Building a Comprehensive Security Dashboard on Grafana: Unleashing the Power of Falco, KubeBench, and Trivy

Authored by Sarang Sudhir

Our client, a clinical research and software solutions provider, wanted to decrease costs linked to manual threat identification and response. Their requirement was for a security dashboard with advanced analytics, automated monitoring, and comprehensive capabilities that meets their compliance standards.

We put together a Grafana dashboard for the client integrating Trivy, Falco, and KubeBench. This provides an up-to-date view of the security metrics in real-time. The client was able to quickly identify any potential threats or risks to their Kubernetes cluster and respond accordingly. Our solution ensured compliance with industry standards by?monitoring processes and policies implemented within the system.

The three tools used together give the best benefits in terms of security measures and protection against breaches or attacks on IT infrastructure. By combining them into one dashboard on Grafana, our client was able to regularly review best practices for each tool separately and as part of the overall strategy towards maintaining strong cybersecurity policies.

We will explore how this solution provided the client with real-time insights into container runtime security, Kubernetes CIS benchmark compliance, and vulnerability scanning of container images and helped in meeting the client’s compliance obligations.

Grafana ?

Grafana is an open-source analytics and visualization platform that allows users to query, analyze, and display data from various sources in real time. It provides powerful data visualization tools, dashboards, and alerting capabilities, making it popular for monitoring and observability purposes in software systems.?

Why did we integrate Falco, KubeBench, and Trivy?

Falco

Falco, a powerful runtime security tool, is a CNCF-certified Kubernetes security solution that continuously monitors container runtime activities and detects abnormal network connections or suspicious processes. It uses rules based on system calls to detect anomalous behavior such as unauthorized file access or network connections from unexpected sources. For instance, Falco can alert administrators when a container attempts to access sensitive files within its environment, enabling swift investigation and response.

KubeBench

KubeBench, an open-source security benchmarking tool, assesses the cluster’s compliance with the CIS Kubernetes Benchmark. KubeBench automates the evaluation of numerous security checks across different components of the Kubernetes environment, including API server, control plane, etc., and network policies. It generates detailed reports indicating pass/fail status and provides recommendations for remediation.

Trivy

Trivy scans container images for known vulnerabilities before they are deployed, identifying risks based on Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) databases and security advisories from various sources. Trivy provides severity levels and detailed information about the vulnerabilities found, enabling us to prioritize remediation efforts.

Integrating these tools into the Grafana dashboard enabled us to track all of the security metrics in real time – from suspicious activities detected by Falco to potential vulnerabilities identified by Trivy – ensuring the Kubernetes cluster remains secure at all times!

Building the Comprehensive Security Dashboard on Grafana

Data Collection and Integration

We configured Falco, KubeBench, and Trivy to export their respective logs and metrics to a centralized logging system or data store. We configured Grafana Agent as the data source to collect, process, and export metrics, logs, and traces from Falco, KubeBench, and Trivy.

By utilizing Grafana Agent as the data source, we can seamlessly integrate Falco, KubeBench, and Trivy into our monitoring stack, leveraging the capabilities of Loki and Mimir. This comprehensive approach enables efficient log aggregation, indexing, and visualization, providing us with actionable insights for maintaining the security and compliance of our systems.

Grafana Dashboard Design

We first integrated each tool into Grafana using Grafana Agent as the data source. Then, we created panels in Grafana to display real-time security alerts, compliance status, and vulnerability scan results. We utilized Grafana's interactive filters and drill-down capabilities to enable users to narrow down the view based on specific criteria such as time ranges, namespaces, or clusters.

Additionally, we leveraged Grafana's alerting and notification mechanisms to proactively notify the relevant teams about critical security events or compliance violations.

Real-time Security Monitoring

We configured Grafana to display real-time alerts and notifications for security events detected by Falco. Using dynamic dashboards with regular refresh intervals, we achieved instant visibility into security incidents, policy violations, and potential threats. By leveraging Grafana's data sources and visualization capabilities, we created custom panels to visualize and analyze the security event data from Falco. This enabled us to effectively monitor and respond to security issues, ensuring the integrity and safety of our systems.

Compliance Visualization

To set up a Compliance Visualization Grafana dashboard with KubeBench, we installed and configured KubeBench to perform compliance checks on our Kubernetes clusters. We integrated KubeBench's data source into Grafana and created panels that display the compliance status for each benchmark. Additionally, we utilized visualizations to highlight non-compliant areas and trends. This dashboard provides a centralized view of our clusters' compliance, enabling us to monitor and address security and configuration issues effectively.

Vulnerability Analysis

To set up a Vulnerability Analysis Grafana dashboard using Trivy, we followed a series of technical steps. First, we integrated Trivy as a data source within Grafana, allowing us to fetch vulnerability scan results. Then, we configured Trivy to perform scans on container images and export the findings to Grafana. We designed customized panels and visualizations to display the latest vulnerability information, including severity levels, affected images, and recommended actions.

Leveraging the power of Grafana, we provided real-time visibility into key security metrics, enabling efficient incident response and informed decision-making. The advanced features, including anomaly detection and correlation analysis, allowed proactive identification of potential threats, ensuring the client's security posture remained strong.

Through our expertise in building and customizing Grafana dashboards, we enabled our clients to monitor and protect their systems with confidence. Our comprehensive dashboard became an indispensable tool for visualizing and analyzing security data, providing valuable insights for maintaining a secure and resilient infrastructure.

With our commitment to delivering top-notch monitoring solutions, we continue to support our clients in their security journey, helping them stay one step ahead of potential threats and ensuring their continued success in today's evolving digital landscape.

To know how we can help you tackle your security issues, write to us at [email protected] today.