Ingest Logs from Cisco ASA Firewalls and AnyConnect - Administrator Guide - Cortex XDR - Cortex - Security Operations

Cortex XDR Pro Administrator Guide

Product
Cortex XDR
License
Pro
Creation date
2023-10-31
Last date published
2024-03-18
Category
Administrator Guide
Abstract

Extend Cortex XDR visibility into logs from Cisco ASA firewalls and Cisco AnyConnect VPN.

Note

Ingesting logs and data requires a Cortex XDR Pro per GB license.

If you use Cisco ASA firewalls or Cisco AnyConnect VPN, you can take advantage of Cortex XDR investigation and detection capabilities by forwarding your firewall and AnyConnect VPN logs to Cortex XDR . This enables Cortex XDR to examine your network traffic to detect anomalous behavior. Cortex XDR can use Cisco ASA firewall logs and AnyConnect VPN logs as the sole data source, but can also use Cisco ASA firewall logs in conjunction with Palo Alto Networks firewall logs. For additional endpoint context, you can also use Cortex XDR to collect and alert on endpoint data.

As soon as Cortex XDR starts to receive logs, the app can begin stitching network connection logs with other logs to form network stories. Cortex XDR can also analyze your logs to raise Analytics alerts and can apply IOC, BIOC, and Correlation Rules matching. You can also use queries to search your network connection logs using the Cisco Cortex Query Language (XQL) dataset (cisco_asa_raw).

To integrate your logs, you first need to set up an applet in a Broker VM within your network to act as a Syslog Collector. You then configure forwarding on your log devices to send logs to the Syslog Collector in a CISCO format.

  1. Verify that your Cisco ASA firewall and Cisco AnyConnect VPN logs meet the following requirements.

    • Syslog in Cisco-ASA format

    • Must include timestamps

    • Only supports the following messages.

      • For Cisco ASA firewall: 302013, 302014, 302015, 302016

      • For Cisco AnyConnect VPN: 113039, 716001, 722022, 722033, 722034, 722051, 722055, 722053, 113019, 716002, 722023, 722037

  2. Activate the Syslog Collector.

  3. Increase log storage for Cisco ASA firewall and Cisco AnyConnect VPN logs.

    As an estimate for initial sizing, note that the average Cisco ASA log size is roughly 180 bytes. For proper sizing calculations, test the log sizes and log rates produced by your Cisco ASA firewalls and Cisco AnyConnect VPN logs. For more information, see Manage Your Log Storage within Cortex XDR.

  4. Configure the Cisco ASA firewall and Cisco AnyConnect VPN, or the log devices forwarding logs from Cisco, to log to the Syslog Collector in a CISCO format.

    Configure your firewall and AnyConnect VPN policies to log all traffic and forward the traffic logs to the Syslog Collector in a CISCO format. By logging all traffic, you enable Cortex XDR to detect anomalous behavior from Cisco ASA firewall logs and Cisco AnyConnect VPN logs. For more information on setting up Log Forwarding on Cisco ASA firewalls or Cisco AnyConnect VPN, see the Cisco ASA Series documentation.