About Security Analytics and Logging (SAL SaaS) for the ASA

Security Analytics and Logging (SaaS) allows you to capture all syslog events and Netflow Secure Event Logging (NSEL) from your ASA and view them in one place in CDO.

The events are stored in the Cisco cloud and viewable from the Event Logging page in CDO where you can filter and review them to gain a clear understanding of what security rules are triggering in your network. The Logging and Troubleshooting package gives you these capabilities.

With the Logging Analytics and Detection package (formerly Firewall Analytics and Logging package), the system can apply Secure Cloud Analytics dynamic entity modeling to your FTD events, and use behavioral modeling analytics to generate Secure Cloud Analytics observations and alerts. If you obtain a Total Network Analytics and Monitoring package, the system applies dynamic entity modeling to both your FTD events and your network traffic, and generates observations and alerts. You can cross-launch from CDO to a Secure Cloud Analytics portal provisioned for you, using Cisco Single Sign-On.

How ASA Events are Displayed in the CDO Events Viewer

Syslog events and NSEL events are generated when logging is enabled on the ASA, and network traffic matches access control rule criteria. After the events are stored in the Cisco cloud, you can view them in CDO.

You can install multiple Secure Event Connectors (SECs) and send events generated by a rule, on any device, to any of the SECs as if it were a syslog server. The SEC then forwards the event to the Cisco cloud. Do not forward the same events to all of your SECs. You will be duplicating the events sent to the Cisco cloud and needlessly inflate your daily ingest rate.

How Syslog and NSEL Events are Sent from an ASA to the Cisco Cloud by way of the Secure Event Connector

With the basic Logging and Troubleshooting license, this is how an ASA event reaches the Cisco cloud:

You onboard your ASA to CDO using username and password.
You configure the ASA to forward syslog and NSEL events to any one of your SECs as if they were syslog servers and enable logging on the device.
The SEC forwards the events to the Cisco cloud where the events are stored.
CDO displays events from the Cisco cloud in its Events Viewer based on the filters you set.

With the Logging Analytics and Detection or Total Network Analytics and Monitoring license, the following also occur:

Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics applies analytics to the ASA syslog events stored in the Cisco cloud.
Generated observations and alerts are accessible from the Secure Cloud Analytics portal associated with your CDO portal.
From the CDO portal, you can cross-launch your Secure Cloud Analytics portal to review these observations and alerts.

Componets Used in the Solution

Secure Device Connector (SDC)-The SDC connects CDO to your ASAs. The login credentials for the ASA are stored on the SDC. See Secure Device Connector for more information.

Secure Event Connector (SEC)-The SEC is an application that receives events from your ASAs and forwards them to the Cisco cloud. Once in the Cisco cloud, you can view the events on CDO's Event Logging page or analyze them with Secure Cloud Analytics. Depending on your environment, the SEC is installed on a Secure Device Connector, if you have one; or on its own CDO Connector virtual machine that you maintain in your network. See Secure Event Connectors for more information.

Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA)-The ASA provides advanced stateful firewall and VPN concentrator functionality as well as integrated services with add-on modules. The ASA includes many advanced features, such as multiple security contexts (similar to virtualized firewalls), clustering (combining multiple firewalls into a single firewall), transparent (Layer 2) firewall or routed (Layer 3) firewall operation, advanced inspection engines, IPsec VPN, SSL VPN, and clientless SSL VPN support, and many more features.

Secure Cloud Analytics applies dynamic entity modeling to ASA events, generating detections based on this information. This provides a deeper analysis of telemetry gathered from your network, allowing you to identify trends and examine anomalous behavior in your network traffic. You would make use of this service if you have a Logging Analytics and Detection or Total Network Analytics and Monitoring license.

Licensing

To configure this solution you need the following accounts and licenses:

CDO. You must have a CDO tenant.
Secure Device Connector. There is no separate license for a Secure Device Connector.
Secure Event Connector. There is no separate license for a Secure Event Connector.
Secure Logging Analytics (SaaS). See the Security Analytics and Logging License table.
Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA). Base license or higher.

Security Analytics and Logging Licensing

In order to implement Security Analytics and Logging (SaaS), you need to purchase one of these licenses:


License Name	Provided Functionality	Available License Durations	Functionality Prerequisites
Logging and Troubleshooting	View ASA events and event detail within CDO, both as a live feed and as a historical view	1 year 3 years 5 years	CDO An on-premises ASA deployment running software version 9.6 or greater. Deployment of one or more SECs to pass ASA events to the Cisco cloud.
Logging Analytics and Detection (formerly Firewall Analytics and Monitoring)	Logging and Troubleshooting functionality, plus: Apply dynamic entity modeling and behavioral analytics to your events. Open alerts in Secure Cloud Analytics based on event data, cross-launching from the CDO event viewer.	1 year 3 years 5 years	CDO An on-premises ASA deployment running software version 9.6 or greater Deployment of one or more SECs to pass ASA events to the Cisco cloud. A newly provisioned or existing Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics portal.
Total Network Analytics and Monitoring	Logging Analytics and Detection, plus: Apply dynamic entity modeling and behavioral analytics to ASA events, on-premises network traffic, and cloud-based network traffic Open alerts in Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics based on the combination of ASA event data, on-premises network traffic flow data collected by Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics sensors, and cloud-based network traffic passed to Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics, cross-launching from the CDO event viewer.	1 year 3 years 5 years	CDO An on-premises ASA deployment running software version 9.6 or greater Deployment of one or more SECs to pass events to the Cisco cloud. Deployment of at least one Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics sensor version 4.1 or greater to pass network traffic flow data to the cloud OR integrating Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics with a cloud-based deployment, to pass network traffic flow data to Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics. A newly provisioned or existing Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics portal.

Data Plans

You need to buy a data plan that reflects the number of events the Cisco cloud receives from your on-boarded ASAs on a daily basis. This is called your "daily ingest rate." You can use the Logging Volume Estimator Tool to estimate your daily ingest rate and as that rate changes you can update your data plan.

Data plans are available in 1 GB daily volumes increments, and in 1, 3 or 5 year terms. See the Secure Logging Analytics (SaaS) Ordering Guide for information about data plans.

Note

If you have a Security Analytics and Logging license and data plan, then obtain a different license at a later date, that alone does not require you to obtain a different data plan. If your network traffic throughput changes and you obtain a different data plan, that alone does not require you to obtain a different Security Analytics and Logging license.

30-day Free Trial

You can request a 30-day risk-free trial by logging in to CDO and navigating Monitoring > Event Logging tab. On completion of the 30-day trial, you can order the desired event data volume to continue the service from Cisco Commerce Workspace (CCW), by following the instructions in the Secure Logging Analytics (SaaS) ordering guide.

Next Step

Go to Implementing Secure Logging Analytics (SaaS) for ASA Devices