Configuring Microsoft Graph Security API Connectors

This connector allows Stellar Cyber to ingest logs from Microsoft Graph Security API and add the records to the data lake. It integrates with the Microsoft Graph API to ingest alert data.

Refer to the rate limit information in the Microsoft documentation. The global usage rate limit is 130,000 requests per 10 seconds.

Stellar Cyber connectors with the Collect function (collectors) may skip collecting some data when the ingestion volume is large, which potentially can lead to data loss. This can happen when the processing capacity of the collector is exceeded.

Connector Overview: Microsoft Graph Security API

Capabilities

  • Collect: Yes

  • Respond: No

  • Native Alerts Mapped: No

  • Runs on: DP

  • Interval: Configurable

Collected Data

Content Type

Index

Locating Records

Alert

Incident

Windows Events

msg_class:

microsoft_graph_security_api_alert

microsoft_graph_security_api_incident

msg_origin.source:

microsoft_graph_security_api

msg_origin.vendor:

microsoft_graph_security_api

msg_origin.category:

xdr

Domain

https://graph.microsoft.com/

Response Actions

N/A

Third Party Native Alert Integration Details

N/A

Required Credentials and Configurations

  • Tenant ID, Client ID, and Password

Adding a Microsoft Graph Security API Connector

To add a Microsoft Graph Security API connector:

  1. Obtain credentials
  2. Add the connector in Stellar Cyber
  3. Test the connector
  4. Verify ingestion

Obtaining Microsoft Graph Security API Credentials

Before you configure the connector in Stellar Cyber, you must obtain the following Microsoft Graph Security API credentials:

  • Tenant ID—The tenant from which to request permission, also known as the Directory ID

  • Client ID—The client ID, also known as the Application ID that the app registration portal assigned when the app was registered

  • Password—The password that you generated for your app in the app registration portal, also known as the Client Secret

Registering an Application

To register an application, follow the guidance in the Microsoft documentation:

  1. With an administrative account, log in to the endpoint in which you want to register the Stellar Cyber application.

  2. In the navigation pane, select App registrations. A pane for adding and managing App registrations is displayed.

  3. Click New registration. A pane is opened for your new parameters.

  4. Enter a display Name for your application.

  5. Choose a supported account type. Accounts in this organizational directory only is typical.

  6. The Redirect URI setting is not required.

  7. Click Register. The initial app registration is completed and a summary of it is displayed.

  8. Copy the following details to a file:

    • Display Name

    • Application (client) ID, which is the Client ID you will use to add the connector in Stellar Cyber

    • Directory (tenant) ID, which is the Tenant ID you will use to add the connector in Stellar Cyber

Configuring the Application

To configure the application by setting permissions and obtaining the client secret, follow the guidance in the Microsoft documentation:

  1. To set the permissions for your application, in the navigation pane under Manage, select API Permissions. Click Add a permission. The Request API permissions pane appears. Click Microsoft Graph.

    1. Click Application permissions.

      You can type in the Search box to find permissions.

    2. Set the following permissions for the logs you want to collect.

      Permission Description
      SecurityAlert.Read.All Read all security alerts
      SecurityEvents.Read.All Read your organization's security events
      SecurityIncident.Read.All Read all security incidents

    3. Click Add permissions. The API permissions page redisplays with your added permissions.

    4. If you are the super admin, grant the permissions. Select the checkmark to Grant admin consent for <account name>.

      Otherwise, wait for the super admin to grant them.

      Make sure that the permissions are granted. If you add the connector before permissions are granted, the process fails.

      When the permissions are granted successfully, there will be green checkmarks in the Status column.

  2. To add a client secret to the application, select Certificates & secrets and New client secret.

    1. Add a Description and select an expiry.

    2. Click Add. The client secret is displayed in the Client secrets list.

    3. Copy the Value. This is the Password you will use to add the connector in Stellar Cyber.

Supporting Microsoft Defender for Identity

This connector also supports identity-based security alert and incident ingestion.

To get Microsoft Defender for Identity events from Microsoft Graph Security API, ensure that Microsoft Defender for Identity is properly configured or integrated with Microsoft 365 Defender. Refer to the section on alerts and incidents in Use the Microsoft Graph security API.

Alert ingestion needs the following permissions (refer to List alerts_v2):

  • Least privileged permissions: SecurityAlert.Read.All

  • Higher privileged permissions: SecurityAlert.ReadWrite.All

Incident ingestion needs the following permissions (refer to List incidents):

  • Least privileged permissions: SecurityIncident.Read.All

  • Higher privileged permissions: SecurityIncident.ReadWrite.All

Adding the Connector in Stellar Cyber

To add a Microsoft Graph Security API connector in Stellar Cyber:

  1. Log in to Stellar Cyber.

  2. Click System | INTEGRATIONS | Connectors. The Connector Overview appears.

  3. Click Create and select Connector.

    The General tab of the Add Connector screen appears. The information on this tab cannot be changed after you add the connector.

  4. Choose Extended Detection & Response from the Category dropdown.

  5. Choose Microsoft Graph Security API from the Type dropdown.

    The asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

  6. For this connector, the supported Function is Collect, which is enabled already.

  7. Enter a Name.

    Notes:
    • This field does not accept multibyte characters.
    • It is recommended that you follow a naming convention such as tenantname-connectortype.

  8. Choose a Tenant Name. The Interflow records created by this connector include this tenant name.

  9. Choose the device on which to run the connector.

    • Certain connectors can be run on either a Sensor or a Data Processor. The available devices are displayed in the Run On menu. If you want to associate your collector with a sensor, you must have configured that sensor prior to configuring the connector or you will not be able to select it during initial configuration. If you select Data Processor, you will need to associate the connector with a Data Analyzer profile as a separate step. That step is not required for a sensor, which is configured with only one possible profile.

    • If the device you're connecting to is on premises, we recommend you run on the local sensor. If you're connecting to a cloud service, we recommend you run on the DP.

  10. (Optional) When the Function is Collect, you can apply Log Filters. For information, see Managing Log Filters.

  11. Click Next. The Configuration tab appears.

    The asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

  12. Select the applicable Microsoft Subscription Plan from the menu:

    • Enterprise Plan

    • GCC Government Plan

    • GCC High Government Plan

    • DoD Government Plan

    To learn about US government plans, refer to the following Microsoft documentation: Microsoft Defender XDR for US Government customers.

  13. Enter the Tenant ID you noted above in Obtaining Microsoft Graph Security API Credentials.

  14. Enter the Client ID you noted above.

  15. Enter the Password you noted above.

  16. Choose the Content Type you would like to collect. The logs for Alert and Incident are supported.

  17. Choose the Interval (min). This is how often the logs are collected.

  18. (Optional) Click Disable SSL Certificate Verification if you want to disable SSL certificate verification. Only disable SSL certificates if you have a reason to, otherwise, it is not a good security practice.

  19. Click Next. The final confirmation tab appears.

  20. Click Submit.

    To pull data, a connector must be added to a Data Analyzer profile if it is running on the Data Processor.

  21. If you are adding rather than editing a connector with the Collect function enabled and you specified for it to run on a Data Processor, a dialog box now prompts you to add the connector to the default Data Analyzer profile. Click Cancel to leave it out of the default profile or click OK to add it to the default profile.

    • This prompt only occurs during the initial create connector process when Collect is enabled.

    • Certain connectors can be run on either a Sensor or a Data Processor, and some are best run on one versus the other. In any case, when the connector is run on a Data Processor, that connector must be included in a Data Analyzer profile. If you leave it out of the default profile, you must add it to another profile. You need the Administrator Root scope to add the connector to the Data Analyzer profile. If you do not have privileges to configure Data Analyzer profiles, a dialog displays recommending you ask your administrator to add it for you.

    • The first time you add a Collect connector to a profile, it pulls data immediately and then not again until the scheduled interval has elapsed. If the connector configuration dialog did not offer an option to set a specific interval, it is run every five minutes. Exceptions to this default interval are the Proofpoint on Demand (pulls data every 1 hour) and Azure Event Hub (continuously pulls data) connectors. The intervals for each connector are listed in the Connector Types & Functions topic.

    The Connector Overview appears.

The new connector is immediately active.

Testing the Connector

In addition to testing for connectivity, the Test button for the Microsoft Graph Security API connector tests that the Tenant ID, Client ID, and Password are correct and data requests for the requested content type returns successful responses.

When you add (or edit) a connector, we recommend that you run a test to validate the connectivity parameters you entered. (The test validates authentication and connectivity).

  1. Click System | INTEGRATIONS | Connectors. The Connector Overview appears.

  2. Locate the connector by name that you added, or modified, or that you want to test.

  3. Click Test at the right side of that row. The test runs immediately.

    Note that you may run only one test at a time.

Stellar Cyber conducts a basic connectivity test for the connector and reports a success or failure result. A successful test indicates that you entered all of the connector information correctly.

To aid troubleshooting your connector, the dialog remains open until you explicitly close it by using the X button. If the test fails, you can select the  button from the same row to review and correct issues.

The connector status is updated every five (5) minutes. A successful test clears the connector status, but if issues persist, the status reverts to failed after a minute.

Repeat the test as needed.

ClosedDisplay sample messages...

Success !

Failure with summary of issue:

Show More example detail:

If the test fails, the common HTTP status error codes are as follows:

HTTP Error Code HTTP Standard Error Name Explanation Recommendation
400 Bad Request This error occurs when there is an error in the connector configuration.

Did you configure the connector correctly?
401 Unauthorized

This error occurs when an authentication credential is invalid or when a user does not have sufficient privileges to access a specific API.

Did you enter your credentials correctly?

Are your credentials expired?

Are your credentials entitled or licensed for that specific resource?
403 Forbidden This error occurs when the permission or scope is not correct in a valid credential.

Did you enter your credentials correctly?

Do you have the required role or permissions for that credential?

404 Not Found This error occurs when a URL path does not resolve to an entity. Did you enter your API URL correctly?
429 Too Many Requests

This error occurs when the API server receives too much traffic or if a user’s license or entitlement quota is exceeded.

The server or user license/quota will eventually recover. The connector will periodically retry the query.

If this occurs unexpectedly or too often, work with your API provider to investigate the server limits, user licensing, or quotas.

For a full list of codes, refer to HTTP response status codes.

Verifying Ingestion

To verify ingestion:

  1. Select Threat Hunting.

    The Interflow Search tab appears.

  2. Change the Indices to Windows Events.

    The table immediately updates to show ingested Interflow records.