Attributes

The topics listed on this page provide information on attribute administration.

Introduction to attributes¶

The individual pieces of data in a record are called attributes. They are associated with data models.

Users can enter data in attributes by using using a form. In form view, attributes appear as fields in the form, and in list view they appear as columns of data in the table.

Administrators can create new or modify existing attributes.

Attribute types¶

These attributes types are available to administrators when creating new attributes or changing the type of existing attributes.

Table 1: Attribute types

Choice lists¶

A choice list is a type of attribute that lets the user select from a pre-defined set of choices. There are two types of choice lists,

• Single choice : Only a single choice can be selected from available options.

• Multiple choice : Multiple choices can be selected from available options.

Administrators can define the available choices and customize the behavior of choice lists.

Figure 1. Application data classification choice list

Define an option for a choice list¶

Procedure

1. Navigate to Administration -> Data Management -> Data Models, select the data model that contains the choice list attribute, and go to the Attributes section
2. Select the choice list attribute
3. Using the choices field, add title and value. Title will be shown to users on the list, form and edit views. Value will be stored in the database and exported to any external data destination.
4. (Optional) You can select a default value from available choices. The default value will be the pre-selected choice on the form, and also when the dataset is created by blank value.
5. Click Update on the attribute modal.
6. Click Update to save your changes to the data model.

Figure 2. Application data classification choice options

Reference attributes¶

A reference attribute stores a reference to an attribute on another data model. For example, the Owner attribute on the Host data model is a reference to the User data model.

When you define a reference attribute, the system creates a relationship between the two data models. Adding a reference attribute to a view makes the other attributes in the referenced data model available to the view.

Administrators can create new reference attributes and configure several options for reference attributes.

Master detail attributes¶

A parent-child relationship in which the master object controls certain behaviors of the detail object:

• When a dataset of the master object is deleted, its related detail datasets are also deleted.
• The detail dataset inherits the sharing settings of its master dataset.
• The master-detail relationship attribute is required on the form of the detail dataset.
• By default, datasets can’t be reparented in master-detail relationships. Administrators can, however, allow child datasets in master-detail relationships on data models to be reparented to different parent records by selecting the Allow reparenting option in the master-detail relationship definition.

See reference attributes for common relationship options.

Attribute options¶

An attribute's metadata consists of several options.

Table 2: Attribute metadata

Create a new attribute¶

Administrators can create and add new attributes to a data model to capture and display data.

Before you begin, determine the type of attribute you want to create.

1. Navigate to Administration > Data Management > Data Models
2. Select the data model you want to add attributes to and go to the Attributes section
3. Click Create Attribute and fill in the following
Table 3: New attribute properties

Field	Description
Title	Enter the title of the attribute as you want it to appear on show, form and list views. Brinqa populates Attribute Name using the attribute title. This name can contain only underscores and alphanumeric characters, and must be unique for a given data model. It must begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Type	Select an attribute type.
Options	Enter attribute options and select the appropriate checkboxes.

4. Click Create.
5. Drag the newly created attribute to a desirable location on the attributes table to set the order. Attribute order is used as precedence order when performing calculations.
6. Click Update on data model form to ensure newly created attribute is added to the model.

TUTORIAL: "False Positive" Attribute¶

A false positive attribute can be useful if your team regularly discovers vulnerabilities that are false positives and needs some way to flag them. This tutorial will cover how to create a false positive attribute that is a true/false type field, then cover how to add it to each vulnerability view so it can be seen and interacted with.

Once the attribute has been added to the views, users will be able to flag vulnerabilities as false positives, filter vulnerabilities by whether they are false positives, and see whether a vulnerability has been marked as a false positive.

The existence of this attribute also allows you to create things like scripts and business rules that mark vulnerabilities as false positives automatically if they meet certain conditions.

1) Create the "false positive" attribute.¶

1. Navigate to Administration > Data Management > Data Models
2. Select the Vulnerability data model
3. Click Create Attribute
4. Enter “False Positive” for the Title
5. Enter text in the Help field that describes the conditions under which something should be considered a false positive.
6. Select “True False” as the attribute Type.
7. Select "Active", "Supports filter", and "Supports facets" under Options
8. Click Create
9. Click Update to save the change to the data model

2) Update the vulnerability list view.¶

1. Navigate to Administration > User Interface > Views
2. Find and open the vulnerability list view
3. Click the Actions button associated with the list section
4. Select Display from the dropdown menu
5. Navigate to the Columns tab of the Display modal
6. Find the "False Positive" attribute and check the Enabled checkbox next to it
7. Click Update
8. Click Done to save the change to the view

3) Update the vulnerability show view.¶

1. Navigate to Administration > User Interface > Views
2. Find and open the vulnerability show view
3. Click the Actions button associated with the leftmost show section, where general details about the vulnerability are displayed
4. Select Display from the dropdown menu
5. Navigate to the Columns tab of the Display modal
6. Find the "False Positive" attribute and check the Enabled checkbox next to it
7. Click Update
8. Click Done to save the change to the view

4) Update the vulnerability form view.¶

In some versions of the platform, you will need to follow these steps to add the False Positive attribute to the form view. In newer versions, the attribute will be added automatically when the data model is updated.

1. Navigate to Administration > User Interface > Views
2. Find and open the vulnerability form view
3. Click the Actions button associated with the form section
4. Select Display from the dropdown menu
5. Navigate to the Columns tab of the Display modal
6. Find the "False Positive" attribute and check the Enabled checkbox next to it
7. Click Update
8. Click Done to save the change to the view