C1000-156 IBM Security QRadar SIEM V7.5 Administration Questions and Answers

To see all of the events from a particular log source in the Log Activity tab, a user must have the appropriate permissions set in their security profile. The most restrictive permissions needed are:

Security Profile Inclusion: The log source must be included in the user's security profile. This means the user must have explicit permission to access events from this log source.

Permissions to Networks and Log Sources: The user's security profile must also include permissions to both Networks and Log Sources. This ensures the user has the necessary access to view events related to the specified log source within the network context.

These permissions are crucial to control and restrict access, ensuring users can only view data they are authorized to see while maintaining security and privacy within the system.

ReferencesIBM Security QRadar SIEM and IBM Security QRadar EDR integration.pdf​

When restoring backups of your apps in a QRadar environment, the system restores the last known good version of your apps' configuration, your application data, and any apps that were configured on an App Host. This comprehensive restoration process ensures that all critical components of your applications, including their configurations and data, are recovered to their previous states. This is crucial for maintaining the integrity and functionality of the applications after a restoration.

ReferencesQRadar SIEM V7.5 Administration Guide - Chapter on Backup and Restore Procedures

TACACS (Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System) authentication is a protocol used in IBM QRadar SIEM V7.5 for authenticating users by forwarding their credentials to an external server. Here’s how it works:

Encryption: TACACS encrypts the entire payload of the authentication packet, including the username and password, ensuring secure transmission.

Forwarding Credentials: After encryption, the credentials are forwarded to an external TACACS server, which performs the actual authentication.

Authentication Process: The external server checks the credentials against its database and sends a response back to QRadar indicating whether the authentication is successful or not.

ReferencesIBM QRadar SIEM documentation explains TACACS authentication in detail, highlighting its secure encryption and external server verification process.

The Advanced Search field in IBM QRadar is used for running Ariel Query Language (AQL) searches. Here's a detailed explanation:

Ariel Query Language (AQL): AQL is a query language used in QRadar to search and retrieve event and flow data from the Ariel database. It is similar to SQL but tailored for the specific needs of QRadar's data structure.

Advanced Search Field: The advanced search field provides a user interface for crafting and executing AQL queries. This allows users to perform detailed and complex searches to analyze specific patterns, behaviors, or events in their security data.

Functionality: Using AQL, users can specify criteria for selecting and filtering data, allowing for precise and comprehensive searches. This is essential for deep-dive investigations and custom reports.

The ability to run AQL searches gives analysts powerful tools to extract meaningful insights from their security data.

ReferencesIBM Security QRadar SIEM and IBM Security QRadar EDR integration.pdf​

In IBM QRadar, system notifications are crucial for alerting administrators about various events and statuses that require attention. The rule name for system notifications is "System: Notification". Here is a detailed explanation of how it functions and how to find and edit this rule:

Accessing the Offenses Section: To view and manage rules related to offenses, an administrator needs to open the Offenses section in the QRadar console.

Navigating to Rules: Within the Offenses section, there is a subsection for rules. This is where all the predefined and custom rules are listed.

Editing System Notification Rules: The specific rule for system notifications is named "System: Notification". This rule is responsible for generating notifications based on system events and statuses.

Customizing the Rule: By selecting and editing this rule, administrators can adjust the conditions and actions associated with system notifications, ensuring they are tailored to the specific needs and policies of the organization.

This rule is essential for maintaining awareness of system events and ensuring that potential issues are promptly addressed.

ReferencesIBM Security QRadar SIEM and IBM Security QRadar EDR integration.pdf​

Reconfiguring your IBM QRadar environment to a distributed deployment is considered under the following circumstances:

Capacity Limits: When the processing or storage requirements of your QRadar environment exceed the capacity of a single appliance, it becomes necessary to distribute the workload across multiple systems.

Performance Improvement: A distributed deployment allows for better load balancing and performance optimization by distributing event and flow processing tasks.

Scalability: As your organization's data volume grows, a distributed deployment ensures that QRadar can handle the increased load without degradation in performance.

ReferencesIBM QRadar SIEM administration guides discuss the considerations and benefits of moving to a distributed deployment when scaling beyond the capacity of a single appliance.

The Report wizard in IBM QRadar SIEM provides a structured approach to designing, scheduling, and generating reports. The three key elements used by the Report wizard to help you create a report are:

Content: This element involves selecting the specific data and metrics you want to include in the report. It can include various log sources, events, and other relevant security data.

Format: This element defines how the data will be presented in the report. It includes selecting the type of report (e.g., tabular, graphical) and the specific visualizations that will best represent the data.

Layout: This element refers to the overall structure and design of the report, including the arrangement of content and visual elements to ensure the report is easily readable and professionally formatted.

These elements together ensure that the reports generated are comprehensive, visually appealing, and tailored to the specific needs of the organization.

ReferencesIBM QRadar SIEM documentation

To track network bandwidth violations by any application coming from your network source and report on all applications that create traffic along with the amount of data from each IP address, you need to store the IP address, the application, and the amount of data in a reference data collection. The appropriate type of reference data collection for this use case is a "Reference map." Here is why:

Reference Map: A reference map allows you to store key-value pairs where each key is unique. In this context, the key can be the combination of the IP address and the application, and the value can be the amount of data (total bytes).

Data Structure: This structure enables efficient lookups and updates, which is ideal for tracking and reporting bandwidth usage per application per IP address.

Use Case Suitability: The reference map is suitable for scenarios where you need to store and retrieve values based on a specific key, and it supports storing complex data structures efficiently.

This type of reference data collection supports the use case by allowing the storage and retrieval of detailed network traffic information per application and IP address.

ReferencesIBM Security QRadar SIEM and IBM Security QRadar EDR integration.pdf​

To optimize event and flow payload searches for log data stored for up to a month, an administrator should configure the retention period for payload indexes. Here’s the process:

Retention Period Configuration: Set the retention period for payload indexes to match the desired data storage duration (e.g., one month).

Improved Search Efficiency: By configuring the retention period appropriately, QRadar ensures that the indexed data is efficiently searchable, improving performance during searches.

Index Management: Regularly manage and clean up indexes to maintain optimal system performance and storage utilization.

ReferencesThe IBM QRadar SIEM administration guides provide instructions on configuring retention periods for various types of indexes, including payload indexes, to optimize search performance.

QRadar event data is stored in the Ariel database on the Event Processor and any attached Data Nodes. The Event Processor is responsible for processing incoming events, performing correlation, and storing the event data. The attached Data Nodes provide additional storage capacity and can be used to extend the storage available to the Event Processor.

ReferencesIBM QRadar SIEM V7.5 Administration documentation.

IBM QRadar SIEM V7.5 provides several types of resource restriction mechanisms to manage access control and data visibility. The three main types are:

Role-based restrictions: These restrictions limit what actions users can perform based on their assigned roles. Each role has specific permissions that dictate access to different functionalities and data within QRadar.

Tenant-based restrictions: This type of restriction is used in multi-tenant environments, where different tenants (organizational units) need to have isolated views and access to their data. Tenant-based restrictions ensure that users from one tenant cannot access data from another tenant.

Domain-based restrictions: Domains in QRadar are used to segment data logically. Domain-based restrictions control which data is visible to users based on the domains they have been granted access to.

These restriction types ensure that access control is granular and adheres to organizational security policies.

ReferencesIBM QRadar SIEM documentation outlines the use of role-based, tenant-based, and domain-based restrictions for managing access control and data visibility.

To configure a log source in IBM QRadar SIEM V7.5 to provide events to different domains, administrators can use custom properties. Here’s how it works:

Custom Properties: Create and configure custom properties to tag events with specific domain information.

Assigning Events: When events are ingested from a log source, these custom properties can be used to dynamically assign events to different domains based on predefined criteria.

Domain Management: This approach allows flexibility in managing and segregating data from a single log source across multiple domains, ensuring that each domain receives the relevant events.

ReferencesThe configuration of custom properties for domain assignment is detailed in the QRadar SIEM administration guides, providing step-by-step instructions for setting up and using custom properties for domain management.

When using the DSM (Device Support Module) Editor in IBM QRadar to map an event to an OID (Object Identifier), the Event ID field is mandatory. The Event ID uniquely identifies the event within QRadar and is essential for ensuring that the correct event data is associated with the appropriate OID. This mapping process allows QRadar to properly categorize and handle events based on their unique identifiers.

ReferencesQRadar SIEM V7.5 Administration Guide - Chapter on DSM Editor and Event Mapping

In IBM QRadar SIEM V7.5, the default setting for generating weekly reports is configured to occur on:

Day: Sunday

Time: 01:00 AM

This setting ensures that the reports are generated during a typical low-activity period, minimizing the impact on system performance and ensuring that the latest data from the previous week is included.

ReferencesThe default configuration for report generation times is specified in the IBM QRadar SIEM V7.5 administration and user documentation.

If the option "Include in my Dashboard" cannot be selected when creating a saved search in IBM QRadar SIEM V7.5, a possible reason is insufficient permissions. Here’s why:

Permissions: The user needs appropriate permissions to add saved searches to the dashboard.

Role-Based Access Control: QRadar uses role-based access control to manage user permissions. The user’s role must include the necessary privileges to modify dashboards.

Verification: Ensure that the user has the correct permissions assigned. This can be checked and adjusted in the user management settings.

ReferencesIBM QRadar SIEM administration guides explain the permissions required for various actions, including adding saved searches to dashboards, and how to configure user roles and permissions.