description	Value from nodePool.statusMessage
data.resource_type	metadata.event_type	Set to RESOURCE_PERMISSIONS_CHANGE for kms_cryptokey/serviceaccount_key, RESOURCE_DELETION for firewall, STATUS_HEARTBEAT for kubernetes_cluster, else GENERIC_EVENT
data.scanner_index_id	metadata.product_log_id	Value copied directly, converted to string
	metadata.product_name	Set to "FORSETI SECURITY"
	metadata.vendor_name	Set to "FORSETI"
data.resource_data.direction	network.direction	Set to INBOUND if direction is INGRESS
data.resource_data.endpoint	principal.ip	Value copied directly
data.resource_data.nodeConfig.oauthScopes.0	principal.url	Value copied directly
data.full_name, serviceAccount	principal.user.userid	Extracted from data.full_name using grok, or set to serviceAccount if not empty
data.violation_data.protection_level, data.violation_data.purpose, data.violation_data.project_id, data.violation_data.node_pool_name, data.violation_data.violation_reason	security_result.detection_fields	Merged from multiple key-value pairs
data.violation_type	security_result.category	Set to POLICY_VIOLATION if FIREWALL_BLACKLIST_VIOLATION, UNKNOWN_CATEGORY if KE_VERSION_VIOLATION, else ACL_VIOLATION
data.rule_name	security_result.rule_name	Value copied directly
data.violation_type	security_result.summary	Value copied directly
data.resource_data.zone	target.asset.attribute.cloud.availability_zone	Value copied directly
	target.asset.attribute.cloud.environment	Set to "GOOGLE_CLOUD_PLATFORM"
data.full_name	target.asset.attribute.cloud.project.id	Extracted from data.full_name using grok
data.resource_data.subnetwork	target.asset.attribute.cloud.vpc.name	Value copied directly
data.resource_data.nodeConfig.machineType	target.asset.hardware	Merged from machineType and constant CPU platform
data.resource_data.privateClusterConfig.privateEndpoint	target.ip	Value copied directly
data.resource_data.versionTemplate.algorithm, data.resource_data.key_algorithm	target.labels	Merged key-value pair for algorithm if present
data.resource_data.location	target.location.name	Value copied directly
data.resource_name	target.resource.name	Value copied directly
data.resource_id	target.resource.product_object_id	Value copied directly if different from resource_name
data.resource_type	target.resource.resource_subtype	Set to "gke" if resource_type is kubernetes_cluster
data.resource_type	target.resource.resource_type	Mapped to specific type based on original resource_type

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