Step-by-step guide to connect a data source to Microsoft Sentinel,

Let’s go through a step-by-step guide to connect a data source to Microsoft Sentinel, using a practical example. I’ll take AWS CloudTrail as the data source, but this can be adapted to other sources.

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Step-by-Step: Connect AWS CloudTrail to Microsoft Sentinel

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Step 1: Prerequisites

Ensure the following are in place:

1. Azure Sentinel Workspace:
   • A Log Analytics Workspace connected to Microsoft Sentinel.
2. AWS Permissions:
   • An AWS account with administrator permissions or specific permissions to configure CloudTrail.
3. CloudTrail enabled in AWS:
   • AWS CloudTrail is used to track API calls and events in AWS.

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Step 2: Open Microsoft Sentinel

1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
2. Navigate to Microsoft Sentinel.
3. Select the Sentinel workspace you want to connect data to.

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Step 3: Access Data Connectors

1. In the Sentinel dashboard, select Data connectors from the left-hand menu under the Configuration section.
2. Use the search bar to look for AWS CloudTrail.
3. Click on the AWS CloudTrail connector.

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Step 4: Configure the AWS CloudTrail Connector

1. In the connector interface, click Open connector page.
2. Review the connector’s Prerequisites section, which outlines permissions, regions, and configuration details.

Connector Configuration Steps:

• Step 4.1: Set Up an AWS IAM Role
  • In the AWS Management Console:
    1. Go to the IAM service.
    2. Create a new IAM Role:
       • Select Another AWS Account as the trusted entity.
       • Enter the Microsoft Sentinel AWS Account ID and an External ID (provided by the connector page in Azure Sentinel).
       • Attach the AWS managed policy: AWSCloudTrailReadOnlyAccess.
    3. Copy the Role ARN from AWS.
• Step 4.2: Configure CloudTrail
  • Ensure AWS CloudTrail is enabled in your AWS account.
  • If not:
    1. Go to the CloudTrail service in AWS.
    2. Create a trail and configure it to send logs to an S3 bucket.

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Step 5: Link Sentinel to AWS

1. In the Microsoft Sentinel connector configuration page:
   • Enter the AWS Role ARN you copied earlier.
   • Specify the Region and CloudTrail S3 bucket name.
2. Test the connection to verify access.
3. Once validated, click Save to establish the connection.

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Step 6: Validate Data Ingestion

1. Open the Logs section in Sentinel.
2. Run the following KQL query to check if CloudTrail logs are being ingested:

   AWSCloudTrail
   | take 10
   

3. Confirm that logs are showing up in the query results.

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Step 7: Enable Analytics Rules (Optional)

1. Go to the Analytics section in Sentinel.
2. Enable pre-built analytics rules provided for AWS CloudTrail:
   • Example: Detect unauthorized access attempts.
3. Adjust rule thresholds and alerts based on your organization’s requirements.

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Step 8: Set Up Dashboards (Optional)

1. Go to the Workbooks section in Sentinel.
2. Search for and deploy the AWS CloudTrail Workbook.
   • This provides a visual dashboard for monitoring CloudTrail events.

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Generalization for Other Data Sources

For other sources (e.g., Syslog, Palo Alto), replace the AWS-specific steps with:

• Syslog/CEF: Configure a Linux VM with a Log Analytics agent to act as a Syslog forwarder.
• Third-Party APIs: Use API credentials and tokens to link Sentinel with platforms like Okta, Salesforce, or ServiceNow.

Would you like this walkthrough for a different data source? Let me know!