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Data Exfiltration Detection

ML package to detect data exfiltration in your network and file data.

Version
2.1.1 (View all)
Compatible Kibana version(s)
8.9.0 or higher
Supported Serverless project types

Security
Subscription level
Platinum
Level of support
Elastic

The Data Exfiltration Detection (DED) package contains assets for detecting data exfiltration in network and file data. This package requires a Platinum subscription. Please ensure that you have a Trial or Platinum level subscription installed on your cluster before proceeding. This package is licensed under Elastic License 2.0.

v2.0.0 and beyond

v2.0.0 of the package introduces breaking changes, namely deprecating detection rules from the package. To continue receiving updates to Data Exfiltration Detection, we recommend upgrading to v2.0.0 after doing the following:

  • Delete existing ML jobs: Navigate to Machine Learning > Anomaly Detection and delete jobs corresponding to the following IDs:
    • high-sent-bytes-destination-geo-country_iso_code
    • high-sent-bytes-destination-ip
    • high-sent-bytes-destination-port
    • high-sent-bytes-destination-region_name
    • high-bytes-written-to-external-device
    • rare-process-writing-to-external-device
    • high-bytes-written-to-external-device-airdrop

Depending on the version of the package you're using, you might also be able to search for the above jobs using the group data_exfiltration.

  • Uninstall existing rules associated with this package: Navigate to Security > Rules and delete the following rules:
    • Potential Data Exfiltration Activity to an Unusual ISO Code
    • Potential Data Exfiltration Activity to an Unusual Region
    • Potential Data Exfiltration Activity to an Unusual IP Address
    • Potential Data Exfiltration Activity to an Unusual Destination Port
    • Spike in Bytes Sent to an External Device
    • Spike in Bytes Sent to an External Device via Airdrop
    • Unusual Process Writing Data to an External Device

Depending on the version of the package you're using, you might also be able to search for the above rules using the tag Data Exfiltration.

  • Upgrade the Data Exfiltration Detection package to v2.0.0 using the steps here
  • Install the new rules as described in the Enable detection rules section below.

In version 2.1.1, the package ignores data in cold and frozen data tiers to reduce heap memory usage, avoid running on outdated data, and to follow best practices.

Configuration

To download the assets, click Settings > Install Data Exfiltration Detection assets.

Then use the anomaly detection jobs from this package and associated rules from the Detection Engine, to detect Data Exfiltration.

Add preconfigured anomaly detection jobs

In Machine Learning > Anomaly Detection, when you create a job, you should see an option to Use preconfigured jobs with a card for Data Exfiltration Detection. When you select the card, you will see a pre-configured anomaly detection job that you can enable depending on what makes the most sense for your environment.

Note: In the Machine Learning app, these configurations are available only when data exists that matches the query specified in the ded-ml file.

Enable detection rules

You can also enable detection rules to alert on Data Exfiltration activity in your environment, based on anomalies flagged by the above ML jobs. As of version 2.0.0 of this package, these rules are available as part of the Detection Engine, and can be found using the tag Use Case: Data Exfiltration Detection. See this documentation for more information on importing and enabling the rules.

Anomaly Detection Jobs

JobDescription
ded_high_sent_bytes_destination_geo_country_iso_code
Detects data exfiltration to an unusual geo-location (by country iso code).
ded_high_sent_bytes_destination_ip
Detects data exfiltration to an unusual geo-location (by IP address).
ded_high_sent_bytes_destination_port
Detects data exfiltration to an unusual destination port.
ded_high_sent_bytes_destination_region_name
Detects data exfiltration to an unusual geo-location (by region name).
ded_high_bytes_written_to_external_device
Detects data exfiltration activity by identifying high bytes written to an external device.
ded_rare_process_writing_to_external_device
Detects data exfiltration activity by identifying a writing event started by a rare process to an external device.
ded_high_bytes_written_to_external_device_airdrop
Detects data exfiltration activity by identifying high bytes written to an external device via Airdrop.

Dashboard

The Data Exfiltration Detection Dashboard is available under Analytics > Dashboard. This dashboard gives an overview of anomalies triggered for the data exfiltration detection package.

For the dashboard to work as expected, the following settings need to be configured in Kibana.

  1. You have started the above anomaly detection jobs.
  2. You have read access to .ml-anomalies-shared index or are assigned the machine_learning_user role. For more information on roles, please refer to Built-in roles in Elastic. Please be aware that a user who has access to the underlying machine learning results indices can see the results of all jobs in all spaces. Be mindful of granting permissions if you use Kibana spaces to control which users can see which machine learning results. For more information on machine learning privileges, refer to setup-privileges.
  3. After enabling the jobs, go to Management > Stack Management > Kibana > Data Views.
  4. Click on Create data view button and enable Allow hidden and system indices under the Show Advanced settings.
  5. Create a data view with the following settings:
    • Index pattern : .ml-anomalies-shared
    • Name: .ml-anomalies-shared
    • Custom data view ID: .ml-anomalies-shared

Licensing

Usage in production requires that you have a license key that permits use of machine learning features.

Changelog

VersionDetailsKibana version(s)

2.1.1

Enhancement View pull request
Add query settings to ignore frozen and cold data tiers

8.9.0 or higher

2.1.0

Enhancement View pull request
Add serverless support.

8.9.0 or higher

2.0.0

Enhancement View pull request
Removing detection rules from the package

8.9.0 or higher

1.0.3

Enhancement View pull request
Added security rules and anomaly detection jobs to detect exfiltration to external devices.

8.5.0 or higher

1.0.2

Enhancement View pull request
Add the Advanced Analytics (UEBA) subcategory

8.5.0 or higher

1.0.1

Enhancement View pull request
Added categories and/or subcategories.

8.5.0 or higher

1.0.0

Enhancement View pull request
Added dashboard and changed the datafeed of anomaly detection jobs

8.5.0 or higher

0.0.2

Enhancement View pull request
Move package to GA, change the package title, change ML job groups and detection rule tags

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0.0.1

Enhancement View pull request
Initial release of the package

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