Security Onion: Security Onion 2.1 (Release Candidate 2) Available for Testing!

Monday, August 24, 2020

Security Onion 2.1 (Release Candidate 2) Available for Testing!

In 2018, Security Onion Solutions started working on the next major version of Security Onion, code-named Hybrid Hunter:
https://blog.securityonion.net/2018/11/security-onion-hybrid-hunter-101-tech.html

We recently dropped the Hybrid Hunter code name and announced 2.0 (RC1). Today, we are proud to release Security Onion 2.1 (Release Candidate 2)! It has some amazing new features and improvements!

One new feature in this release is that the installer now includes a new option for a dedicated import node. An import node is a single standalone box that runs just enough components to be able to import a pcap using so-import-pcap. When you run so-import-pcap, it analyzes the pcap using Suricata and Zeek and the resulting logs are picked up by Filebeat and sent to Elasticsearch where they are parsed and indexed. You can then view those logs in Security Onion Console (SOC). All this can be done in a minimal virtual machine with only 4GB RAM! For screenshots of the new import node, see the Screenshot Tour at the bottom of this blog post.

Another new feature that you'll see in the Screenshot Tour is that our new Hunt interface is better than ever! It now dynamically updates the columns in the bottom data table based on the actual data type that you're looking at. For example, if you're looking at DNS logs, Hunt will show columns that are relevant to DNS logs like the DNS query, type, and response code. Additionally, you'll notice that where field values used to have two magnifying glass icons (one to include the value in the search and the other to exclude the value from the search), there is now a third magnifying glass icon. This new icon starts a new search for just the value itself.

Release Candidate

This is our second Release Candidate for the new 2.x platform, so we're getting closer to a final release, but we're not quite there yet. Please be reminded of the usual pre-release warnings and disclaimers:

If this breaks your system, you get to keep both pieces!
This is a work in progress and is in constant flux.
This configuration may change drastically over time leading up to the final release.
Do NOT run this on a system that you care about!
Do NOT run this on a system that has data that you care about!
This script should only be run on a TEST box with TEST data!
Use of this script may result in nausea, vomiting, or a burning sensation.

Documentation

We've started migrating our documentation to 2.1:
https://docs.securityonion.net/en/2.1/

However, this is a work in progress and some documentation may be missing or incorrect. Please let us know if you notice any issues.

Existing Installations

If you have an existing 2.0 (RC1) installation, please see the soup page on our documentation site:
https://docs.securityonion.net/en/2.1/soup.html

New Installations

If you want to do a new installation, please review the 2.1 documentation and then you can find instructions here:
https://docs.securityonion.net/en/2.1/download.html

Questions or Problems

If you have questions or problems, please see:
https://docs.securityonion.net/en/2.1/community-support.html

Known Issues

https://docs.securityonion.net/en/2.1/release-notes.html#known-issues

Changes from Previous Releases