Objective: Investigate and demonstrate the practical application of Wazuh in detecting and mitigating cybersecurity threats, thereby displaying its utility in improving the security posture of organizations.

Outcome: Produce a set of best practices and insights into configuring and utilizing Wazuh for enhanced threat detection, incident response, and compliance monitoring, contributing to a stronger cybersecurity defense framework.

Preface

In the dynamic field of cybersecurity, the capacity for timely threat detection and response is crucial. Wazuh stands out as an open-source security monitoring platform, offering comprehensive tools for threat detection, incident response, and compliance. This project aims to explore Wazuh’s capabilities, demonstrating its application in enhancing organizational security.

We will deploy Wazuh in a controlled environment to highlight its effectiveness against various security threats, such as malware and unauthorized access, and to monitor compliance. The project highlights the pivotal role of open-source tools in making advanced security features accessible, supporting organizations of varying sizes and sectors.

The expected outcome is a detailed understanding of Wazuh’s deployment, configuration, and integration into security practices, offering insights into its scalability and flexibility. Our goal is to equip cybersecurity professionals with the knowledge to leverage Wazuh effectively, fostering a proactive security stance in the face of evolving cyber threats.

This endeavor aims to contribute to the cybersecurity community by demonstrating practical applications and benefits of Wazuh, underscoring the importance of open-source solutions in contemporary cybersecurity strategies.

Wazuh Overview

Key Features of Wazuh

Wazuh is a versatile open-source security monitoring platform offering a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance threat detection, incident response, and compliance management. Its key features include:

  1. Host-based Intrusion Detection (HIDS): Wazuh performs real-time analysis of host-level events, such as file changes, process executions, and network connections, to detect and respond to potential security threats.
  2. Log Management and Analysis: Wazuh collects, normalizes, and analyzes log data from various sources, including system logs, application logs, and network devices, providing organizations with centralized visibility into their IT infrastructure.
  3. File Integrity Monitoring (FIM): Wazuh monitors critical system files and directories for unauthorized modifications, alerting administrators to potential tampering or compromise.
  4. Vulnerability Detection: Wazuh integrates with vulnerability databases to identify known vulnerabilities in software and configurations, allowing organizations to proactively address security risks.
  5. Threat Intelligence Integration: Wazuh incorporates threat intelligence feeds to enrich security event data and enhance threat detection capabilities, enabling organizations to stay ahead of emerging threats.
  6. Compliance Monitoring: Wazuh includes predefined compliance rulesets for regulatory frameworks such as PCI-DSS, GDPR, and CIS benchmarks, facilitating compliance auditing and reporting.

Architecture of Wazuh

Wazuh follows a distributed architecture consisting of the following components:

  1. Wazuh Manager: The principal component responsible for coordinating data collection, analysis, and response actions. The Wazuh Manager aggregates security event data from agents and forwards it to the Elasticsearch database for storage and analysis.
  2. Wazuh Agents: Lightweight software installed on monitored endpoints to collect security-relevant data, including logs, system events, and file integrity information. Agents analyze local events and report findings to the Wazuh Manger for centralized monitoring and analysis.
  3. Elasticsearch: The scalable, distributed search and analytics engine used by Wazuh for storing and indexing security event data. Elasticsearch enables fast and efficient searching, querying, and visualization of security-related information.
  4. Kibana: The web-based user interface provided by Wazuh for data visualization, dashboards, and reporting. Kibana allows security analysts to explore and analyze security event data, identify trends, and respond to incidents effectively.

Setup