IDEA0 format definition

Keys use CamelCase, however to avoid confusion, they must be case insensitively unique within their parent object. When parsing, keys “ID”, “id”, “iD” and “Id” must be considered as equivalent.

Each definition line is in form KEY: TYPE, followed by an explanation line, where type can be basic JSON type (in italics), syntactically restricted type (with reference to Types chapter), or array of former two (order is important). Types define expected syntax, however their content may be further syntactically or semantically restricted according to particular key explanation.

The keys Format, ID, DetectTime and Category are mandatory, rest of the keys is optional (nonexistent key indicates that information is not applicable or unknown).

As human language may be ambiguous inadvertently or by omission, when in doubt, consult JSON schema.

Definition

Types

Boolean

JSON “true” or “false” value.

Integer

JSON “number” with no fractional and exponential part.

Version

Must contain string “IDEA0”. (Trailing zero denotes draft version, after review/discussion and specification finalisation the name will change.)

MediaType

Internet media type without parameters. Format is type and subtype, separated by slash, where type can contain only alphanumeric, underscore and minus sign, and subtype can contain only alphanumeric, plus and minus sign, underscore and dot.

Charset

Character set name may consist of alphanumeric, dot, colon, minus sign, underscore and parentheses (round brackets).

Encoding

May contain only string “base64” (however note that key can be nonexistent, which means native encoding).

Handle

String value unique among all “Handle” element values. May contain only alphanumeric or underscore, must not start with number and must not be empty.

ID

String, containing reasonably globally unique identifier. UUID version 4 (random) or 5 (SHA-1) is recommended. As IDs are meant to be used at other mediums, transfer protocols and formats (an example being query string fields in URL), they are allowed to contain only reasonably safe subset of characters. May thus contain only alphanumeric, dot, minus sign and underscore and must not be empty.

Timestamp

String, containing timestamp conforming to RFC 3339.

Duration

String, containing time offset, intended for representing difference between two timestamps. Format is time part of RFC 3339, optionally prepended by “D” or “d” separator and number of days (which can have arbitrary number number of digits). “D” separator has been chosen to distinguish from internet time, and as a memory aid for “duration” or “days”. For example “536D10:20:30.5” means 536 days, 10 hours, 20 seconds, 30.5 seconds, whereas 00:05:00 represents five minutes.

ABNF syntax: 

time-hour       = 2DIGIT  ; 00-23
time-minute     = 2DIGIT  ; 00-59
time-second     = 2DIGIT  ; 00-59
time-secfrac    = "." 1*DIGIT
separator       = "D" / "d"
days            = 1*DIGIT

duration        = [days separator] time-hour ":" time-minute ":" time-second [time-secfrac]

URI

String, containing URI as defined in RFC 3986 and related.

Net4

String, containing IPv4 range in human readable form. Range can be specified as CIDR network (“192.0.2.0/24”) or two IP addresses in dot-decimal notation, separated by minus sign (“192.0.2.0-192.0.2.255”).

Net6

String, containing IPv6 range in human readable form. Range can be specified as CIDR notation (“2001:db8::/48”) or two IP addresses in colon-hexadecimal notation, separated by minus sign (“2001:db8::-2001:db8:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff”).

NSID

Namespaced identifier. Dot separated list of labels, with significance from left to right – leftmost denoting largest containing realm, rightmost denoting single entity. Country – organisation – suborganizations – machine – local scheme akin to “org.example.csirt.northwest.honeypot.jabberwock” is strongly recommended. Label case is insignificant, label can contain only letters, numbers or underscore and must not start with number.

MAC

String, containing MAC address in human friendly form - six groups of two hexadecimal digits, separated by colon.

Netname

URI string, containing LIR identifier and network identifier within LIR namespace, separated by colon.

Hash

URI string, defining hash type and hash value, separated by colon.

EventTag

Category name consists of one or two abbreviated parts - category and optional subcategory, separated by dot. If unsure of more precise nature of the incident, subcategory and dot may be omitted. Category and subcategory name must contain only alphanumeric, underscore and minus sign.

For semantics and taxonomy see security event types classification.

ProtocolName

Name must not be empty, must contain only alphanumeric and minus sign, must contain at least one letter, must not begin or end with a hyphen and two hyphens must not be adjacent.

For semantics and applicable strings see protocols classification.

SourceTargetTag

Tag name must contain only alphanumeric, underscore and minus sign.

For semantics and taxonomy see source/target classification.

NodeTag

Tag name must contain only alphanumeric, underscore and minus sign.

For semantics and taxonomy see classification of detection nodes.

AttachmentTag

Tag name must contain only alphanumeric, underscore and minus sign.

For semantics and taxonomy see attachment description.