Home
Carbon Black App Control User Guide
Events, Alerts and Meters
This section explains how to use Carbon Black App Control event reports and alerts to monitor file activity and other key operations on your network. It also describes tools for detecting propagation of files on your network and for keeping track of the number of times a specified file executes.
Using Carbon Black App Control Alerts
Alerts notify you of important activities that are monitored by Carbon Black App Control, such as the appearance or spread of risky files on endpoints.
Alerts for File Prevalence
On the File Catalog tab of the Files page, a Prevalence column shows you how many computers a file resides on (based on periodic updates).
Prevalence Alerts
Prevalence alerts are triggered when the prevalence of a particular file reaches a threshold you set. You can go to the Alerts page and type in information about the file to create an alert for, but the easiest way to create a prevalence alert is from the File Details page of the file.

Carbon Black App Control User Guide
- Preface
  This is your guide to day-to-day administration and security monitoring tasks: monitoring executable files on your network using App Control; configuring the App Control Server; managing computers running the App Control Agent; and managing App Control Console users.
- App Control Overview
- Using the Console
  This section covers the basics of using the Carbon Black App Control Console: how to log in and out, how to navigate in the user interface from the Home page and menu system, and how to view the information Carbon Black App Control makes available to you through tables, details pages, and dashboards.
- Managing Console Login Accounts
  This section describes how to create and manage login accounts for the Carbon Black App Control Console. It also describes how to define user roles that grant access to specified features, and in some cases limit this access by policy.
- Managing Computers
  This section describes the steps necessary to install Carbon Black App Control agents on computers. It also describes how to upgrade or uninstall agents, view the details agents provide to the Carbon Black App Control Console and manage operating system updates on agent-managed systems.
- Creating and Configuring Policies
  This section explains how to create policies and change their settings, including Enforcement Levels.
- Managing Virtual Machines
  This section explains how Carbon Black App Control efficiently manages virtual machines, called clones in the console, and the template computers on which they are based.
- File, Publisher, and Application Information
  This section describes the location and contents of file information in Carbon Black App Control. It also includes:
- Approving and Banning Software
  This section describes how to approve or ban software using Carbon Black App Control. It includes information about both global and local file approval.
- Deleting Files
  This section describes how to use the Carbon Black App Control Console to delete files on Windows endpoints.
- Reputation Approval Rules
  This section describes reputation approval rules, which can be used to automatically approve files based on the file and publisher trust ratings that Carbon Black File Reputation provides.
- Managing File-Signing Certificates
  This section describes advanced features for using file-signing certificates in Carbon Black App Control file monitoring and enforcement activities.
- Managing Devices
  This section describes features for tracking and control of storage devices detected on computers running the Carbon Black App Control Agent.
- Custom Software Rules
  Custom rules define actions you want the agent to take in response to file, directory, or process activity that matches conditions you specify. They may be used to optimize performance, protect file integrity, create a trusted file path for software distribution, or meet other special needs
- Memory Rules
  Memory Rules let you protect a process from being accessed or altered by other processes or users.
- Registry Rules
  This chapter describes Registry rules, which control what happens when there is an attempt to make changes in the Windows Registry at locations that match paths you specify. If you choose, you can limit enforcement of the rules to specified users and/or processes.
- Script Rules
  This chapter describes Script rules, which identify files to be tracked and managed as scripts by Carbon Black App Control. The Carbon Black App Control Server includes built-in script rules, and you can create custom rules to identify other scripts.
- YARA Rules
  Carbon Black App Control provides content-based inspection by using YARA rules, which enables more granular control of the security policy in your environment. YARA rules are descriptions of malware samples that can help you detect and classify malware in files. In a rule, the criteria for the rule is defined and tags are specified. When the rule is enabled, tags are assigned to files that meet the criteria for the rule.
- Expert Rules
  Expert rules are Custom, Memory, and Registry rules created with a special interface that provides many more options than the standard interface for these rules. They are intended for expert users working with Carbon Black Support or Technical Services.
- Rapid Configs
  This chapter describes Rapid Configs, which are sets of rules that can be used to accomplish tasks such as application optimization, operating system and application hardening, and approval of files delivered by software distribution systems.
- Event Rules
  There are Event rules, which allow you to specify an action to be performed when an event matches filters you define.
- Endpoint Notifiers and Approval Requests
  This chapter describes the Carbon Black App Control features that involve interactions with endpoint users.
- Events, Alerts and Meters
  This section explains how to use Carbon Black App Control event reports and alerts to monitor file activity and other key operations on your network. It also describes tools for detecting propagation of files on your network and for keeping track of the number of times a specified file executes.
  - Monitoring Prerequisites
    Accurate event monitoring requires that client computers are online and actively monitored byCarbon Black App Control Agents.
  - Event Reports
    The Events page provides access to all recorded events related to Carbon Black App Control activities, including files blocked, unapproved files executed, system management processes and actions by console users. The Carbon Black App Control Server updates event data in near-real-time for connected computers, with minor variations due to event volume.
  - Using Carbon Black App Control Alerts
    Alerts notify you of important activities that are monitored by Carbon Black App Control, such as the appearance or spread of risky files on endpoints.
    - Alert Priority
      Each alert is assigned a Priority, which can be High, Medium, or Low. Alert priority determines the icon shape and color used to represent an alert in the console banner and dashboard, and the color of the rows for triggered alerts on the Alerts page.
    - Creating Alerts
      You can create and configure alerts of the following types:
    - Edit an Alert
      You might need to modify an alert to change its threshold, the time period it covers, its subscribers, or other parameters. In addition, you might need to enable or disable the alert.
    - Deleting Alerts
      When you delete an alert, you delete the definition of the alert and end any alert monitoring. As an alternative, you can disable an alert if you do not want it to be active, but might use it in the future.
    - How Alerts are Triggered
      Any alert shown on the Alerts page can be considered an alert class. Each time conditions exist that meet the triggering condition of that alert class, an alert instance occurs.
    - Manual and Automatic Alert Resets
      Resetting an alert means taking it out of the triggered state and clearing the history of all the current instances that caused it to be triggered in the first place.
    - Viewing Alert Instances and History
      If an alert is currently triggered, you can view the instances that triggered it.
    - Managing Alert Email Subscriptions
      There are two types of subscriptions for alerts email:
    - Detecting Agent Issues with Computer Security Alerts
      Although many alerts are related to computer security, there is one built-in alert that is specifically designed for this purpose. The Computer Security Alert, which is disabled by default, is triggered by events that indicate suspicious behavior.
    - Alerts for File Prevalence
      On the File Catalog tab of the Files page, a Prevalence column shows you how many computers a file resides on (based on periodic updates).
      - Prevalence Alerts
        Prevalence alerts are triggered when the prevalence of a particular file reaches a threshold you set. You can go to the Alerts page and type in information about the file to create an alert for, but the easiest way to create a prevalence alert is from the File Details page of the file.
  - Monitoring Specific File Executions
    Software metering lets you track the number of times users run specified files.
- Monitoring Change: Baseline Drift Reports
  This section describes how to use Baseline Drift Reports, which allow you to track changes in the inventory of files on systems running the Carbon Black App Control Agent.
- Advanced Threat Detection
  This section describes how you enable and use Carbon Black App Control’s Advanced Threat Indicators, and how you can monitor threats through events, file details, and alerts.
- Using and Customizing Dashboards
  Carbon Black App Control Dashboards are configurable pages containing compact windows called portlets, each of which provides access to Carbon Black App Control-related information or controls.
- Locating Files
  This section describes how to use the Find Files page to locate or verify the existence of specific executable files on computers running the Carbon Black App Control Agent. Find Files locates instances of files, not their listings in the File Catalog.
- System Configuration
  This section describes settings that enable you to configure and maintain your Carbon Black App Control Server installation. Access to the System Configuration page is available only to login accounts in the Administrators group or in customized groups with View System Configuration and Manage System Configuration check boxes selected.
- Unified Management of Multiple Servers
  If you have multiple Carbon Black App Control servers, you can centralize the management of those servers. Unified Management allows you to specify that one server can control many common management functions for any connected Carbon Black App Control servers.
- Monitoring System Health
  This section introduces the System Health page, which provides Carbon Black App Control administrators with the ability to monitor the health and performance of the Carbon Black App Control Server.
- Live Inventory SDK: Database Views
  In addition to the access provided to the Live Inventory of files and computers through the console, Carbon Black App Control provides public views into the database. You can create your own reporting and data analysis solutions through the use of these public views.
- Carbon Black App Control API
  The Carbon Black App Control API is intended for programmers who want to write code to interact with Carbon Black App Control, either using custom scripts or from other applications. It is a RESTful API that can be consumed over HTTPS protocol using any language that can create get URI requests and post/put JSON requests as well as interpret JSON responses.
- Carbon Black App Control Connector
  This section provides instructions for configuring and using the Connector, which integrates the Carbon Black App Control Server with one or more network security devices or services.
- DASCLI
  The DasCLI.exe program, referred to as DASCLI, is an executable which provides Command Line Interface (CLI) access to the Carbon Black App Control Windows Agent. Messages are transmitted between DASCLI and the Agent.
- Diagnostic Files
  The Carbon Black App Control Console includes a page that displays certain diagnostic files for the Carbon Black App Control Server and its agents. These files can be useful when you are investigating issues in your Carbon Black App Control environment with the assistance of Carbon Black Support.
- Uploading Files from Agents
  This topic describes uploading files from agents.
- Exporting Data for External Analysis
  This section provides instructions for configuring and using Carbon Black App Control External Analytics, which enables the Carbon Black App Control Server to export data it collects from endpoints to external analysis tools.

Prevalence Alerts

Prevalence alerts are triggered when the prevalence of a particular file reaches a threshold you set. You can go to the Alerts page and type in information about the file to create an alert for, but the easiest way to create a prevalence alert is from the File Details page of the file.

See Using App Control Alerts for more information about alerts.

Note:

You cannot use wildcards in the filename for a prevalence alert.
Provide a name, not a path, for prevalence alerts.

Create a Prevalence Alert

To create a prevalence alert for a file from its File Details page, perform the following procedure.

On the Files page, click the View Details button next to the name of the file whose propagation you want to track.
On the File Details page for that file, click Add Alert in the Actions menu. The Alert Information page opens with the name of the file and its hash automatically filled in.
Set the remaining parameters for this alert including:
- Threshold number of computers on which this file must appear to trigger the alert.
- Reminder mail specifications if you want periodic email reminders to be resent after a certain period of time if the alert is not reset or the condition is not remedied.
Click Create to stay on this page, or click Create & Exit to go to the Alerts table page. You now have a prevalence alert for this file that is visible on the Alerts page.
To add email alert subscribers, click the View Details button for the alert and add the addresses in the Subscribers section of the Alert Information page.