SNOWL UserGuide
SNOWL UserGuide
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4.7. Auxiliary Functions ...........................................................................................................................66
4.7.1. Viewing System Log ..................................................................................................................66
4.7.2. Viewing System Documentation ..............................................................................................67
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1. Introduction
1.1. Document Purpose
The purpose of this document is to describe the capabilities provided to the user by SNOWL. This
document covers the main business and technical scenarios and interface elements that allow
working with threats and attacks, managing sensors, creating automatic rules, and so on.
1.3. Glossary
SNOWL Hardware and software tools that provide protection of servers and network
resources against different types of attacks.
Attack Malicious use of a server or network resource.
Automatic action Action that is automatically triggered upon detecting an attack.
Policy Set of attacks and threats to be detected by a sensor.
Protected resource A server/network resource which incoming traffic is protected by SNOWL.
Sensor Attack and threat detector.
Threat Suspected malicious use of a server or network resource.
1.4. References
Technical support support@snowl.io
Q&A snowl.io/dwqa-questions
Sales department sales@snowl.io
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2. Overview
SNOWL is designed to detect various types of malicious activity that can break security of a computer
system and lead to theft of private information or financial resources and blocking the production
processes. SNOWL can detect both network attacks against vulnerable services and malicious
software activity (computer viruses, Trojan programs, worms, and so on).
SNOWL saves the detected events causing a threat and information on them for further analysis and
provides instructions on corrective actions for a cyber security specialist. The archive of events is
available only for users registered in the system.
SNOWL provides advanced tools for visual analysis of the detected threats: various types of diagrams
(including real-time diagrams) and a flexible event filtering system. It also provides tools for creating
automatic actions that are triggered upon detecting an attack. This feature allows users to automate
routine reactions, such as adding a blocking rule to a firewall.
Using SNOWL, a cyber security specialist can:
Ensure security of servers/network resources that contain protected information.
Monitor network threats.
Identify the weakest and the riskiest systems.
Quickly obtain information on the attack and instructions on further actions.
In SNOWL, the attacks are detected using the Snort and Suricata sensors. SNOWL manages these
sensors and processes all events coming from them.
Sensors can work in passive or active mode:
In active mode, SNOWL can filter traffic:
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In passive mode, SNOWL can apply the automatic actions:
SNOWL also provides a cyber security specialist with the opportunity to specify types of events that
should be detected by sensors. This functionality is called threat policies.
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3. Interface
SNOWL contains many pages that have the following common features:
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THREATS PRIORITY
THREATS IN TIMING
TOP ATTACKERS IP
You can also open the DASHBOARD page by clicking SNOWL in the left panel:
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You can also open the ATTACKS AND THREATS page by clicking the Show all button in the LAST
THREATS block of the DASHBOARD page:
By default, the page displays all today's attacks and threats. On this page, the following information
is provided for each event:
TIME Event registration time. By default, the list is sorted by this parameter (latest event on
top).
PRIORITY Event priority, which shows the event importance level: low/medium/high.
GROUP Event group name.
THREAT Event name, which is also a link to the event detailed information.
IP SRC Source (attacker's) IP address.
PORT Source (attacker's) port number.
IP DST Destination IP address.
PORT Destination port number.
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If similar attacks/threats occur several times within one day, then SNOWL will group them into one
record. In this case, in the THREAT column of this record, you can see the number of events being
grouped:
If you open the detailed information on the group of events, then, on the Threat Timing tab, you can
see registration time of each event (for more information, see section 4.2.6, Viewing Detailed
Information on Attacks and Threats):
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To open the page, click SENSORS in the main menu:
You can also open the SENSORS page by clicking the Memory using/Disk using lines in the SYSTEM
STATE block of the left panel:
On this page, you can see widgets corresponding to sensors that are added to the protected
resource.
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On this page, you can see widgets corresponding to threat policies that are added to SNOWL.
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To open the page, click AUTOMATION in the main menu:
On this page, you can see the list of automatic actions and a window for adding a new automatic
action.
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To open the page, click SETTINGS in the main menu and Users and roles in the secondary menu:
On this page, you can see the table containing accounts of all employees registered in SNOWL.
3.6.2. Notifications
The Notifications page is intended for configuring SMTP server and SNOWL for sending notifications
to users (see examples in section 4.6.4, Configuring SNOWL for Sending Notifications).
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To open the page, click SETTINGS in the main menu and Notifications in the secondary menu:
On this page, you can see a window for configuring SMTP server and SNOWL and checking
connection after the configuration is done.
3.6.3. Log
The Log page is intended to view system messages (for more information, see section 4.7.1, Viewing
System Log).
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To open the page, click SETTINGS in the main menu and Log in the secondary menu:
3.6.4. Themes
The Themes page is intended to change background themes of SNOWL (for more information, see
section 4.6.5, Changing SNOWL Interface).
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To open the page, click SETTINGS in the main menu and Themes in the secondary menu:
On this page, you can see a set of background themes that can be applied to SNOWL.
3.6.5. License
The License page is intended to view information on the current license, open a website for
purchasing a new license, and upload the purchased license to SNOWL (for more information, see
section 4.6.6, Getting New License).
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To open the page, click SETTINGS in the main menu and License in the secondary menu:
On this page, you can see information on the current license and fields for purchasing and uploading
a new license.
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The additional menu opens:
3.7.1. About
This page is intended to view information on SNOWL purpose and functions.
To open the page, click About in the additional menu:
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3.7.2. Documents
This page is intended to read or download guides on using and administrating SNOWL.
To open the page, click Documents in the additional menu:
3.7.3. Support
This page is intended to view contacts of the SNOWL support team.
To open the page, click Support in the additional menu:
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The SUPPORT page opens:
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By default, your user name and password are equal to admin and 123456 respectively. We
recommend that you change the credentials after the first logging in to the system. To do
that, follow instructions in section 4.6.2, Changing User's Personal Data.
Click Log in. If both the user name and password are entered correctly, the DASHBOARD
page opens. Welcome to SNOWL!
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To log out, click exit under the owl's eye:
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You can also view today's attacks and threats on the DASHBOARD page. The page opens by default
upon logging in to the system. To switch to this page from any other page, click DASHBOARD in the
main menu:
On the right part of the DASHBOARD page, in the LAST THREATS block, you can see a real-time list of
the last five attacks and threats for today:
Clicking the Show all button leads you to the full list of today's attacks and threats on the ATTACKS
AND THREATS page.
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Click Apply:
The list of attacks and threats is updated according to the selected period.
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The list of attacks and threats is filtered according to the selected conditions:
In the drop-down list box, select the required filter and click X:
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4.2.4.3. Creating and Applying New Filter
To create and apply a new filter, follow these steps:
Click ATTACKS AND THREATS in the main menu. The page with attacks and threats opens.
Click the field for entering a new filter (1) and successively select an attribute name (2), sign
of equality/inequality/comparison (3), and attribute value (4) from the drop-down list boxes:
Click Apply:
The list of attacks and threats is filtered according to the selected conditions:
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To reset the filter, click X, then Apply:
In the window that appears, specify a name for the created filter:
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4.2.4.5. Using Additional Filtering Options
You can filter attacks and threats by period. To do that, follow these steps:
Click ATTACKS AND THREATS in the main menu. The page with today's attacks and threats
opens.
In the top-right corner of the page, click the dates and select the observation period:
Yesterday, This week, Last 7 days, This month, Last 30 days or specify a custom range:
Click Apply:
The THREATS CLASSIFICATION diagram: clicking the group name opens a list of attacks and
threats filtered according to the selected group.
The THREATS PRIORITY diagram: clicking the bar opens a list of attacks and threats filtered
according to the selected priority.
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The THREATS IN TIMING diagram: clicking the point on the graph opens a list of attacks and
threats filtered according to the selected time interval.
The TOP ATTACKER'S IP list: clicking the IP address opens a list of attacks and threats filtered
according to the selected IP.
The Snowl-Export.xlsx / Snowl-Export.csv file is saved on your computer. You can find this
file in a folder that is configured for saving downloaded files in your browser.
Please note that the exported list of attacks and threats contains more data than you can see
on the ATTACKS AND THREATS page. The following information is provided for each event:
Id Event identifier.
Sensor id Sensor identifier.
Timestamp Date and time of event registration in the Unix-timestamp format.
MAC src Source (attacker's) MAC address.
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IP src Source (attacker's) IP address.
Port src Source (attacker's) port number.
MAC dst Destination MAC address.
IP dst Destination IP address.
Port dst Destination port number.
Protocols Network protocols.
Generator Id Event generator identifier.
Signature Id Signature identifier.
Signature Revision Signature version.
Group Event group name.
Threat Event name.
Priority Event priority, which shows the event importance level: low/medium/high.
Geo: Continent Name of the attacker's continent.
Geo: Country Name of the attacker's country.
Geo: Sub1 Name of the attacker's region.
Geo: Sub2 Name of the attacker's region (clarified).
Geo: Latitude Attacker's latitude.
Geo: Longitude Attacker's longitude.
For each event, detailed information contains event description and instructions for a cyber security
specialist.
If you open detailed information on the group of events, then you can see registration time of each
event on the Threat Timing tab.
To close the tabs, click the value of the THREAT column once again.
You can also view detailed information on an attack/threat using real-time diagrams on the
DASHBOARD tab:
On the MAP OF EXTERNAL ATTACKS diagram, clicking the line displays a pop-up window
with details of an attack/threat.
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In the LAST THREATS block, clicking the attack/threat name also displays a pop-up window
with details of an attack/threat.
For more information on these diagrams, see section 4.2.7.1, Diagrams on the Dashboard Page.
Colors of the countries differ according to the number of attacks coming from them: the
more attacks, the more intense the red color is.
Clicking the country opens the list of attacks and threats filtered according to the selected
country:
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Clicking the line displays a pop-up window with details of the appropriate attack/threat:
After that select country and city where the protected resource is located and click Save:
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LAST THREATS
This is a list of the last five attacks/threats:
Clicking the attack/threat name displays a pop-up window with details on this attack/threat.
Clicking the Show all button opens the full list of today's attacks and threats on the ATTACKS
AND THREATS page.
THREATS CLASSIFICATION
This diagram shows percentage ratio of the groups of attacks/threats:
Clicking the group name opens the list of attacks and threats filtered according to the
selected group:
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THREATS PRIORITY
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the priorities of attacks/threats.
Hovering over the bar displays the number and percentage of events within this priority:
Clicking the bar opens the list of attacks and threats filtered according to the selected
priority:
THREATS IN TIMING
This diagram is a graph that shows the number of attacks/threats in time. Hovering over the
line displays the number of events and time interval:
Clicking the point on the graph opens the list of attacks and threats filtered according to the
selected time interval:
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TOP ATTACKERS IP
This is a list of the most frequent attackers' IP addresses:
Clicking the IP address opens the list of attacks and threats filtered according to the selected
IP:
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TOP SOURCE IPS
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the most frequent attackers' IP addresses:
TOP THREATS
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the most frequent attacks/threats:
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THREATS PRIORITY
This diagram is a pie chart that shows percentage ratio of priorities of the attacks/threats:
PROTOCOLS
This diagram is a pie chart that shows percentage ratio of traffic protocols:
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TOP DESTINATION PORTS
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the most frequent destination ports:
THREATS BY CONTINENTS
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the attackers' continents:
THREATS BY COUNTRIES
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the attackers' countries:
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TOP SOURCE MACS
This diagram is a bar chart that shows ratio of the most frequent attackers' MAC addresses:
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b. In the top-left corner of the page, select the required period: Yesterday, Week, Month or
Year:
c. In the top-right corner of the page, click the dates and select the observation period:
Yesterday, This week, Last 7 days, This month, Last 30 days or specify a custom range:
d. Click Apply:
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4.2.9. Filtering Diagrams Data
To filter data of the diagrams, you can use the same methods as described for the list of attacks and
threats: 4.2.4, Filtering the List of Attacks and Threats.
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In the bottom-left corner of the page, click Add new sensor.
A window for adding a new sensor appears:
In the window for adding a new sensor, fill in the following fields:
Name Name of a new sensor.
Description Description of a new sensor.
Address IP address of a new sensor (obtained during sensor installation).
IDS Type of a new sensor: Snort, Suricata or Other.
Interface Physical network interface of a new sensor.
HomeNetwork IP/mask of a new sensor.
Rule If you want to use default management rules (free Snort Rule
management Set), then select the Snowl automatic manages the rules value.
If you want to use custom management rules, then select the
Custom rules value and specify paths to the following files:
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For the required sensor, click Start:
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In the window that appears, edit the required fields and click Update:
On SENSOR MANAGEMENT PANEL, in the Modified field, you can see information on the last
update:
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In the window that appears, click Delete:
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Edit the configuration file (for example, set network variables) and click Save:
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You can also monitor the Memory using and Disk using parameters in the left panel:
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You can also monitor the Network activity diagram in the left panel:
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The THREATS DETECTION POLICIES page opens:
In the window for adding a new policy, fill in the following fields:
Name Name of a new threat policy.
Description Description of a new threat policy.
Based on If you select the Based on check box, then you can select an
existing threat policy from a drop-down list box. In this case,
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properties of the new policy are copied from the selected one.
The remaining fields in this form are hidden.
Rule urls URLs for storing the rules files provided by vendor. If specified,
SNOWL can automatically update the rules (update frequency is
configured in the Auto updates field).
If you fill in the Rule urls field, then do not fill in the Ruleset
files field.
Ruleset files Rules files that are provided by vendor or created.
If you fill in the Ruleset files field, then do not fill in the Rule
urls field.
IP blacklist urls URLs for storing the IP blacklist files provided by vendor. If
specified, SNOWL can automatically update the files (update
frequency is configured in the Auto updates field).
If you fill in the IP blacklist urls field, then do not fill in the IP
blacklist files field.
IP blacklist files IP blacklist files that are provided by vendor or created.
If you fill in the IP blacklist files field, then do not fill in the IP
blacklist urls field.
Auto updates Update frequency of rules (if the Rule urls field is filled) and IP
black lists (if the IP blacklist files field is filled).
Click Save.
The new threat policy is created.
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4.4.3. Changing Threat Policy
To change a threat policy, follow these steps:
Click THREAT POLICIES in the main menu. The THREATS DETECTION POLICIES page opens.
For the required policy, click Change policy:
In the window that appears, you can see the list of categories. Each category includes rules
that are automatically obtained by SNOWL from the corresponding files:
o Turn on/off a rule. To do that, select or clear the check box next to the rule name:
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o Change action mode of a rule. To do that, click the rule name and select the required
action:
In the widget corresponding to a policy, you can see information on the last policy changes:
In the Modified field – manual changes made by user.
In the Updated field – automatic changes made by SNOWL.
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The SETTINGS / AUTOMATION page opens:
In the window for adding a new automatic action, fill in the following fields:
Name Name of a new automatic action.
Description Description of a new automatic action.
Filter Rules for selecting threats/attacks that require an automatic
action.
Select one of the following filters in the drop-down list box:
Auto actions test
Database threats
Potential attempts to use SMB vulnerabilities
If you need to create additional filters, see section 4.5.4,
Creating Filter.
Minimum events If the number of filtered threats/attacks is more than or
count equal to this value per X minutes (see the during minutes
field), then the automatic action is applied.
during minutes Time interval during which the threshold number of
threats/attacks is reached (see the Minimum events count
field).
Email notification Email(s) for sending notifications.
Before filling this field, make sure that SNOWL is configured
to send notifications (for more information, see section
4.6.4, Configuring SNOWL for Sending Notifications).
Execute shell Shell command or path to the executable file.
command Path example: /home/john_doe/autoaction_test.sh --auto
–quite.
This command is automatically applied upon detecting an
event satisfying the predefined filter (the Filter field) and
frequency (the Minimum events count and during minutes
fields).
Click Save.
The new automatic action is created.
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In the list of automatic actions, select the required one.
The window for changing the selected automatic action appears instead of the window for
adding a new automatic action:
In the window for changing the selected automatic action, edit the required fields and click
Save.
In the window for changing the selected automatic action, click Delete.
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4.5.4. Creating Filter
When you create an automatic action, a filter of threats/attacks should be selected. By default,
SNOWL provides three predefined filters. You can create any filters you need using instructions in
sections 4.2.4.3, Creating and Applying New Filter and 4.2.4.4, Saving New Filter as a Predefined One.
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4.6.1. Adding New User
To add a new user, follow these steps:
Click SETTINGS in the main menu and Users and roles in the secondary menu:
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Click Add new user under the table. The window for adding a new user appears:
In the window for adding a new user, fill in the following fields:
First name User's first name.
Last name User's last name.
Username Account name.
Email User's email.
Group Group of rights: Admin or Viewer.
For users having the Viewer group of rights, only two pages are
available in the main menu: DASHBOARD and ATTACKS AND
THREATS.
Password Password for this account.
Confirm Password for this account (repeatedly).
Click Create.
The new user is created.
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In the window for changing the selected account, edit the required fields and click Update.
To change your own account, you can click the account name under the owl's eye:
In the window that appears, edit the required fields and click Save.
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In the window for changing the selected account, click Delete.
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The SETTINGS / NOTIFICATIONS page opens:
You can also send a test email to check this. To send a test email, specify your email and click
Send test email to:
Click Save.
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4.6.5. Changing SNOWL Interface
To change SNOWL interface, follow these steps:
Click SETTINGS in the main menu and Themes in the secondary menu:
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Select a theme you want to apply.
SNOWL is updated automatically:
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The SETTINGS / LICENSE page opens:
In the Upload license field, click to select the purchased license file, then click Upload.
The new license is applied.
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The SETTINGS / LOG page opens:
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In the additional menu, click Documents. The DOCUMENTS page opens:
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