Use the schemas in Splunk Security Essentials

Splunk Security Essentials (SSE) requires a standard format for all content in the app. You can find the formatting in the following locations:

Location	Format
Main	ShowcaseInfo.json
Native SSE	showcase_simple_search.json showcase_first_seen_demo.json showcase_standard_deviation.json

Most use cases only require ShowcaseInfo.json schema. For example, in partner integrations, configurations automatically merge into ShowcaseInfo.json, and you don't need to use any of the search builder files.

SSE uses the following two schemas:

ShowcaseInfo.json. To reference the ShowcaseInfo.json schema and see examples of it in the code, see ShowcaseInfo.json schema.
Search builder content. To reference the search builder content schema and see examples of it in the code, see Search builder.

ShowcaseInfo.json schema

The following table is a point-in-time reference of the fields in the ShowcaseInfo.json file.

JSON field name	Descriptive field	Relevance	Description	Examples
name	Name	All	The name of the example (for example, "New Local Admin Account"). Include a maximum of 150 characters and avoid punctuation if possible.	Basic Brute Force Detection
description	Description	All	The primary description of your custom content. Include 250–300 characters.
highlight	Featured	All	Whether content appears on the main page.	No
advanced tags	Advanced Tags	All	Optional tags in the Advanced filter.	Cool Search
alertvolume	Alert Volume	All	Categorize the volume of the search.	Medium
bookmark_status	Bookmarked Status	All	The method SSE uses to track content.	Bookmarked
category	Category	All	A user-defined field.	IAM Analytics
data_source_categories	Data Source Categories	All	The data-source category ID that maps to data_inventory.json.	DS0003Authentication-ET02Failure
domain	Security Domain	All	The security domain. Options are Access, Network, Endpoint, Threat, and Other.	Access
hasSearch	Has Search	All	Whether the detection includes the related search string.	Yes
icon	Icon	All	The icon that appears wherever the icon tile appears, using BuildTile.js.
journey	Journey	All	The stage of the journey at which the content appears.	Stage_1
killchain	Kill Chain Phase	All	The phase of the kill chain.	Actions on Objectives
mitre_tactic	MITRE ATT&CK and Pre-ATT&CK Tactics	All	The pipe-delimited list of MITRE ATT&CK Tactic IDs.	TA0006
mitre_technique	MITRE ATT&CK and Pre-ATT&CK Techniques	All	The pipe-delimited list of the MITRE ATT&CK Technique IDs.	T1110
released	Released	All	The release number.	3.0.0
searchkeywords	Search Keywords	All	The automatically indexed search keywords, which include the description, title, category, use case, response, implementation, and help, as well as known false positives. To add highly weighted custom keywords, include them as space-separated values.	login log in logon log on sign
severity	Severity	All	The severity of the event. This value doesn't surface in the UI but is available as an enrichment field through the `sseanalytics` command.	Medium
SPLEase	SPL Ease	All	The level of expertise to use SPL for your content.	Basic
usecase	Use Case	All	The high-level description of the use case for your content.	Security Monitoring
additional_context	Array of Custom Panels	All	The option to include custom panels.
additional_context	Custom Panel: Detail	All	An optional text block. Supports Markdown.
additional_context.link	Custom Panel: Link	All	An optional URL that allows users to navigate to a helpful website. If defined, a Learn More… button appears.	Learn more…
additional_context.open_panel	Open Custom Panel	All	Whether the custom panel is open by default.
additional_context.search	Custom Panel: Code Block Contents	All	A display of raw code, like SPL. Code highlighting appears automatically.
additional_context.search_label	Custom Panel: Code Block Title	All	A text-only label for the search, directly before the `pre` tag. If undefined, the label displays Search.	Example
additional_context.search_lang	Custom Panel: Code Block Language	All	An optional tag to identify the language of the code on display. If undefined, the tag identifies SPL. The default languages for highlight.js are supported.	conf
additional_context.title	Custom Panel: Title	All	A text-only label that names a custom panel. If undefined, the label displays "Additional Context."	Config settings
help	Help	All	A field that allows users to seek help. Supports Markdown.
howToImplement	How to Implement	All	Optional text that describes how to implement a detection. Supports Markdown.
knownFP	Known False Positives	All	Optional text that describes the known false positives that are created in a search. Supports Markdown.
operationalize	How to Respond	All	Optional text that describes how to respond to a search. Supports Markdown.
printable_image	Printable Image URL	All	Optional screenshot showing demo results when creating a PDF export.
relevance	Security Impact	All	Text describing why your content is important. Supports Markdown.
open_search_panel	Open Search Panel	All	Whether the search panel is open by default. If you provide a search string, this setting defaults to true.	Text String: "False"
search	Search String	All	Optional search string.
search_name	Saved Search Name	All	The saved search name available in Correlation Search Introspection. Maps to the stanza name in the savedsearches.conf file.	ESCU - Abnormally High AWS Instances Terminated By User - Rule
company_description	Company Description	Partners	Description of your company. Supports Markdown.	Your Short Company Description
company_link	Company Link	Partners	An optional URL that allows users to navigate to your company's website. If defined, a Learn More... button appears.	https://www.splunk.com
company_logo	Company Logo	Partners	The URL and dimensions to an image of your company's logo. The dimensions must be less than 250 px in height and 500 px in width.	https://…/yourlogo.png
company_logo_height	Company Logo: Height	Partners	The height of your company's logo in pixels.	200
company_logo_width	Company Logo: Width	Partners	The width of your company's logo in pixels.	400
company_name	Company Name	Partners	The name of your company.	Company Name
create_data_inventory	Create data Inventory	Partners	If defined as True, this field creates an entry in the Data Inventory and overwrites the existing data_source_categories field.	Obj: True
inSplunk	Solved in Splunk	Partners	Marks functionality that exists in an environment but outside Splunk Enterprise.	Yes
escu_cis	ESCU - CIS Mapping	ESCU Authors	ES Content Update Specific: The CIS Mapping	CIS 13
escu_data_source	ESCU - Data Source	ESCU Authors	ES Content Update Specific: The Data Sources	AWS CloudTrail Logs
escu_nist	ESCU - NIST Mapping	ESCU Authors	ES Content Update Specific: The NIST Mapping	DE.DP
escu_providing_technologies	ESCU - Providing Technologies	ESCU Authors	ES Content Update Specific: The technologies that enable a detection	AWS
story	ESCU - Story ID	ESCU Authors	ES Content Update Specific: Story ID	2e8948a5-5239-406b-b56b-6c50f1268af3
examples	Array of Examples for Detection	SSE Authors	An added object to the examples array. One adds for each kind of search (Live Data, Demo Data, Accelerated Data, and the like).
examples.label	Name for Example	SSE Authors	The name of the example.	Live Data
examples.name	ID in Search Builder JSON	SSE Authors	The machine-readable name of the content. Don't include spaces or special characters. Custom content is overwritten by the channel definition.	Splunk_Security_Essentials
dashboard	Dashboard	SSE Authors	The name of a dashboard users go to after they select its name. Append any fields to the name.	showcase_simple_search?ml_toolkit.dataset=Basic Brute Force - Demo
displayapp	Display App	SSE Authors	The name of the content. Custom content is overwritten by the channel definition.	Splunk Security Essentials
visualizations	Array of Visualization Objects	SSE Authors	The native Splunk Viz or screenshot visualizations you want to include in SSE.
visualizations.basesearch	Base Search	SSE Authors	If defined, the value that initializes a base search and post-process in the visualizations.search field. Define this setting when you have multiple panels with input from the same dataset so the same search doesn't run multiple times.
visualizations.dashboard	Dashboard Name	SSE Authors	The visualization that appears near the dashboard name when using automatic dashboards. You can have 10–30 dashboards on each panel.	Essential Network Security
visualizations.description	Panel Description	SSE Authors	Optional description that appears when using automatic dashboards.	Provides a running count of identified DNS connections over time.
visualizations.header	Dashboard Header	SSE Authors	The visualization that appears near the header when using automatic dashboards. Use 1–5 panels for the header.	DNS Traffic
visualizations.hideInSearchBuilder	Hide in Search Builder	SSE Authors	If defined as True, a visualization appears in automatic dashboards but not the search builder.	Obj: True
visualizations.panel	Panel ID	SSE Authors	The panel in which a visualization made in the search builder renders. The panel contains three columns and rows.	row1cell1
visualizations.path	Image URL	SSE Authors	The path to the visualization for the visualizations.type field.
visualizations.recommended	Is Base Search	SSE Authors	Whether to mark panels in the automatic dashboarding feature as recommended.	Obj: True
visualizations.search	Search String	SSE Authors	The search string for the visualization.
visualizations.title	Panel Title	SSE Authors	The title of the visualization.	DNS Traffic Over Time
visualizations.type	Image or Visualization	SSE Authors	Whether a visualization is an image or a Splunk Viz.	Image
visualization.vizParameters	Parameters For Native Viz	SSE Authors	The parameters referenced when you initialize Splunk Viz using SplunkJS.
visualizations.vizType	Visualization Type	SSE Authors	What type a Splunk Viz is. Options are ChartElement, SingleElement, MapElement, and TableElement.	TableElement
anomalies	UBA: Array of ShowcaseIDs for UBA Anomalies	UBA Authors	UBA specific. A list of SSE IDs for any UBA anomalies the threat sees. Each resolves to a threat. Often, the ID matches regex TT\d*.
contributes_to_threats	UBA: Array of ShowcaseIDs for UBA Threats	UBA Authors	UBA specific. An array that contains objects for each detection related to anomaly types.
detections.data_source	UBA: Array of DSC IDs	UBA Authors	UBA specific. A proper JSON array with DSC IDs that resolve to the data_inventory.json file, just like the data_source_categories field, except the detections.data_source field is a true JSON field rather than a pipe-delimited string.	DS009EndPointIntel-ET01ProcessLaunch
detections.descriptions	UBA: Description for the Detection	UBA Authors	UBA specific. Description of the detection related to an anomaly type.
detections.id	UBA: ID for the Detection	UBA Authors	Not currently in use.
detections.internal_id	UBA: Internal ID for the Detection	UBA Authors	Not currently in use.
detections.name	UBA: Detection Name	UBA Authors	UBA specific. The name of the detection related to an anomaly type.
internal_id	UBA: Internal ID	UBA Authors	Not currently in use.
is_custom	UBA: Is a Custom Threat	UBA Authors	UBA specific. Not currently in use, but displays whether a threat is a rule-based custom threat rather than an ML-detected threat.	Yes
long_description	UBA: Long Description	UBA Authors	UBA specific. A description field not subject to character limits, like other description fields. Appears if a user selects an anomaly or threat.

Unless noted otherwise, multivalue fields populate with pipes separating each element. For example, content mapped to Security Monitoring and Advanced Detection appears as follows:


{
    "usecase": "Security Monitoring|Advanced Threat Detection"
}

To find valid values, use the following example search:

| sseanalytics | fieldsummary | table field *count values

ShowcaseInfo.json examples

Review the following examples to learn more:

Partner content
Simple content
Native content
Product-specific content
Visualizations
Dashboard panels

Partner content

SSE expects to download a JSON file. Each top-level key must be the ID of the showcase:


{
    "buttercuplabs_detect_bad_ponies": {
        "name": "Detect Bad Ponies",
        "inSplunk": "yes",
        "journey": "Stage_1",
        "usecase": "Security Monitoring",
        "highlight": "Yes",
        "id": "buttercuplabs_detect_bad_ponies",
        "channel": "ButtercupLabs",
        "alertvolume": "Low",
        "severity": "Very High",
        "category": "Account Compromise",
        "description": "This detection uses advanced analytics to determine which ponies are not good.",
        "domain": "",
        "killchain": null,
        "SPLEase": "None",
        "searchkeywords": "",
        "advancedtags": "",
        "printable_image": "",
        "icon": "https://static.mylogocloud.com/shop/store/20180213730/assets/items/largeimages/SPK0153.jpg",
        "company_logo": "https://image.slidesharecdn.com/splunklivesfhowtoalignyourdailysplunkactivitiesbreakoutsession-160317192319/95/how-to-align-your-daily-splunk-activities-breakout-session-23-638.jpg?cb=1458242654",
        "company_logo_width": "444",
        "company_logo_height": "250",
        "company_name": "Buttercup Labs",
        "company_description": "Buttercup Labs is the premier distributor of Pony-related security analytics. We have been protecting organizations from bad ponies for over 10 years now.\n\\n\\n\nEnjoy our freely available content for detecting bad ponies in your environment, and reach out to us for a demo or trial license of our premium Pony Detection app!\n\\n\\n\nHave you successfully found bad ponies in your own environment? Buttercup Labs is hiring! We are a wholly owned subsidiary of Buttercup Games, and are a proudly equal opportunity employer. We welcome ponies of all heights, colors, hoof styles, sexual orientations, and neurodiversities.",
        "company_link": "http://buttercupgames.com/",
        "dashboard": "showcase_custom?showcaseId=buttercuplabs_detect_bad_ponies",
        "relevance": "Placeholder Text",
        "help": "",
        "howToImplement": "Placeholder Text",
        "knownFP": "Placeholder Text",
        "operationalize": "Placeholder Text",
        "search": "index=buttercup sourcetype=content",
        "data_source_categories": "DS003Authentication-ET02Failure|DS003Authentication-ET01Success",
        "mitre_technique": "T1098|T1003",
        "mitre_tactic": "TA0006"
    }
}

Simple content

Simple content requires less configuration than other types of content:


{
    "phantom_ec2_instance_isolation": {
        "alertvolume": "Very Low", 
        "app": "Splunk_Phantom", 
        "category": "Account Compromise|IAM Analytics|Account Sharing|SaaS|Insider Threat", 
        "dashboard": "showcase_phantom?showcaseId=phantom_ec2_instance_isolation", 
        "data_source_categories": "VendorSpecific-aws-cloudtrail", 
        "description": "Isolate an EC2 instance by changing its security group in order to protect it from malicious traffic. This playbook can be started alone or used from another playbook after doing investigation and notification.", 
        "displayapp": "Splunk Phantom", 
        "domain": "Access", 
        "hasSearch": "No", 
        "help": "Simply deploy Splunk Phantom and work with your technical team to deploy this.", 
        "highlight": "Yes", 
        "howToImplement": "This playbook can be triggered off of several example searches available in the Splunk Security Essentials app to take immediate action to quarantine an instance when suspicious behavior has been detected.", 
        "icon": "phantom_logo.png", 
        "includeSSE": "Yes", 
        "journey": "Stage_5", 
        "name": "EC2 Instance Isolation", 
        "operationalize": "Depending on the use case, this playbook can be modified using several of the available Splunk Phantom apps to increase the scope of the actions taken in this playbook. For example, using the AWS WAF or AWS IAM app, additional actions can be added based on the type of alert triggered.", 
        "printable_image": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/phantomcyber/playbooks/4.5/ec2_instance_isolation.png", 
        "released": "3.0.0", 
        "relevance": "Compromised AWS credentials can allow a malicious actor access to currently running instances and configurations as well as the ability to start new instances and services. By detecting suspicious behavior early this playbook allows for a security team to react quickly and further investigate any suspicious behavior.", 
        "searchKeywords": "", 
        "usecase": "Advanced Threat Detection|Insider Threat|SOC Automation", 
        "visualizations": [
            {
                "panel": "row1cell1", 
                "path": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/phantomcyber/playbooks/4.5/ec2_instance_isolation.png", 
                "title": "EC2 Instance Isolation", 
                "type": "image"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Native content

When developing native content for SSE, you have additional fields available:


{
    "new_cloud_provider": {
        "SPLEase": "Medium", 
        "alertvolume": "High", 
        "app": "Splunk_Security_Essentials", 
        "category": "Data Exfiltration|Insider Threat|Shadow IT", 
        "dashboard": "showcase_first_seen_demo?ml_toolkit.dataset=New Cloud Provider for User - Demo", 
        "data_source_categories": "DS005WebProxyRequest-ET01RequestedWebAppAware", 
        "description": "<p>Detect a user who is accessing a cloud storage provider they've never used before.</p>", 
        "displayapp": "Splunk Security Essentials", 
        "domain": "Network", 
        "examples": [
            {
                "label": "Demo Data", 
                "name": "New Cloud Provider for User - Demo"
            }, 
            {
                "label": "Live Data", 
                "name": "New Cloud Provider for User - Live"
            }, 
            {
                "label": "Accelerated Data", 
                "name": "New Cloud Provider for User - Accelerated"
            }
        ], 
        "hasSearch": "Yes", 
        "help": "<p>This example leverages the Detect New Values search assistant. Our dataset is an anonymized collection of Palo Alto Networks events. For this analysis, we are effectively grouping by username and app name after filtering for the category, which gives us a row for each username+appname combination. We check if the first time that has occurred was in the last day.</p>", 
        "highlight": "Yes", 
        "howToImplement": "<p>Implementation of this example (or any of the First Time Seen examples) is generally very simple. <ul><li>Validate that you have the right data onboarded, and that the fields you want to monitor are properly extracted.</li><li>Save the search.</li></ul></p><p>For most environments, these searches can be run once a day, often overnight, without worrying too much about a slow search. If you want to run this search more frequently, or if this search is too slow for your environment, leverage a lookup cache. For more on this, see the lookup cache drop-down list below and select the sample item. A window pop ups telling you more about this feature.</p>", 
        "icon": "Core_Use_Case.png", 
        "includeSSE": "Yes", 
        "journey": "Stage_2", 
        "killchain": "Actions on Objectives", 
        "knownFP": "<p class=\"disclaimer\">This is a strictly behavioral search, so we define \"false positive\" slightly differently. Every time this fires, it accurately reflects the first occurrence in the time period you're searching over (or for the lookup cache feature, the first occurrence over whatever time period you built the lookup). But while there are really no \"false positives\" in a traditional sense, there is definitely lots of noise.</p><p>Do not review these alerts directly (except for access to extremely sensitive systems), but instead use them for context or to aggregate risk (as mentioned under How To Respond).</p> ", 
        "mitre_tactic": "TA0010|TA0011", 
        "mitre_technique": "|T1048|T1102", 
        "name": "New Cloud Provider for User", 
        "operationalize": "<p>When this search returns values, validate whether the usage of this cloud provider is permitted by your policy, and investigate what data is being stored there. Common allowable scenarios can be uploading into a box folder provided by a vendor for secure support file upload, which might be allowable, versus the backup of data to a personal Google Drive account. Ultimately this search generates many shades of gray, so it's prudent to understand supporting information such as the amount of data transmitted before reaching out to the employee or their manager to determine next steps.</p>", 
        "phantomPlaybooks": [
            "phantom_malicious_insider_containment", 
            "phantom_prompt_and_block_domain"
        ], 
        "printable_image": "/static/app/Splunk_Security_Essentials/images/printable_demo_images/new_cloud_provider.png", 
        "released": "2.2.0", 
        "relevance": "Data exfiltration techniques vary across the world, but certainly a very common approach taken in 2018 is to upload data to a non-corporate file storage solution. Tracking new file storage solutions end up in your environment is a key capability to track where data flows in your organization along with the adoption of Shadow IT.", 
        "searchKeywords": "", 
        "usecase": "Insider Threat|Security Monitoring"
    }
}

Product-specific content

Splunk products have unique configurations that vary by product.

Splunk Enterprise Security


{
    "search_name": "Change - Abnormally High Number of Endpoint Changes By User - Rule", 
}

Splunk Enterprise Security Content Update


{
    "escu_cis": "CIS 13", 
    "escu_data_source": "AWS CloudTrail logs", 
    "escu_nist": "DE.DP|DE.AE", 
    "escu_providing_technologies": "AWS", 
    "search_name": "ESCU - Abnormally High AWS Instances Terminated by User - Rule", 
    "story": "2e8948a5-5239-406b-b56b-6c50f1268af3"
}

The Enterprise Security Content Updates (ESCU) Story ID in the story field references the story object in the ShowcaseInfo.json file. The story object is a low-level field hosted at ShowcaseInfo['escu_stories']. This is the story detail referenced in the previous example code:


{
    "2e8948a5-5239-406b-b56b-6c50f1268af3": {
        "detections": [
            "detection_abnormally_high_instance_termination", 
            "detection_ec2_instance_created_by_previously_unseen_user", 
            "detection_aws_activity_in_new_region", 
            "detection_abnormally_high_instances_launched"
        ], 
        "escu_category": [
            "Cloud Security"
        ], 
        "investigations": [
            "AWS Investigate User Activities By ARN", 
            "Get EC2 Instance Details by instanceId", 
            "Get Notable History", 
            "Get Notable Info", 
            "Get User Information from Identity Table", 
            "Investigate AWS activities via region name", 
            "Get EC2 Launch Details"
        ], 
        "modification_date": "2018-02-09", 
        "name": "Suspicious AWS EC2 Activities", 
        "narrative": "AWS CloudTrail is an AWS service that helps you enable governance, compliance, and risk auditing within your AWS account. Actions taken by a user, role, or an AWS service are recorded as events in CloudTrail. It is crucial for a company to monitor events and actions taken in the AWS Console, AWS command-line interface, and AWS SDKs and APIs to ensure that your EC2 instances are not vulnerable to attacks. This Analytic Story identifies suspicious activities in your AWS EC2 instances and helps you respond and investigate those activities.", 
        "references": [
            "https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/aws-security-best-practices.pdf"
        ], 
        "responses": [], 
        "story_id": "2e8948a5-5239-406b-b56b-6c50f1268af3", 
        "support": [
            "Previously Seen EC2 Launches By User", 
            "Previously Seen AWS Regions"
        ]
    }
}

Splunk User Behavior Analytics anomalies


{
    "anomalies": [
        "AT11", 
        "AT06"
    ], 
    "internal_id": "Potential_Flight_Risk_Exfiltration", 
    "long_description": "This threat brings to light users who are possible flight risks. However, in addition to being a flight risk, this user has also performed actions that signal that it may be possible they will exfiltrate data. Actions that lead to exfiltration of data in this instance are events such as: suspicious data movement, upload of information to a cloud file system, or a DLP external alarm. ", 
    "is_custom": "Yes", 
}

Splunk User Behavior Analytics threats


{
    "anomalies": [
        "AT11", 
        "AT06"
    ], 
    "internal_id": "Potential_Flight_Risk_Exfiltration", 
    "long_description": "This threat brings to light users who are possible flight risks. However, in addition to being a flight risk, this user has also performed actions that signal that it may be possible they will exfiltrate data. Actions that lead to exfiltration of data in this instance are events such as: suspicious data movement, upload of information to a cloud file system, or a DLP external alarm. ", 
    "is_custom": "Yes", 
}

Visualizations

SSE native search builders support custom visualizations including screenshots and dashboard panels.

For screenshots, use the following code:


{
    "visualizations": [
        {
            "panel": "row1cell1", 
            "path": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/phantomcyber/playbooks/4.5/ec2_instance_isolation.png", 
            "title": "EC2 Instance Isolation", 
            "type": "image"
        }
    ]
}

Because searches differ, define dashboard panel configurations like the one in this example in the search builder JSON file:


{
    "visualizations": [
        {
            "dashboard": "General Windows and Linux Posture", 
            "header": "AV Data", 
            "panel": "row1cell1", 
            "search": "| `Load_Sample_Log_Data(Symantec Endpoint Protection Operations)`  |stats max(eval(if(like(Event_Description, \"%LiveUpdate session ran successfully%\") , _time, null))) as LatestUpdate max(_time) as LatestMessage max(eval(if(tag=\"error\", _time, null))) as LatestError by Host_Name   | eval Up_To_Date = if( LatestUpdate < relative_time(LatestMessage, \"-3d\") OR LatestError > LatestUpdate , \"No\", \"Yes\") | lookup gdpr_system_category host as Host_Name| search category=* | stats count by Up_To_Date", 
            "title": "Percentage of In-Scope Hosts with Up To Date AV", 
            "type": "viz", 
            "vizParameters": {
                "charting.chart": "pie", 
                "link.exportResults.visible": "false", 
                "link.inspectSearch.visible": "false", 
                "link.openPivot.visible": "false", 
                "link.openSearch.visible": "false", 
                "link.visible": "false", 
                "refresh.link.visible": "false", 
                "resizable": true
            }, 
            "vizType": "ChartElement"
        }, 
        {
            "dashboard": "General Windows and Linux Posture", 
            "header": "AV Data", 
            "panel": "row1cell2", 
            "search": "| `Load_Sample_Log_Data(Symantec Endpoint Protection Operations)`  |stats max(eval(if(like(Event_Description, \"%LiveUpdate session ran successfully%\") , _time, null))) as LatestUpdate max(_time) as LatestMessage max(eval(if(tag=\"error\", _time, null))) as LatestError by Host_Name   | eval Up_To_Date = if( LatestUpdate < relative_time(LatestMessage, \"-3d\") OR LatestError > LatestUpdate , \"No\", \"Yes\") | search Up_To_Date = Yes | lookup gdpr_system_category host as Host_Name| search category=*| convert ctime(LatestUpdate) ctime(LatestMessage) ctime(LatestError) ", 
            "title": "Hosts with Up To Date AV", 
            "type": "viz", 
            "vizParameters": {
                "link.exportResults.visible": "false", 
                "link.inspectSearch.visible": "false", 
                "link.openPivot.visible": "false", 
                "link.openSearch.visible": "false", 
                "refresh.link.visible": "false", 
                "resizable": true
            }, 
            "vizType": "TableElement"
        }
    ]
}

Search builder

The search builder files are those used to display a file. SSE contains five search builder files:

Dashboard	Dashboard name	JSON file	Notes
showcase_simple_search	Simple Search	showcase_simple_search.json	For the majority of native SSE content, this search builder runs a search string without any additional SPL.
showcase_first_seen_demo	First Time Seen	showcase_first_seen_demo.json	The first time this search builder takes a base dataset and two fields used for splitting, if that happens in the last 24 hours, the file applies logic for alerting. This search builder has high-scale versions, allowing users to cache the result to a lookup. A peer group option is available, also, allowing the search to find values that are new not only for the entity in question, but also for the peer group (or department, geo, and the like).
showcase_standard_deviation	Time Series Spike	showcase_standard_deviation.json	This search builder takes a base dataset that is already aggregated each day, a field representing a numerical measure, and a feature for the entity the system intends to analyze. This search builder then performs a standard-deviation analysis to find unusually high values.
showcase_phantom	Splunk Phantom	ShowcaseInfo	This search builder is used for Splunk Phantom content.
showcase_custom	Custom Content	ShowcaseInfo	This search builder is used for custom content and partner content.

Schema

JSON field name	Descriptive field	Search builder	Description	Examples
label	Name	All	Matches the examples.name field from the ShowcaseInfo.json file and must match the ID.	Emails With Lookalike Domains - Demo
value	Search	All	The search string. Line breaks in the SPL are implemented through \n and the number of lines must match the length of the description array.	index=abc \n
description	Line-by-Line SPL Documentation	All	An array that contains the line-by-line SPL docs. The number of elements in the array must match the number of \n values plus one.	"Base Data", "Count them", "Filter"
Prereqs	Array of Pre-Requisites	All	An array that contains all of the prerequisite objects.
prereqs.field	Pre-Req Field	All	The field that determines whether the prerequisite is satisfied.	count
prereqs.greaterorequalto	Pre-Req Min Value	All	The value of the field in prereqs.field must be greater than or equal to.	1
prereqs.name	Pre-Req Name	All	The label provided to the user for this prerequisite.	"Must have data"
prereqs.resolution	Pre-Req Resolution	All	Description of how the user can satisfy a prerequisite.	Install an add-on.
prereqs.test	SPL for Pre-Req	All	The search that runs for prerequisite.
actions_createNotable	Create Risk	All	Whether a notable event is created. Triggers Splunk Enterprise Security workflows.	1
actions_createRisk	Create Risk	All	Whether to create a risk object for a search.	1
actions_riskObject	Risk Object	All	The risk_object field, as aligned with the Splunk Enterprise Security risk framework.	Computer_Name
actions_riskObjectScore	Risk Score	All	The risk_score field, as aligned with the Splunk Enterprise Security risk framework.	60
actions_riskObjectType	Risk Object Type	All	The risk_object_type field, as aligned with the Splunk Enterprise Security risk framework.	system
actions_UBASeverity	UBA Severity	All	An indication that SSE must send an event to Splunk User Behavior Analytics with a severity.	5
visualizations	Array of Visualizations Objects	All	The native Splunk Viz or screenshot visualizations you want to include in SSE.
visualizations.basesearch	Base Search	All	If defined, the value that initializes the base search and post-process in the visualizations.search file. Define this setting when you have multiple panels with input from the same dataset so the same search doesn't run multiple times.
visualizations.dashboard	Dashboard Name	SSE Authors	The visualization that appears near the dashboard name when using automatic dashboarding. You can have 10–30 dashboards on each panel.	Essential Network Security
visualizations.description	Panel Description	SSE Authors	Optional description that appears when using automatic dashboarding.	Provides a running count of identified DNS connections over time.
visualizations.header	Dashboard Header	SSE Authors	The visualization that appears near the header when using automatic dashboarding. Use 1–5 panels for the header.	DNS Traffic
visualizations.hideInSearchBuilder	Hide in Search Builder	SSE Authors	If defined as "True", a visualization appears in automatic dashboards but not the search builder.	Obj: True
visualizations.panel	Panel ID	SSE Authors	The panel in which a visualization made in the search builder renders. The panel contains three columns and rows.	row1cell1
visualizations.path	Image URL	SSE Authors	The path to the visualization for the visualizations.type file.
visualizations.recommended	Is Base Search	SSE Authors	Whether to mark panels in the automatic dashboarding feature as Recommended.	Obj: True
visualizations.search	Search String	SSE Authors	The search string for the visualization.
visualizations.title	Panel Title	SSE Authors	The title of the visualization.	DNS Traffic Over Time
visualizations.type	Image or Visualization	SSE Authors	Whether a visualization is an image or a Splunk Viz.	Image
visualization.vizParameters	Parameters For Native Viz	SSE Authors	The parameters referenced when you initialize Splunk Viz using SplunkJS.
visualizations.vizType	Visualization Type	SSE Authors	What type a Splunk Viz is. Options are ChartElement, SingleElement, MapElement, and TableElement.	TableElement
OutlierPeerGroup	Peer Group	First Time Seen	The option to perform peer-group analysis. Deactivated by default but can be activated.
outlierValueTracked1	Value #1	First Time Seen	First Time Seen splits by two values. Most often, the first value is the subject (for example, user, dest, src, and the like).	user
outlierValueTracked2	Value #2	First Time Seen	First Time Seen splits by two values. Most often, the second value is the unusual attribute (for example, geo, API, and the like).	eventName
cardinalityTest	Cardinality Test	Time Series Spike	The SPL that tests whether a split-by results in an excessive number of results.
outlierSearchType	Search Type	Time Series Spike	Reserved for future use. Must be Avg currently.	Avg
outlierVariable	Numeric Measure	Time Series Spike	The value containing the count the system measures.	count
outlierVariableSubject	Subject	Time Series Spike	The subject or entity the system is monitoring. Options include user, src, dest, or any other Splunk field.	user
scaleFactor	# of StDevs	Time Series Spike	The number of standard deviations required for the system to consider a detection atypical. Usually, use 3 for anomaly detection and 10 for high confidence.	6
windowSize	windowSize	Time Series Spike	Not currently in use. Value must be 0.	0

Search builder examples

Simple search


{
    "DynDNS - Live": {
        "actions_UBASeverity": 7,
        "actions_createRisk": 1,
        "actions_riskObject": "user",
        "actions_riskObjectScore": 30,
        "actions_riskObjectType": "user",
        "description": [
            "First we bring in our dataset of proxy logs.",
            "Because we are looking for dynamic DNS providers, we're going to need to separate out subdomains from the registered domain. URL Toolbox is just the tool for this job!",
            "Next we can use our lookup of DNS domains (see How to Implement). This adds a field called inlist with the value \"true\" for any matches.",
            "And finally we can look for those records that are matches.",
            "With our dataset complete, we just need to arrange the fields to be useful."
        ],
        "label": "DynDNS - Live",
        "prereqs": [{
                "field": "count",
                "greaterorequalto": 1,
                "name": "Must have Proxy data",
                "resolution": "Proxy data can come in many forms, including from Palo Alto Networks and other NGFWs, dedicated proxies like BlueCoat, or network monitoring tools like Splunk Stream or bro.",
                "test": "| metasearch earliest=-2h latest=now index=* sourcetype=pan:threat OR (sourcetype=opsec URL Filtering) OR sourcetype=bluecoat:proxysg* OR sourcetype=websense* | head 100 | stats count "
            },
            {
                "field": "count",
                "greaterorequalto": 1,
                "name": "Must have URL Toolbox Installed",
                "resolution": "The URL Toolbox app, written by Cedric Le Roux, provides effective URL Parsing. Download <a href=\"https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/2734/\">here</a>.",
                "test": "| rest /services/apps/local | search disabled=0 label=\"URL Toolbox\" | stats count"
            }
        ],
        "value": "index=* sourcetype=pan:threat OR (tag=web tag=proxy) earliest=-20m@m earliest=-5m@m \n| eval list=\"mozilla\" | `ut_parse_extended(url,list)`\n| lookup dynamic_dns_lookup domain as ut_domain OUTPUT inlist\n| search inlist=true \n| table _time ut_domain inlist bytes* uri",
        "visualizations": [{
                "panel": "row1cell1",
                "header": "DNS Traffic",
                "dashboard": "Essential Network Security",
                "description": "Provides a running count of identified DNS connections over time",
                "search": "| `Load_Sample_Log_Data(Sample Firewall Data)` | search dest_port=53 OR app=dns | timechart count",
                "title": "DNS Traffic Over Time",
                "type": "viz",
                "vizParameters": {
                    "charting.chart": "column"
                },
                "vizType": "ChartElement"
            },
            {
                "panel": "row1cell2",
                "header": "DNS Traffic",
                "dashboard": "Essential Network Security",
                "recommended": false,
                "description": "Shows the top destinations for DNS traffic. These are your DNS servers, or a standard upstream DNS server.",
                "basesearch": "index=* sourcetype=pan:threat OR (tag=web tag=proxy) (dest_port=53 OR app=dns)",
                "search": "| `Load_Sample_Log_Data(Sample Firewall Data)` | search dest_port=53 OR app=dns | stats count by dest_ip | sort - count",
                "title": "Likely Resolvers",
                "type": "viz",
                "vizParameters": {},
                "vizType": "TableElement"
            }
        ]
    }    
}

First-time seen


{
    "AWS New API Call Per Peer Group - Live": {
        "actions_UBASeverity": 7,
        "actions_createRisk": 1,
        "actions_riskObject": "user",
        "actions_riskObjectScore": 30,
        "actions_riskObjectType": "user",
        "description": [
            "First we bring in our basic dataset. In this case, AWS CloudTrail logs, filtered for individual APIs that we want to pay close attention to."
        ],
        "label": "AWS New API Call Per Peer Group - Live",
        "outlierPeerGroup": "peer_group_for_git_use_case.csv",
        "outlierValueTracked1": "user",
        "outlierValueTracked2": "eventName",
        "prereqs": [{
            "field": "count",
            "greaterorequalto": 1,
            "name": "Must have AWS CloudTrail data",
            "resolution": "In order to run this search, you must have AWS CloudTrail data onboard. Visit the <a href=\"/app/Splunk_Security_Essentials/data_source?technology=AWS%20CloudTrail\">data onboarding guide for AWS CloudTrail in this app</a>, or browse to <a href=\"https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/1876/\">apps.splunk.com</a> for more information.",
            "test": "| tstats count where earliest=-2h latest=now index=* sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail"
        }],
        "value": "index=* sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail eventType=* NOT errorMessage=* NOT eventName=Describe* NOT eventName=Get* NOT eventName=List*"
    }
}

Standard deviation


{
    "GCP APIs Called More Often Than Usual Per Account - Live": {
        "actions_UBASeverity": 2,
        "actions_createRisk": 1,
        "actions_riskObject": "data.protoPayload.authenticationInfo.principalEmail",
        "actions_riskObjectScore": 10,
        "actions_riskObjectType": "user",
        "cardinalityTest": "index=* sourcetype=google:gcp:pubsub:message \n| bucket _time span=1d | stats dc(data.protoPayload.authenticationInfo.principalEmail) as count by _time",
        "description": [
            "First we bring in our basic GCP Audit logs, filtering out list activity.",
            "Bucket (aliased to bin) allows us to group events based on _time, effectively flattening the actual _time value to the same day.",
            "Next we use stats to summarize the number of events per user per day."
        ],
        "label": "GCP APIs Called More Often Than Usual Per Account - Live",
        "outlierSearchType": "Avg",
        "outlierVariable": "count",
        "outlierVariableSubject": "data.protoPayload.authenticationInfo.principalEmail",
        "prereqs": [{
            "field": "count",
            "greaterorequalto": 1,
            "name": "Must have GCP Audit data",
            "resolution": "In order to run this search, you must have GCP Audit data onboard. Browse to <a href=\"https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3088/\">apps.splunk.com</a> for more information.",
            "test": "| tstats count where earliest=-2h latest=now index=\"*\" sourcetype=google:gcp:pubsub:message"
        }],
        "scaleFactor": 2,
        "value": "index=* sourcetype=google:gcp:pubsub:message NOT data.protoPayload.methodName=v1*.list*  NOT data.protoPayload.methodName=storage*.list*  \n| bucket _time span=1d \n| stats count by data.protoPayload.authenticationInfo.principalEmail _time",
        "windowSize": 0
    }    
}

Related answers from Splunk Community

Use the schemas in Splunk Security Essentials

ShowcaseInfo.json schema

ShowcaseInfo.json examples

Partner content

Simple content

Native content

Product-specific content

Splunk Enterprise Security

Splunk Enterprise Security Content Update

Splunk User Behavior Analytics anomalies

Splunk User Behavior Analytics threats

Visualizations

Search builder

Schema

Search builder examples

Simple search

First-time seen

Standard deviation

Comments

Use the schemas in Splunk Security Essentials

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