Overview

This document is intended for a technical audience and provides a detailed description of a Threat Intelligence Feed with the ThreatConnect Platform. The general purpose of the Threat Intelligence Feed integration is to bring new, external threat intelligence information into the ThreatConnect Platform.

Integration Attributes

Example Integration Diagram

The diagram below provides a simple success-based example of this integration scenario.

Diagram Explanation

  1. A timer event will initiate the execution of this routine based on a schedule.

  2. The Runtime App initiates an HTTP client call to a remote API to gather data.

  3. The remote API receives the request.

  4. The remote API processes the request according to any parameters provided.

  5. The remote API formulates the response payload.

  6. The remote API sends the response back to the HTTP client.

  7. The HTTP client receives this response and parses the data into a usable format.

  8. The Runtime App creates a TcEx Batch to ingest the relevant data provided by the remote API.

  9. The Runtime App submits the TcEx Batch.

  10. (Optionally) The Runtime App will execute any logic to delete stale (invalid) indicators within its scope.

  11. The intel feed is now considered up-to-date.

Integration Key Points

Installation

The Threat Intelligence Feed deliverable is installed on the ThreatConnect Platform using the TcExchange Settings page. During testing, this step is performed by your ThreatConnect Solutions Engineer on your behalf as part of our vetting process.

Please see Videos - Threat Intelligence Feed Installation Process for a look at how this process works for the end-user.

Getting Started

Once you’ve reviewed the guidelines above, follow these high-level steps to get started with your project:

  1. Ensure that you’ve installed and are using a Python 3.6 interpreter. This is important to ensure that you match the oldest version of Python used in the ThreatConnect Platform. Python 3.6.8 is recommended.

  2. Install the latest version of the tcex module:

    pip3 install 'tcex[development]'

  3. Create a project directory on your system.

    1. NOTE: If you’re using an IDE, do not initialize this directory with your IDE until after you’ve initialized it with the appropriate template in the next step. Otherwise, you’ll receive an error that the directory is not empty.

  4. Change directories into the project directory and prepare a template:

    tcinit --template job_batch

  5. Modify the code in app.py. Specifically, your code belongs in the App.run() method.

  6. Ensure that your other project configuration files are up-to-date:

    1. install.json - See this link for reference on this file. Most default values can remain. Key points:

      1. Ensure that your displayName is configured properly per our guidelines.

      2. Ensure that each of your input parameters are defined properly.

    2. tcex.json - Key points:

      1. Ensure that the package > app_name is version of your package name without spaces. Use the _ to substitute for spaces.

      2. For TcEx v1: The package > app_version field will be appended to the package name and doesn’t actually reflect the version embedded in the project.

      3. Any files you add to the project for development but that should not be shipped in the deliverable should be added to the package > excludes array.

    3. args.py - Key Points:

      1. Each argument you add to your app should be included here. You do not need to add any of the pre-defined arguments such as tc_log_level.

    4. requirements.txt - Key Points:

      1. Each package you require for any portion of your app should be specified here.

  7. Prepare the project libraries from the project directory:

    tclib

  8. Prepare a run profile/script to test your code. Use the following parameters for your profile/script:

    1. Execute the run.py with the working directory of your project. Use the following arguments:

      1. --tc_api_path - Set this to https://<instance URL>/api

        1. If you’re using the PartnerStage environment, this would be https://partnerstage.threatconnect.com/api.

        2. If you’re using the ThreatConnect Public Cloud (you access the UI using https://app.threatconnect.com), this would be https://api.threatconnect.com/.

      2. --api_access_id - Set this to your API Access ID

      3. --api_secret_key - Set this to your API Secret Key

        1. If you run this from a bash or zsh command-line, you must single-quote your API Secret Key or it will not work properly (you will get an API 400 response code saying it can’t find the indicator types).

        2. If you run this in PyCharm using a run profile, you must double-quote your API Secret Key or it may produce unexpected results inside the interpreter.

      4. --tc_log_path - Set this to . to generate the app.log in your working directory

        1. Specify another directory if you desire. All of the exceptions will be captured in this log and will not be printed to the screen.

      5. --tc_log_level - Set this to DEBUG for your testing purposes

      6. --tc_owner - Set this to the name of your Source in PartnerStage. This is typically going to be <Organization> Source as the name. If your company name is SecuLast, this would be SecuLast Source.

        1. This value is only for testing purposes. In the Production environment, you’ll accept a configurable name here in your project (configuration provided in the template).

      7. Also include any other arguments that are defined in the args.py file

        1. For example, if the args.py file looks like the following: 

          """Job Args"""
from argparse import ArgumentParser


class Args:
    """Job Args"""

    def __init__(self, parser: ArgumentParser):
        """Initialize class properties."""
        parser.add_argument('--tc_owner', required=True)
        parser.add_argument('--indicator_threat_rating')
        parser.add_argument('--indicator_confidence')

        2. Full run example: 

          python3 run.py --tc_api_path https://partnerstage.threatconnect.com/api 
--api_access_id 1234 --api_secret_key abcd --tc_log_path . 
--tc_log_level DEBUG --tc_owner "Malc0de Source" 
--indicator_threat_rating 5 --indicator_confidence 100

  9. Execute testing against your project to ensure that your code works properly against the description in your Solution Design as well as the guidelines for your integration type.

  10. Ensure that your project is stored in your code repository.

  11. Package the application using ‘tcpackage’. The output will be in ./target by default (a .tcx file).

TCEX Sample Project

Creating a brand new ThreatConnect Job can be overwhelming at first glance and so the Technology Partners Team has created a sample project for reference.

Sample Project Link:

https://github.com/ThreatConnect-Inc/threatconnect-jobs/tree/master/apps/Malc0de%20Threat%20Intelligence

The sample project has a .tcx file which will contain the integration itself and a .pdf which is the user guide.

User Guide

The pdf user guide can be used as a template and the sections include:

TCX Package

The .tcx file is really just a zip file with out special extension. Uncompress it with your preferred zip tool. Inside the .tcx file you will see the following files: 

__main__.py 
app_lib.py (Applib class)
app.py (This is the file where most of the app code will reside)
args.py (Arguments to be passed to the app)
install.json (JSON file that configures the app for the ThreatConnect platform)
job_app.py (JobApp class)
lib_3.6.8 
lib_latest
Malc0de_Threat_Intelligence_Feed.json (Feed deployer job file which is used to deploy the app through feed deployer)
README.md
requirements.txt (Python library requirements)
run.py (Run file for the app)

app.py

This sample project will showcase how to utilize many of the common features of the batch module. The main file that most of the code for an integration usually resides in is app.py. The app.py file shown in the sample project will display how to implement certain features of the batch module as shown below:

Setting the owner of indicators/groups:

Setting indicator threat rating and confidence:

Logging to the app log file using different log levels:

Setting an exit message and how to exit the app:

Getting the current UTC iso8601 time:

Generating a unique XID:

Creating a group:

Adding an attribute to a group:

Submitting all indicators/groups to the platform using batch:

Batch Error handling example:

Creating an indicator:

Adding attributes to an indicator :

Associating indicators to a threat group:

Development References