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Palo Alto MineMeld

Palo Alto MineMeld is an extensible Threat Intelligence processing framework and the multi-tool of threat indicator feeds. MineMeld can be used to collect, aggregate, and filter indicators from a variety of sources make them available for consumption to peers or the Palo Alto Networks security platforms.

That means this versatile tool can be used to grab data feeds of IPs, URLs, and domains. Also, aggregate, deduplicate, process it and output the final result in formats suitable to Palo Alto Networks products. MineMeld can also be configured to send data to Splunk.

Malware Patrol has determined the steps required to allow our customers to utilize our data feeds on MineMeld. The following steps are required to create a miner, a processor, and finally an output. Also, the entire process follows the logic of creating and configuring “prototypes” based on existing entities and later cloning them. Keep this in mind and the logic will be clearer as we move forward through each step.

We’ve created a specific Enterprise data feed for MineMeld consumption. The URL can be founded in the evaluation or customer portal. If you are a current customer, please contact your Sales Manager to have the feed added to your portal. This configuration guide shows how to extract URLs from that feed. In addition, the same logic can be applied to create new a miner, processor, and output for other indicators contained in the feed.

1) If you don’t have MineMeld installed and configured yet, you can download a pre-configured virtual machine or the software’s source code from Github. Please visit the following URLs for more details:

a. https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/secure-the-network/subscriptions/minemeld
b. https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/MineMeld-Articles/Manually-install-MineMeld-on-Ubuntu-Server-16-04/ta-p/253336

2) Once you successfully log in to MineMeld, click on “Config” to view the current list of “miners”, “processors” and “output”.

Palo Alto MineMeld

3) To configure a new “miner prototype” we will use an existing miner. Click the blue icon on the lower right corner of the screen – named ‘browse prototypes’. In the search field, type ‘ssla’ and once the list is updated, select ‘sslabusech.ipblacklist’.

Palo Alto MineMeld

4) Once the “miner” configuration is displayed, click on ‘new’.

Palo Alto MineMeld

5) Make the necessary changes to each field according to the following image. Special attention must be taken to the field ‘CONFIG’ and the line ‘url’. This must be filled with the URL of Malware Patrol’s data feed for the MineMeld data feed. As explained previously the address can be found in your evaluation or customer portal. After properly populating the fields, click ‘ok’.

Palo Alto MineMeld

6) You will see the new “miner prototype” created, click on it.

Palo Alto MineMeld

7) When the “miner” loads, click on “clone”.

Palo Alto MineMeld

8) Fill the two fields as shown in the following screenshot and click ‘ok’.

Palo Alto MineMeld

9) The screen will show all the available items, including the new miner. Click on ‘commit’ to push the changes. Wait a few seconds as some components of MineMeld will be restarted.

Palo Alto MineMeld

10) Click on ‘nodes’ and use the search field to look for ‘malwarepatrol’. You should see the new “miner”. Pay close attention to ‘indicators’ that should show an increasing amount of items pulled from our data feed.

Palo Alto MineMeld

11) To create the “processor prototype”, click on ‘config’ and then the blue icon on the lower right corner of the screen – named ‘browse prototypes’. Search for ‘processor’. In the list displayed, click on ‘stdlib.aggregatorFileName’

Palo Alto MineMeld

12) Click ‘new’ and fill the form fields according to the following screenshot and click ‘ok’.

Palo Alto MineMeld

13) Once the list of “prototypes” is shown, click on the newly created one and choose ‘clone’. Fill the form according to the next screenshot.

Palo Alto MineMeld

14) Clicking on ‘config’ you should see a screen similar to the following:

MineMeld screen shot

15) Now to create an “output prototype”, click the blue icon on the lower right corner of the screen – named ‘browse prototypes’. Search for ‘output’ and in the list that will be displayed, click ‘stdlib.dagPusher’.

MineMeld screen shot

16) Fill the form fields as in the following screenshot and click ‘ok’.

MineMeld screen shot

17) In the list that will be displayed, click the newly created “prototype”.

MineMeld screen shot

18) Click ‘clone’.

MineMeld screen shot

19) At this point, the list displayed should contain one new item for a “miner”, “processor” and “output”. Click on ‘commit’ to make the changes effective. Wait a few seconds as some components of MineMeld will be restarted.

MineMeld screen shot

20) Click on ‘nodes’ and search for ‘malwarepatrol’. You should see the three newly created items and the count of ‘indicators’ increasing. That shows that data is flowing from our data feed into the “miner”, “processor” and finally made ready by the “output”.

MineMeld screen shot

21) Clicking on “output” you can see details including the URL of the finalized feed that can be consumed by Palo Alto Networks systems.

MineMeld screen shot

22) For information on MineMeld and how to connect it with other Palo Alto Networks products and Splunk, please visit the following URLs.

• Create Dynamic Firewall Rules Based on MineMeld Threat Feeds: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2018/12/create-dynamic-firewall-rules-based-on-minemeld-threat-feeds/
• Create a MineMeld input in Splunk: https://splunk.paloaltonetworks.com/autofocus-and-minemeld.html
• Quick tour of MineMeld default config: https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/MineMeld-Articles/Quick-tour-of-MineMeld-default-config/ta-p/72042
• Using MineMeld to Create a Custom Miner: https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/MineMeld-Articles/Using-MineMeld-to-Create-a-Custom-Miner/ta-p/227694
• Developer’s Guide: https://github.com/PaloAltoNetworks/minemeld/wiki/Developer’s-Guide

23) If you encounter any difficulties during the configuration process, feel free to contact our tech support at [email protected]

Configuration guides for other systems can be found on our Tech Support page.

Evaluate Our Data

For actionable, current OTI, Malware Patrol offers a wide variety of threat intelligence feeds for use within organizations of all sizes and industries. We verify our feeds constantly – every hour in most cases – to ensure they contain only actionable indicators that protect our customers against malware infections and data breaches.  For ease of use, we format the feeds for compatibility with the most popular security tools and platforms. Contact us to learn more or to request a free evaluation.