76 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
76 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
[role="xpack"]
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[[elasticsearch-security]]
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== Security overview
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++++
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<titleabbrev>Overview</titleabbrev>
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++++
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An {es} cluster is typically made out of many moving parts. There are the {es}
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nodes that form the cluster and often {ls} instances, {kib} instances, Beats
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agents, and clients all communicating with the cluster. It should not come as a
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surprise that securing such clusters has many facets and layers.
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Security protects {es} clusters by:
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* <<preventing-unauthorized-access, Preventing unauthorized access>>
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with password protection, role-based access control, and IP filtering.
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* <<preserving-data-integrity, Preserving the integrity of your data>>
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with SSL/TLS encryption.
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* <<maintaining-audit-trail, Maintaining an audit trail>>
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so you know who's doing what to your cluster and the data it stores.
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[discrete]
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[[preventing-unauthorized-access]]
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=== Preventing unauthorized access
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To prevent unauthorized access to your {es} cluster, you must have a
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way to _authenticate_ users. This simply means that you need a way to validate
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that a user is who they claim to be. For example, you have to make sure only
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the person named _Kelsey Andorra_ can sign in as the user `kandorra`. The
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{es-security-features} provide a standalone authentication mechanism that enables
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you to quickly password-protect your cluster. If you're already using LDAP,
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Active Directory, or PKI to manage users in your organization, the
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{security-features} are able to integrate with those systems to perform user
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authentication.
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In many cases, simply authenticating users isn't enough. You also need a way to
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control what data users have access to and what tasks they can perform. The
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{es-security-features} enable you to _authorize_ users by assigning access
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_privileges_ to _roles_ and assigning those roles to users. For example, this
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role-based access control mechanism (a.k.a RBAC) enables you to specify that the
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user `kandorra` can only perform read operations on the `events` index and can't
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do anything at all with other indices.
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See <<setting-up-authentication>> and <<authorization>>.
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The {security-features} also enable you to restrict the nodes and clients that
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can connect to the cluster based on <<ip-filtering,IP filters>>. You can
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block and allow specific IP addresses, subnets, or DNS domains to
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control network-level access to a cluster.
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[discrete]
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[[preserving-data-integrity]]
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=== Preserving data integrity
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A critical part of security is keeping confidential data confidential.
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{es} has built-in protections against accidental data loss and
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corruption. However, there's nothing to stop deliberate tampering or data
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interception. The {stack-security-features} preserve the integrity of your
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data by encrypting communications to, from, and within the cluster. See
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<<encrypting-communications>>. For even greater protection, you can increase the
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<<ciphers,encryption strength>>.
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[discrete]
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[[maintaining-audit-trail]]
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=== Maintaining an audit trail
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Keeping a system secure takes vigilance. By using {stack-security-features} to
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maintain an audit trail, you can easily see who is accessing your cluster and
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what they're doing. You can configure the audit level, which accounts for the
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type of events that are logged. These events include failed authentication
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attempts, user access denied, node connection denied, and more. By analyzing
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access patterns and failed attempts to access your cluster, you can gain
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insights into attempted attacks and data breaches. Keeping an auditable log of
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the activity in your cluster can also help diagnose operational issues. For more
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information, see <<auditing>>.
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