Contributing a Group to a Community or Source

Contributing a Group

Follow these steps to contribute a Group in your Organization to one of your Communities or Sources:

1. Navigate to the legacy Details screen for a Group in your Organization.
2. Click the Sharing tab. The Sharing screen will be displayed (Figure 1).
   
   Note

   The Sharing tab is available only on the legacy Details screen.

   

    

3. Click the Contribute to Community/Source… button to contribute the Group to a single Community or Source, or click the CONTRIBUTE TO MULTIPLE... button to contribute the Group to multiple Communities or Sources at one time. The Initial tab of the Contribute to Community/Source window will be displayed (Figure 2).

   

    

   • Select Community/Source: Select the Community or Source in which to contribute the Group. If you clicked the CONTRIBUTE TO MULTIPLE... button in Figure 1, this dropdown menu will be a multi-select list. If the Group is contributed to the Common Community, then all Organizations will have access to the Group. If the Group is contributed to any other Community or Source, then only Organizations with access to that Community or Source will be able to access the Group.
   • EXISTING GROUP: Select this option to merge the original Group with an existing Group in the target Community or Source. Then enter the name of the existing Group in the Group Name text box, which will auto-populate with available Groups after you enter at least three characters. The EXISTING GROUP option will not be available if contributing to multiple Communities or Sources.
   • NEW GROUP: Select this option to contribute the original Group to a newly created Group in the target Community or Source. The name of the original Group will auto-populate in the Group Name text box. Edit this name, if desired.
   • Click the Next button.
4. The Data tab of the Contribute to Community/Source window will be displayed (Figure 3).

   

    

   • Copy Attributes: Specify whether to copy the original Group's Attributes to the contributed Group.
     Note

     If you are recontributing the original Group to the same Community or Source and select Yes, new Attributes added to the original Group will also be added to the recontributed Group. In addition, changes to the values of existing Attributes added to the original Group will also be made to those same Attributes in the recontributed Group. No Attributes will be removed from the contributed Group, even if those Attributes no longer exist in the original Group. See the “Recontributing a Group” section for more information.
   • Include Tags: Specify whether to apply the original Group's Tags to the contributed Group..
     Note

     If you are recontributing the original Group to the same Community or Source and select Yes, new Tags applied to the original Group will also be applied to the contributed Group. No Tags will be removed from the contributed Group, even if those Tags are no longer applied to the original Group. See the “Recontributing a Group” section for more information.
   • Create Tags That Don't Exist: Specify whether to create Tags applied to the original Group that do not already exist in the Community or Source and apply them to the contributed Group. This option is available only if you selected Yes for the Include Tags option.
   • Copy Associated Groups: Specify whether to copy the original Group's associated Groups to the Community or Source and associate them to the contributed Group. If you select Yes, you must select the type(s) of associated Groups to copy from the Group Types dropdown.
     
     Important

     Task Groups cannot be copied as associated Groups because this Group type may contain sensitive information and is specific to users in a given Organization.
     Note

     If you are recontributing the original Group to the same Community or Source and select Yes, new Groups associated to the original Group will also be copied to the Community or Source and associated to the contributed Group. No associated Groups will be removed from the contributed Group, even if those Groups are no longer associated to the original Group. See the “Recontributing a Group” section for more information.
   • Limit Depth: Specify whether to set a limit for the number of association levels to copy during the contribute operation. This option is available only if you selected Yes for the Copy Associated Groups option.
     
     Warning

     In order to avoid lag times and overloading the system, it is recommended to select a Max Depth of no more than 2 unless you have a controlled, isolated data set.
   • Max Depth: Enter the maximum number of association levels to copy during the contribute operation (e.g., an entry of 1 indicates that only the primary Group and Groups directly associated to it will be contributed, while an entry of 2 indicates that the primary Group, Groups directly associated to it, and Groups directly associated to those associated Groups will be contributed). This option is available only if you selected Yes for the Copy Associated Groups and Limit Depth options.
   • Ignore Hierarchy: Specify whether to ignore Group hierarchy rules when copying associated Groups during the contribute operation. If you select Yes for this option, all associated Groups, up to the maximum association level (i.e., the value entered for Max Depth), will be contributed to the target Community or Source, regardless of their position in the Group hierarchy. This option is available only if you selected Yes for the Copy Associated Groups and Limit Depth options.
   • Click the Next button.
5. The Security Labels tab of the Contribute to Community/Source window will be displayed (Figure 4).

   

    

   • Include and Exclude: Specify whether to include or exclude associated Groups, associated Indicators, and Attributes with one or more of the Security Labels selected from the Choose Security Labels dropdown applied to them. By default, Exclude is selected.
   • Copy System-level Security Labels: Select this option to copy only System-level Security Labels applied to the Groups, Indicators, and Attributes to be copied. By default, this option is selected.
     Note

     If you are recontributing the original Group to the same Community or Source and select Yes, new System-level Security Labels applied to the original Group will also be applied to the contributed Group. No Security Labels will be removed from the contributed Group, even if those Security Labels are no longer applied to the original Group. See the “Recontributing a Group” section for more information.
   • Choose Security Labels to apply to copied data: Select this option to specify the Security Labels to apply to the Groups, Indicators, and Attributes to be copied. After you select this option, three dropdowns will be displayed: Indicator Security Labels, Group Security Labels, and Attribute Security Labels. Use these dropdowns to select the Security Labels in the Community or Source to apply to the corresponding data type.
   • Click the Next button.
6. The Save tab of the Contribute to Community/Source window will be displayed (Figure 5).

   

    

   • Suppress Notifications: Specify whether to prevent notification messages about the contribution from being sent to members of the target Community or Source. By default, No is selected.
   • Review the list of Groups that will be copied into the target Community or Source.
     
     Warning

     In order to avoid lag times and overloading the system, it is recommended to copy no more than 20 Groups, with a hard limit of 300 Groups.
   • Merge Hashes: If contributing a Group with an associated File Indicator that exists in the Organization and target Community or Source, select this checkbox to synchronize the file hashes between the two File Indicators. If you do not select this checkbox and the file hashes between the two Indicators are not synchronized, an error message will be displayed directing you to either correct the discrepancy manually (by canceling out of the Contribute to Community/Source window, adding the missing file hash to the File Indicator in the target Community or Source, and then restarting the contribution process) or select the Merge Hashes checkbox to correct it automatically (by clicking the Back button, clicking the Next button on the Security Labels screen, and then selecting the Merge Hashes checkbox, which will no longer be grayed out). If the File Indicators contain mismatched hashes that cannot be merged, or if the File Indicator in the Organization and the File Indicator in the target Community or Source contain duplicated hashes, the contribution process will fail and you will be prompted to correct the discrepancy manually.
   • Publish after Copy: Select this checkbox to publish the Group data in a package so it may be shared across ThreatConnect instances.
   • Click the Save button.

The Sharing tab of the Group’s legacy Details screen will now show all Communities and Sources to which the Group has been contributed (Figure 6).

Viewing Properties of a Contributed Group

Follow these steps to view the properties of a Group that was contributed to one of your Communities or Sources:

1. Navigate to the legacy Details screen for a Group in your Organization that has been contributed to a Community or Source.
2. Click the Sharing tab. The Sharing screen will be displayed (Figure 6).
3. In the Copied from <Organization name> to: section, click Propertiesin the Options column. The Community/Source Contribution window will be displayed, showing a read-only summary of the options selected during the contribution process (Figure 7).

   

    

Recontributing a Group

If updates are made to a Group after it was contributed to a Community or Source (e.g., a new Tag is applied, an Attribute’s value is updated), it can be helpful to recopy (recontribute) the original Group to the same Community or Source. Doing so ensures that the contributed Group reflects the updates made to the original Group.

1. Navigate to the legacy Details screen for a Group in your Organization that has been contributed to a Community or Source.
2. Click the Sharing tab. The Sharing screen will be displayed (Figure 6).
3. In the Copied from <Organization name> to: section, click Recopyin the Options column. The Initial tab of the Contribute to Community/Source screen will be displayed with the EXISTING GROUP option selected and the name of the original Group pre-populated in the Group Name text box (Figure 8).

   

    

   • Select Community/Source: Keep the selection of the Community or Source in which the Group has been contributed.
   • EXISTING GROUP or NEW GROUP: Keep the selection of EXISTING GROUP.
   • Group Name: By default, the name of the contributed Group will be pre-populated. Do not change this value.
   • Click the Next button.
4. Follow Steps 4–6 in the “Contributing a Group” section to complete the recontributing process.

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20001-02 v.16.B