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[RFC] Extend event.kind allowed values with asset #2178

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164 changes: 164 additions & 0 deletions rfcs/text/0038-event-kind-asset.md
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# 0038: Extend event.kind allowed values with asset
<!-- Leave this ID at 0000. The ECS team will assign a unique, contiguous RFC number upon merging the initial stage of this RFC. -->

- Stage: **2 (Candidate)** <!-- Update to reflect target stage. See https://elastic.github.io/ecs/stages.html -->
- Date: **2023-03-31** <!-- The ECS team sets this date at merge time. This is the date of the latest stage advancement. -->

<!--
As you work on your RFC, use the "Stage N" comments to guide you in what you should focus on, for the stage you're targeting.
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<!--
Stage 0: Provide a high level summary of the premise of these changes. Briefly describe the nature, purpose, and impact of the changes. ~2-5 sentences.
-->

<!--
Stage 1: If the changes include field additions or modifications, please create a folder titled as the RFC number under rfcs/text/. This will be where proposed schema changes as standalone YAML files or extended example mappings and larger source documents will go as the RFC is iterated upon.
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Stage X: Provide a brief explanation of why the proposal is being marked as abandoned. This is useful context for anyone revisiting this proposal or considering similar changes later on.
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## Fields

This RFC proposes extending the list of allowed values for `event.kind` with an additional value, `asset`.

<!--
Stage 1: Describe at a high level how this change affects fields. Include new or updated yml field definitions for all of the essential fields in this draft. While not exhaustive, the fields documented here should be comprehensive enough to deeply evaluate the technical considerations of this change. The goal here is to validate the technical details for all essential fields and to provide a basis for adding experimental field definitions to the schema. Use GitHub code blocks with yml syntax formatting, and add them to the corresponding RFC folder.
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-->

## Usage

We want to represent a catalog of assets where each document represents some type of user or device entity. The `event.kind` field with `asset` value will be used to identity these types of documents. It has also been proposed that we combine this with other fields to have a more exact definition. For example, a user document may have these event fields specified:
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In the final (stage 3) version, it may be nice to have examples for other entities included here for completeness, like groups and devices, if those definitions are finalized at that point.


* `event.kind: asset`
* `event.category: [iam]`
* `event.type: [user, info]`

<!--
Stage 1: Describe at a high-level how these field changes will be used in practice. Real world examples are encouraged. The goal here is to understand how people would leverage these fields to gain insights or solve problems. ~1-3 paragraphs.
-->

## Source data

An example of a user entity document, with `event.kind: asset`:

```json
{
"input": {
"type": "entity-analytics"
},
"@timestamp": "2023-02-23T20:03:17.489Z",
"event": {
"agent_id_status": "verified",
"ingested": "2023-02-23T20:03:18Z",
"provider": "Azure AD",
"kind": "asset",
"action": "user-discovered",
"category": [
"iam"
],
"type": [
"user",
"info"
],
"dataset": "entityanalytics_azure.users"
},
"user": {
"full_name": "Test User",
"phone": [
"1235559999"
],
"name": [
"[email protected]"
],
"id": "b3e92fd4-0269-49ae-8a26-812e952bb7ad",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"labels": {
"identity_source": "entity-analytics-entityanalytics_azure.users-c1745610-d9a4-437f-a8f8-82ab45ace54a"
}
}
```

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Stage 1: Provide a high-level description of example sources of data. This does not yet need to be a concrete example of a source document, but instead can simply describe a potential source (e.g. nginx access log). This will ultimately be fleshed out to include literal source examples in a future stage. The goal here is to identify practical sources for these fields in the real world. ~1-3 sentences or unordered list.
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Stage 3: Add more real world example source documents so we have at least 2 total, but ideally 3. Format as described in stage 2.
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## Scope of impact

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Stage 2: Identifies scope of impact of changes. Are breaking changes required? Should deprecation strategies be adopted? Will significant refactoring be involved? Break the impact down into:
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We expect to use the `asset` value within the security solution consistently across asset management, external asset integrations, and persisting related metadata. This field may be further leveraged in o11y topology work as they also are exploring ways to extend the asset.* fields within ECS.

## Concerns

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There are no breaking changes identified. There are no other concerns to note at this time.

## People

The following are the people that consulted on the contents of this RFC.

* @taylor-swanson | author
* @SourinPaul | sponsor
* @MikePaquette | sponsor

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* @Monique | sponsor
* @EunJung | subject matter expert
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* @Mariana
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## References

<!-- Insert any links appropriate to this RFC in this section. -->

### RFC Pull Requests

<!-- An RFC should link to the PRs for each of it stage advancements. -->

* Stage 0-2: https://github.com/elastic/ecs/pull/2178

<!--
* Stage 1: https://github.com/elastic/ecs/pull/NNN
...
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50 changes: 50 additions & 0 deletions rfcs/text/0038/event.yml
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# Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
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# this work for additional information regarding copyright
# ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
# the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
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---
- name: event
title: Event
group: 2
short: Fields breaking down the event details.
description: >
The event fields are ... # Omitted for brevity
type: group

fields:
- name: kind
level: core
type: keyword
short: The kind of the event. The highest categorization field in the hierarchy.
description: >
This is one of four ECS ... # Omitted for brevity
example: alert
allowed_values:
- name: asset
description: >
This value indicates events whose primary purpose is to store an inventory of
assets/entities and their attributes. Assets/entities are objects (such as
users and hosts) that are expected to be subjects of detailed analysis within
the system.

Examples include lists of user identities or accounts ingested from directory
services such as Active Directory (AD), inventory of hosts pulled from
configuration management databases (CMDB), and lists of cloud storage buckets
pulled from cloud provider API's.

This value is used by Elastic Security for asset management solutions.
`event.kind: asset` is not used for normal system events or logs that are coming
from an asset/entity, nor is it used for system events or logs coming from a
directory or CMDB system.