Collect Intel Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel EMA) logs

Supported in:

Google SecOps SIEM

This document explains how to ingest Intel Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel EMA) logs into Google Security Operations using Bindplane.

Intel Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel EMA) is a software application that provides remote management of Intel vPro platform-based devices in the cloud, both inside and outside the firewall. Intel EMA enables IT administrators to remotely configure and manage Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) endpoints, perform out-of-band and in-band operations, and monitor endpoint activity through audit event logging.

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 Intel EMA server
• If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open per the Bindplane agent requirements
• Administrator access to the Intel EMA server with permissions to modify the NLog configuration file
• Intel EMA server version 1.10 or later installed and operational

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 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 should show as 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 should show as 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 the Bindplane agent to ingest syslog and send 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

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

  receivers:
    udplog:
      listen_address: "0.0.0.0:514"
  
  exporters:
    chronicle/intel_ema:
      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: INTEL_EMA
      raw_log_field: body
      ingestion_labels:
        env: production
  
  service:
    pipelines:
      logs/intel_ema_to_chronicle:
        receivers:
          - udplog
        exporters:
          - chronicle/intel_ema
  

Configuration parameters

Replace the following placeholders:

• Receiver configuration:

  • listen_address: Set to 0.0.0.0:514 to listen on all interfaces on UDP port 514. You may use a different port such as 1514 if running as non-root on Linux.

• 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: Replace YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID with your customer ID from the previous step.
  • 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.
  • log_type: Set to INTEL_EMA exactly as shown.
  • ingestion_labels: Optional labels in YAML format (for example, env: production).

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/intel_ema:
      compression: gzip
      creds_file_path: '/opt/observiq-otel-collector/ingestion-auth.json'
      customer_id: 'YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID'
      endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
      log_type: INTEL_EMA
      raw_log_field: body
      ingestion_labels:
        env: production
  

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, do the following:

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, do the following:

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.

     4. Verify the service is running:

        sc query observiq-otel-collector
        

     5. Check logs for errors:

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

Configure Intel EMA syslog forwarding

Intel EMA uses the NLog logging framework. To forward logs via syslog to the Bindplane agent, you must add a syslog network target to the Intel EMA NLog configuration file.

Install the NLog Syslog target extension

1. Sign in to the Intel EMA server as a local administrator.
2. Open PowerShell as an administrator.

3. Navigate to the Intel EMA web application directory:

   cd C:\inetpub\wwwroot
   

4. Install the NLog.Targets.Syslog NuGet package by copying the NLog.Targets.Syslog.dll file into the Intel EMA web application directory (C:\inetpub\wwwroot).

   Note: You can download the NLog.Targets.Syslog package from the NuGet Gallery. Extract the DLL from the package and place it in the same directory as the NLog.dll and NLog.config files.

Edit the NLog configuration file

1. Open the NLog configuration file in a text editor:

   notepad C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NLog.config
   

2. Add the syslog extension inside the <extensions> section. If the <extensions> section does not exist, create it within the <nlog> element:

   <extensions>
       <add assembly="NLog.Targets.Syslog" />
   </extensions>
   

3. Add a syslog target inside the <targets> section:

   <target name="syslog" xsi:type="Syslog">
       <sl:messageSend>
           <protocol>UDP</protocol>
           <udp>
               <server>BINDPLANE_AGENT_IP</server>
               <port>514</port>
           </udp>
       </sl:messageSend>
   </target>
   

   • Replace BINDPLANE_AGENT_IP with the IP address of the host running the Bindplane agent (for example, 192.168.1.100).
   • Replace 514 with the port configured in the Bindplane agent if you are using a non-standard port.
   • Set the protocol to UDP or TCP to match the Bindplane agent receiver configuration.

4. Add a logging rule inside the <rules> section to route all log messages to the syslog target:

   <logger name="*" minlevel="Info" writeTo="syslog" />
   

   Note: Set minlevel to Info to capture informational, warning, error, and critical events. Set to Debug for more verbose logging, or Warn for fewer messages.

5. Save and close the file.

Example NLog.config with syslog target

• The following shows an example of the relevant sections added to the NLog.config file:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xmlns:sl="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.Targets.Syslog.xsd">
      <extensions>
          <add assembly="NLog.Targets.Syslog" />
      </extensions>
      <targets>
          <!-- Existing file targets remain here -->
          <target name="syslog" xsi:type="Syslog">
              <sl:messageSend>
                  <protocol>UDP</protocol>
                  <udp>
                      <server>192.168.1.100</server>
                      <port>514</port>
                  </udp>
              </sl:messageSend>
          </target>
      </targets>
      <rules>
          <!-- Existing rules remain here -->
          <logger name="*" minlevel="Info" writeTo="syslog" />
      </rules>
  </nlog>
  

Restart IIS to apply the changes

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.

2. Restart IIS to reload the NLog configuration:

   iisreset
   

3. Verify that the Intel EMA web application is running by navigating to the Intel EMA Platform Manager in a web browser.

Verify syslog forwarding

1. Perform an action in the Intel EMA console (for example, sign in, view endpoints, or modify a configuration) to generate audit events.
2. Check the Bindplane agent logs to confirm that syslog messages are being received from the Intel EMA server.

UDM mapping table

Log field	UDM mapping	Logic
server_type	additional.fields	Merged labels with keys server_type, server_type_id, Endpoint_count
server_type_id	additional.fields
Endpoint_count	additional.fields
Time	metadata.event_timestamp	Parsed using date filter with formats yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSSS, ISO8601, RFC 3339
metadata.event_type	metadata.event_type	Set to "GENERIC_EVENT"
version_id	metadata.product_version	Value copied directly
EndpointId	security_result.detection_fields	Merged label with key EndpointId
severity	security_result.severity	Mapped to CRITICAL if CRITICAL, ERROR if ERROR, HIGH if ALERT or EMERGENCY, INFORMATIONAL if INFO or NOTICE, LOW if DEBUG, MEDIUM if WARNING, else UNKNOWN_SEVERITY
Culture	target.resource.attribute.labels	Merged labels with keys culture, public_key_token, process_name
Publickeytoken	target.resource.attribute.labels
process_name	target.resource.attribute.labels

Change Log

View the Change Log for this parser

Need more help? Get answers from Community members and Google SecOps professionals.