A Quickstart Guide
Are you ready to enhance your organization's security monitoring capabilities? Microsoft Sentinel, a robust cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution empowers businesses to detect, respond to, and mitigate security threats effectively. In this quickstart guide, we'll walk you through the essential steps to onboard Microsoft Sentinel, ensuring a seamless setup process for your security needs.
Prerequisites
Before diving into the onboarding process, ensure you have the following prerequisites in place:
Active Azure Subscription: If you don't have one, sign up for a free account to get started.
Log Analytics Workspace: Create a Log Analytics workspace, and consider extending the data retention period to 90 days for comprehensive functionality.
Permissions: Obtain contributor permissions to the Microsoft Sentinel workspace's subscription and either contributor or reader permissions on the workspace's resource group. For managing solutions, the Template Spec Contributor role is required.
Microsoft Sentinel Pricing: Keep in mind that Microsoft Sentinel is a paid service, so review the pricing options on the official Microsoft Sentinel pricing page.
Enable Microsoft Sentinel
Sign in to the Azure portal.
Search for and select Microsoft Sentinel.
Click "Add" and choose an existing workspace or create a new one. Note that each workspace isolates data.
Select "Add Microsoft Sentinel" to complete the process.
Install a Solution from the Content Hub
Microsoft Sentinel's Content Hub is the centralized repository for out-of-the-box content, including data connectors. To install a solution:
Go to Microsoft Sentinel and select "Content Hub."
Find the desired solution, such as the "Azure Activity" solution.
Click "Install/Update" from the toolbar to initiate the installation.
Set Up the Data Connector
Data connectors enable Microsoft Sentinel to ingest data from various services and apps. To set up a data connector for Azure Activity:
Navigate to Microsoft Sentinel and choose "Data connectors."
Locate and select the "Azure Activity" data connector.
Open the connector page and follow the configuration instructions.
Launch the Azure Policy Assignment Wizard.
Configure parameters, set the primary Log Analytics workspace, review, and create the policy.
Generate Activity Data
Creating and enabling rules within Microsoft Sentinel generates activity data. Here's how to do it:
Access Microsoft Sentinel and navigate to the "Content Hub."
Find the "Azure Activity" solution and select "Manage."
Identify the "Suspicious Resource Deployment" rule template.
Configure the rule, set the status to enabled, and create the rule.
View Data Ingested into Microsoft Sentinel
After setting up the data connector and generating activity data, you can view the ingested data:
Access Microsoft Sentinel and choose "Data connectors."
Select the "Azure Activity" data connector and open its connector page.
Check the status to ensure it's "Connected."
Navigate to Log Analytics and run a query to view the ingested activity data.
Conclusion
With Microsoft Sentinel's advanced capabilities and your newfound knowledge of its quick onboarding process, you're ready to enhance your organization's security posture. By enabling, configuring solutions, and setting up data connectors, you're taking a significant step towards efficient threat detection and response.