| name | security-generate-security-sample-data | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| description | Generate sample security events, attack scenarios, and synthetic alerts for Elastic Security. Use when demoing, populating dashboards, testing detection rules, or setting up a POC. | ||||
| compatibility | Requires Node.js 22+, network access to Kibana and Elasticsearch. Environment variables: KIBANA_URL plus KIBANA_API_KEY or KIBANA_USERNAME/KIBANA_PASSWORD; ELASTICSEARCH_URL or ELASTICSEARCH_CLOUD_ID plus ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY or ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME/ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD. | ||||
| metadata |
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Generate ECS-compliant security events, multi-step attack scenarios, and synthetic alert documents that populate Elastic Security dashboards, the Alerts tab, and Attack Discovery.
For a zero-friction experience that generates everything and opens Kibana:
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/demo-walkthrough.js- [ ] Step 1: Set environment variables
- [ ] Step 2: Generate sample data
- [ ] Step 3: Explore in Kibana
- [ ] Step 4: Clean up when done
export ELASTICSEARCH_URL="https://your-project.es.region.aws.elastic.cloud"
export ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME="admin"
export ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD="your-password"
export KIBANA_URL="https://your-project.kb.region.aws.elastic.cloud"node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js \
system endpoint okta aws windows --scenarios --alertsnode skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js \
system endpoint --count 100node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js --scenariosnode skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js --alertsAfter generating data, direct the user to these pages:
- Security > Alerts — synthetic alerts with MITRE ATT&CK mappings
- Security > Attack Discovery — requires an LLM connector to analyze alerts
- Security > Hosts — host activity from sample events
- Security > Overview — summary of all security data
- Discover — raw events across all data streams
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js --cleanupSample data spans 5 packages (system, endpoint, windows, aws, okta) and 4 focused attack scenarios covering the most
common demo themes: Windows credential theft, AWS cloud privilege escalation, Okta identity takeover, and a full
ransomware kill chain. Synthetic alert documents are indexed into .alerts-security.alerts-default with MITRE ATT&CK
mappings, severity levels, and risk scores.
All events use RFC 5737 / RFC 2606 safe addresses. For full tables of packages, scenarios, and alerts see references/sample-data-reference.md.
Stream events to simulate a live environment:
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js \
--continuous --interval 15Every 5th batch includes an attack scenario; every 10th batch adds synthetic alerts. Press Ctrl+C to stop.
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--count, -n |
Events per package (default: 50) |
--scenarios |
Run all attack simulation scenarios |
--scenario NAME |
Run a specific scenario |
--alerts |
Generate synthetic alert documents |
--cleanup |
Remove all sample data and alerts |
--continuous |
Stream live events (Ctrl+C to stop) |
--interval N |
Seconds between continuous batches (default: 30) |
--json, -j |
Output results as JSON |
--yes, -y |
Skip confirmation prompts |
Zero-friction runner that generates everything and opens Kibana.
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--cleanup |
Remove all sample data, alerts, case |
--continuous |
Generate then stream live events |
--count N |
Events per package (default: 50) |
--interval N |
Seconds between batches (default: 30) |
"Set up a demo environment so I can show Attack Discovery to my VP."
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/demo-walkthrough.js"Generate only the ransomware attack chain to test our detection rules."
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js \
--scenario ransomwareChain --alerts"Keep generating events so the dashboards stay active during the demo."
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/demo-walkthrough.js --continuous"Remove all sample data from my project."
node skills/security/generate-security-sample-data/scripts/sample-data.js --cleanup- All generated documents are tagged with
tags: ["elastic-security-sample-data"]for safe cleanup. The cleanup command only deletes documents with this marker. - If marker fields are not indexed in a data stream, cleanup falls back to scanning
_source.tagsfor matching sample documents from the last 14 days. - Synthetic alerts are indexed directly into
.alerts-security.alerts-default— they do not require detection rules to be installed or enabled. - Attack Discovery requires an LLM connector (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, or similar) configured in Kibana under Stack Management > Connectors. The "Complete" project tier unlocks the feature, but the connector must be set up separately.
- Use the
case-managementskill for creating investigation cases from alerts.
- Do not run against production clusters unless you intend to inject synthetic data alongside real alerts. Sample events and alerts are tagged for cleanup but will appear in dashboards, the Alerts tab, and Attack Discovery alongside real data.
- All write operations (
generate,--cleanup,--continuous) prompt for confirmation. Pass--yesor-yto skip when called by an agent. --cleanuprunsdeleteByQueryacross all sample data indices — verify environment variables point to the intended cluster before running.--continuousmode indexes events indefinitely until manually stopped with Ctrl+C.
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
ELASTICSEARCH_URL |
Yes | Elasticsearch URL |
ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY |
Yes* | Elasticsearch API key |
ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME |
Yes* | Elasticsearch username (alternative) |
ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD |
Yes* | Elasticsearch password (alternative) |
KIBANA_URL |
No | Kibana URL (for case creation and links) |
KIBANA_USERNAME |
No | Kibana username (if using Kibana features) |
KIBANA_PASSWORD |
No | Kibana password (if using Kibana features) |
*Either API key or username/password is required for Elasticsearch.