The following checklist is a set of recommendations and configuration best practices to ensure that your syslog-ng Store Box (SSB) is configured securely.

General security recommendations

  • As a general recommendation, use 2048-bit RSA keys (or stronger), AES-256-CBC cipher (or stronger), and SHA-256 hash algorithm (or stronger). For more specific information, see the relevant sections of the syslog-ng Store Box Administration Guide.

  • Use mutual authentication whenever possible, as detailed below, when configuring log sources, log destinations or LDAP user database.

  • One Identity recommends that you generate certificates using your own public key infrastructure (PKI) solution and then upload them to SSB. Certificates generated by SSB cannot be revoked, therefore, they can become a security risk if compromised.

  • When exporting the configuration of SSB, or creating configuration backups, always use encryption. Handle the exported data with care, as it contains sensitive information, including credentials. For more information on encrypting the configuration, see Encrypting configuration backups with GPG in the Administration Guide.

  • Use every keypair or certificate only for one purpose. Do not reuse cryptographic keys or certificates, for example, do not use the same certificate for the SSB webserver and for encrypting logstores.

  • For backward compatibility reasons, SSB does not enforce strict security configuration for backup, archive, and share - using SMB/CIFS and NFS - therefore, any security expectations need to be ensured by the joining peers and the underlying network architecture. For more information on backups and archiving, see Data and configuration backups in the Administration Guide and Archiving and cleanup in the Administration Guide.

Log traffic and storage specific security recommendations

  • When creating logspaces on Log > Logspaces, use LogStore type rather than plain text files and apply encryption.

  • When encrypting log files, One Identity recommends:

    • Using 2048-bit RSA keys (or stronger). For more information, see Creating logstores in the Administration Guide.

    • Using AES-256-CBC cipher (or stronger) and SHA-256 hash algorithm (or stronger). For more information, see General syslog-ng settings in the Administration Guide.

  • One Identity recommends using User Temporary private key store for decrypting and viewing encrypted logs on the Search > Logspaces interface. Avoid using User Permanent private key store or shared decryption private key uploaded on the Log > Logspaces interface. For more information, see Browsing encrypted logspaces in the Administration Guide.

  • For the Server certificate and the Time Stamping Authority (TSA) certificate, upload the private key as well. One Identity recommends using 2048-bit RSA keys (or stronger). These two certificates must be issued by the same Certificate Authority. For more information on uploading certificates and keys created with an external PKI, see Uploading external certificates to SSB in the Administration Guide.

  • When granting user privileges, make sure that only the intended users can access logspaces.

    By default, members of the search group can view the stored messages online. Use the Access control option to control which usergroups can access a logspace. For more information, see Managing user rights and usergroups in the Administration Guide.

  • Configure each logsource in SSB at Log > Sources as follows:

    1. For Transport, select TLS.

    2. For Incoming log protocol and message format, select Syslog (IETF-syslog, RFC 5452).

    3. For Peer verification, select Required-trusted.

    4. For Cipher suite, select Secure.

      By applying the Secure cipher suite, SSB will not allow permissive cipher suites to be used for remote connections.

  • If log messages must be forwarded outside the box, configure log destinations at Log > Destinations in a similar way as the logsources described above (Steps 1-4). For more information, see Forwarding log messages to remote servers in the syslog-ng Store Box Administration Guide.

    NOTE: You cannot set cipher suites, as the TLS server is the remote side (Step 5).

  • Consider that connections for log source or destination types UDP, TCP, SQL, and SNMP are not encrypted. Even though ALTP is encrypted, it can still be compromised.

  • Enable flow-control to prevent message loss. For more information, see Managing incoming and outgoing messages with flow-control in the Administration Guide.

Accessing SSB

  • Disallow permissive cipher suites for HTTPS connections towards the SSB webserver. When configuring the cipher suite capability for HTTPS connections, use the Secure cipher suite set under Basic Settings > Management > Web interface and RPC API settings > Cipher suite. For more information, see Web interface and RPC API settings in the Administration Guide.

  • Use strong passwords, with at least 12 characters (including lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers, and special characters). For local SSB users, set the password policy strength to strong on AAA > Settings > Minimal password strength. For more information, see Setting password policies for local users in the Administration Guide.

  • Accessing the SSB host directly using SSH is not recommended or supported, except for troubleshooting purposes. In such case, the One Identity Support Team will give you exact instructions on what to do to solve the problem.

    For security reasons, disable SSH access to SSB when it is not needed. For more information, see Enabling SSH access to the SSB host in the Administration Guide.

  • Permit administrative access to SSB only from trusted networks. If possible, log messages from clients and administrative access to the SSB web interface should be originated from separate networks.

  • Configure SSB to send an alert if a user fails to login to SSB. For more information, see the Login failed alert in System related traps in the Administration Guide.

  • Configure Disk space fill up prevention, and configure SSB to send an alert if the free space on the disks of SSB is low. For more information, see Preventing disk space fill up in the Administration Guide.

  • Prefer configuring SSB to use the local user database. If LDAP is needed, make sure to configure mutual authentication. For more information on local user management, see Managing SSB users locally in the Administration Guide.

Networking considerations

  • SSB stores sensitive data. Use a firewall and other appropriate controls to ensure that unauthorized connections cannot access it.

  • If possible, enable management access to SSB only from trusted networks.

  • Make sure that the HA interface of SSB is connected to a trusted network.

  • Make sure that for the communication between the peer nodes, for example, log sending, log receiving, or webserver interface communication, you have the properly secure configuration as described above.