Sigma is a generic and open signature format that allows you to describe relevant log events in a straightforward manner. The rule format is very flexible, easy to write and applicable to any type of log file. The main purpose of this project is to provide a structured form in which researchers or analysts can describe their once developed detection methods and make them shareable with others.
The SANS webcast on Sigma contains a very good 20 min introduction to the project by John Hubbart from minute 39 onward. (SANS account required; registration is free)
Today, everyone collects log data for analysis. People start working on their own, processing numerous white papers, blog posts and log analysis guidelines, extracting the necessary information and build their own searches and dashboard. Some of their searches and correlations are great and very useful but they lack a standardized format in which they can share their work with others.
Others provide excellent analyses, include IOCs and YARA rules to detect the malicious files and network connections, but have no way to describe a specific or generic detection method in log events. Sigma is meant to be an open standard in which such detection mechanisms can be defined, shared and collected in order to improve the detection capabilities for everyone.
Florian wrote a short [rule creation tutorial](https://www.nextron-systems.com/2018/02/10/write-sigma-rules/) that can help you getting started. Use the [Rule Creation Guide](https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/wiki/Rule-Creation-Guide) in our Wiki for a clear guidance on how to populate the various field in Sigma rules.
* Try to provide an improved rule (new filter) via [pull request](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-files/editing-files#editing-files-in-another-users-repository) on that rule
The github issue tracker is a good place to start tackling some issues others raised to the project. It could be as easy as a review of the documentation.
Please don't provide backends for the old code base (sigmac) anymore. Please use the new [pySigma](https://github.com/SigmaHQ/pySigma). We are working on a documentation on how to write new backends for that new code base. An example backend for Splunk can be found [here](https://github.com/SigmaHQ/pySigma-backend-splunk).
Last but not least, the more people use Sigma, the better, so help promote it by sharing it via social media. If you are using it, consider giving a talk about your journey and tell us about it.
* The rules contained in the [SigmaHQ repository](https://github.com/SigmaHQ) are released under the [Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1](https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License)
This is a private project mainly developed by Florian Roth and Thomas Patzke with feedback from many fellow analysts and friends. Rules are our own or have been drived from blog posts, tweets or other public sources that are referenced in the rules.
