Splunk SOAR Certified Automation Developer SPLK-2003 Splunk Study Notes

The format block in Splunk SOAR is utilized to construct text strings by merging static text with dynamic values, which can then be used for both input to other playbook blocks and output for reports, emails, or other forms of communication. This capability is essential for customizing messages, commands, or data processing tasks within a playbook, allowing for the dynamic insertion of variable data into predefined text templates. This feature enhances the playbook's ability to present information clearly and to execute actions that require specific parameter formats.

Splunk SOAR supports multiple user authentication methods to ensure secure access to the platform. Apart from LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and SAML2 (Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0), SOAR also supports PIV (Personal Identity Verification) and CAC (Common Access Card) as authentication methods. These are particularly used in government and military organizations for secure and authenticated access to systems, providing a high level of security through physical tokens or cards that contain encrypted user credentials.

When configuring the Splunk app on the search head to search SOAR (Splunk's Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) searchable content, two key components are required:

User Accounts: The user accounts are necessary to authenticate and authorize users who are accessing SOAR data through the Splunk app. These accounts manage permissions and access levels to ensure the proper users can search and interact with the data coming from SOAR.

HTTP Event Collector (HEC) Token: The HEC token is crucial because it allows the Splunk app to receive data from Splunk SOAR. SOAR sends events and other data to the Splunk platform via HEC. This token is used for secure communication and authentication between Splunk and SOAR. The token must be configured in the Splunk app to allow it to collect and search SOAR data seamlessly.

Other options like syslog, REST API, or a universal forwarder are commonly used methods for ingesting data into Splunk but are not specific requirements for setting up the Splunk app to search SOAR content. The HTTP Event Collector is the primary method for this setup, along with the correct user accounts.

References:

Splunk Documentation on HTTP Event Collector and SOAR Integration.

Splunk SOAR App Setup Guide for Splunk Search Head Configuration.

To configure the Analyst Queue to only show new events that are assigned to the current user "pat", the correct filter would involve two conditions:

status=new: This ensures that only new events are displayed.

owner=pat: This ensures that the displayed events are specifically assigned to the user "pat."

By applying both of these filters, the user will only see events that are both in the "new" status and assigned to them. The other options, such as filtering for "label" or using "or" in the filter, would either result in showing incorrect data or broader results that are not restricted to new events assigned to the user.

References:

Splunk SOAR Documentation: Analyst Queue Filters.

Splunk SOAR User Guide for Customizing Event Views.