Connecting to a GCP asset data source

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The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Connected Assets and Risk connector can be run in the platform cluster. The connector incrementally synchronizes the contents of the GCP asset databases with the data that the Connected Assets and Risk service manages.

Before you begin

Collaborate with a GCP administrator or account owner to obtain a service account for project. The service account must have the following roles:

  • roles/cloudasset.viewer
  • roles/securitycenter.findingsViewer
  • roles/logging.viewer
  • roles/cloudsql.viewer
  • roles/logging.viewAccessor
For more information, see Create service accounts (https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-accounts-create).

Procedure

  1. Go to Menu > Connections > Data sources.
  2. On the Assets tab, click Connect an asset.
  3. Click Google Cloud Platform (GCP), then click Next.
  4. Configure the connection to the data source.
    1. In the Connector name field, assign a name to uniquely identify the data source connection.
      Tip: Only alphanumeric characters and the following special characters are allowed: - . _
    2. In the Connector description field, write a description to indicate the purpose of the data source connection.
      Tip: Only alphanumeric characters and the following special characters are allowed: - . _
    3. In the Edge gateway (optional) field, specify which IBM® Security Edge Gateway to use.

      Select an Edge Gateway to host the connector. The Edge Gateway must be version 1.6 or later. It can take up to 5 minutes to establish the connection to the Edge Gateway.

      Important: If you have a firewall between your platform cluster and the data source target, use the Edge Gateway to host the containers.

      For more information, see Setting up Edge Gateway.

    4. In the Frequency field, set how often the connector imports data from the data source, in minutes.
      The value must be an integer.
      For example, a value of 5 causes the connector to run every 5 minutes.
      If the data source doesn't have many assets, or you don't want to import data often, reduce the frequency.
  5. Click Add a Configuration.
  6. Configure identity and access.
    1. Click Edit access and choose which users can connect to the data source and the type of access.
    2. In the Configuration name field, enter a unique name to describe the access configuration and distinguish it from the other access configurations for this data source connection that you might set up. Only alphanumeric characters and the following special characters are allowed: - . _
    3. In the Configuration description field, enter a unique description to describe the access configuration and distinguish it from the other access configurations for this data source connection that you might set up. Only alphanumeric characters and the following special characters are allowed: - . _
    4. In the Client Email Address field, enter the GCP service account's email address.
    5. In the Private Key field, specify the private key from the data source's service account so that the platform can communicate with it.
    6. Click Add.
    7. To save your configuration and establish the connection, click Done.

Results

The connector imports data from the data source. The connector imports data source again at the interval that you set in the Frequency field.

You can see the data source connection configuration that you added under Connections on the Assets tab of the Data source settings page. A message on the card indicates connection with the data source.

When you add a data source, it might take a few minutes before the data source shows as being connected.
Tip: After you connect a data source, it might take up to 30 seconds to retrieve the data. Before the full data set is returned, the data source might display as unavailable. After the data is returned, the data source shows as being connected, and a polling mechanism occurs to validate the connection status. The connection status is valid for 60 seconds after every poll.

You can add other connection configurations for this data source that have different users and different data access permissions.

What to do next

Test the connection by searching for an IP address in IBM Security Data Explorer that matches an asset data source. In Data Explorer, click an IP address to view its associated assets and risk.

To use Data Explorer, you must have data sources that are connected so that the application can run queries and retrieve results across a unified set of data sources. The search results vary depending on the data that is contained in your configured data sources. For more information about how to build a query in Data Explorer, see Build a query.