Configuring profiles for the McAfee ePO integration
Summarize
Summary of Configuring profiles for the McAfee ePO integration
This guide explains how ServiceNow customers can configure capability profiles for the McAfee ePO integration within the ServiceNow AI Platform® Security Incident Response (SIR). By setting specific triggering conditions, customers control when McAfee ePO actions such as host isolation and malware scans are automatically invoked based on security incidents.
Show less
Key Features
- Conditional Profile Invocation: Profiles run only when defined conditions on security incidents are met, allowing precise automation of McAfee ePO capabilities.
- Alternate Configuration Item (CI) Trigger Field: Enables using an alternate security incident field for CI matching when the default CI field is empty or unmatched, enhancing incident relevance.
- Security Tags: Optional tags track host isolation and malware scan statuses directly on related security incidents. Tags update automatically to reflect action initiation, approval, completion, or host reintegration.
- Auto-trigger Based on Incident: When enabled, a filter condition builder lets you specify criteria (e.g., "Category is malicious code activity" and "Business impact is 1 - Critical") to control automatic profile execution and reduce unnecessary triggers.
- Approval Workflow: Optionally require approval for sensitive actions like host isolation or scans. Approvals are managed via the ServiceNow AI Platform® My Approvals interface and can be assigned to specific users or groups. All actions and approvals are logged for audit purposes.
- ServiceNow Audit Log in McAfee ePO Console: Starting with McAfee ePO version 5.10.0, a ServiceNow tab in the McAfee ePO console displays logs of commands initiated from ServiceNow, providing transparent tracking of profile actions executed on endpoints.
Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers
By configuring these profiles, customers can automate McAfee ePO security responses tailored to their organizational policies and incident severity. The use of alternate CI fields and filtering conditions ensures that only relevant incidents trigger actions, reducing noise and improving operational efficiency. Security tags and approval workflows provide clear visibility and control over automated actions, while integration with the McAfee ePO console audit log enables comprehensive tracking and validation of endpoint security activities initiated from ServiceNow.
After you create a profile and select the McAfee ePO capabilities that you want the profile to run, configure the settings so that the profile is invoked only under the specific conditions that you define.
Configuring a profile
In this step, you configure a capability profile so that it runs only when the conditions you specify are fulfilled. You define which conditions on security incidents automatically trigger the McAfee ePO capabilities that you selected for the profile. You also have the option to select an alternate input field for the Configuration Item (CI) field and set filtering conditions so that only those security incidents that are related to your triggering event automatically launch the profile. The configuration step includes the following settings on the configuration form for the profile.
Alternate configuration item (CI) trigger field
In cases when the Configuration item (CI) field on the ServiceNow AI Platform® Security Incident Response (SIR) security incident is not populated with a value, or a match cannot be found in the database, you can select an alternate field on the security incident to display any matching CI enrichment data found during the scan of your assets. For more information about the Configuration item and the Alternate configuration item fields on a security incident, see Defining triggering conditions with a Configuration item (CI) field for a McAfee ePO profile.
Security tags
To help you track the status of isolated host machines and when malware scans are initiated, an optional tagging feature is available. By default, this option is disabled on the configuration form for profiles. If this option is enabled during the configuration step, security tag names are displayed on the configuration form. These are the names of the tags that are displayed on related security incidents. These tags inform you when a host isolation action is successfully initiated and when it is approved. After a host is successfully returned to the network, the security tag is automatically removed from the security incident. For malware scans, a tag is displayed on the related security incident when a scan is scheduled. After the scan is finished, the scheduled tag is automatically replaced by a tag that indicates that the scan is successfully completed.
Auto-trigger based on incident
When the Auto-trigger based on incident option is enabled, the filter condition builder is available, and you are required to set filtering conditions that specify when the profile runs automatically. A common filter is Category is malicious code activity™ and Business impact is 1 - Critical™. With these filters, only security incidents that are related to malicious code and that have a critical business impact launch the profile. Using the Auto-trigger option can reduce the number of security incidents that automatically invoke the profile.
Approvals
If your organization wants an extra level of control over actions such as isolating host machines and initiating malware scans, you can enable the Require approval option during the configuration step for a profile.
For example, if both the approval and tagging features are enabled for a profile, after a request to isolate a host machine or to return it to the network is submitted for approval, the associated security incident is tagged automatically that the action is initiated. Requests are sent for approval to a user with the sn_si.admin role by default, but this approval can be reassigned to another individual or an approval group to fit the needs of your organization. Approvers process requests in My Approvals in their ServiceNow AI Platform® instances. Security tags are displayed on related security incidents. All workflow activities are also logged in work notes to create an audit trail.
ServiceNow audit log in the McAfee ePO console
In version 5.10.0 of McAfee ePO, a ServiceNow tab is displayed with a log of commands that are initiated from your ServiceNow AI Platform® instance. After an action or a query is invoked from a profile in your ServiceNow AI Platform® instance on a host machine (endpoint) in the McAfee ePO console, an audit log of ServiceNow commands is created in the McAfee ePO console. This log is displayed in the System tree in the McAfee ePO console and helps you audit the times of the commands that are sent to specific endpoints. To view logged ServiceNow events on specific machines in a McAfee ePO console, follow these steps.
- Navigate to the System tree in your McAfee ePO console and locate the ServiceNow tab.
- Click the tab to open a list of host machines.
- In the Name column, click a host name to open the audit log.
In the following image, an example of a log for a host (PODCLIENT1) is displayed.
The events initiated from the profiles in your ServiceNow AI Platform® instance are recorded and displayed in the log. Verify by checking the status of the host machine that the events listed in the log are successfully completed on the host.
Example profiles
The following topics include examples for how to configure profiles and test security incidents. These examples include profiles for all of the McAfee ePO capabilities that are available for this integration.