Talkback Messenger

Talkback Messenger is an application that finds the InfoSec content you're interested in from talkback.sh, and posts it to Slack in a digestible format.

The app can be scheduled to run looking for content from the past 1 to 24 hours, and has a Docker container available for scheduling execution. This means you can run it regularly to give you a constant feed of content.

[!Note] Talkback Messenger is currently in beta. If you use it and find any bugs, please open an issue

Contents

• About Talkback
• How it works
• Requirements
  • Slack App
  • Talkback API
  • Configuration File
• Installation
• Usage
  • Docker/Containerised
• Future additions

About Talkback

Talkback is a project developed by Elttam to help the community be more efficient and effective at keeping up with cyber-security content.

It aggregates InfoSec resources from a number of sources and enriches them with metadata, including AI summaries and categorisation.

You can find out more information about Talkback via blog posts and conference talks at Elttam's website

How it works

Talkback Messenger uses the Talkback API to collect content, and then enriches this with information that isn't available using the API by scraping the resource webpage.

Using the concept of subscriptions, Talkback Messenger is able to find resources that are relevant to you. These resources, if they meet the criteria you've set in your subscription, are then posted the Slack users/channels of your choice.

The messages contain a digestible summary of the content, leveraging Talkback's AI summarisation and categorisation, as well as links to the original resource.

Requirements

Slack App with Bot Token

You will need to create a Slack App and Bot Token to use with Talkback Messenger. You can find instructions on how to do this here.

Your app will require the following scopes:

"chat:write",
"chat:write.public",
"links:write",
"im:write",
"users:read",
"users:read.email"

I've included an app manifest file that you can use to create your app in the directory docs/slack/app_manifest.json. There is also an app icon you can use.

Once you've installed your Slack app, generate and safely store your bot token.

Pass the token to Talkback Messenger using the SLACK_API_TOKEN environment variable.

[!Note] To post to private Slack channels, you will need to first add the bot to the channel.

Talkback Email and Password

You will also need to pass the email and password of your Talkback account to Talkback Messenger, which are used to generate a token at runtime. This can be done using the TALKBACK_EMAIL and TALKBACK_PASSWORD environment variables.

[!Note] You can generate API tokens via the Talkback interface, but these expire after 7 days, with no programmatic way of refreshing them. To work around this, Elttam have added the ability to generate a token using your email and password.

Configuration File

Lastly, you will need to generate a talkback.yml configuration file. This file defines what content you want to collect from Talkback, and where you want to post it. In-depth instructions on how to create this file can be found here.

An example configuration has also been included in the directory docs/talkback_conf.

Installation

Talkback Messanger can be installed via pipx from PyPi:

pipx install talkback-messanger

There is also a Docker container available on DockerHub:

docker pull papermtn/talkback-messenger

Usage

Remember to load the required environment variables:

• SLACK_API_TOKEN
• TALKBACK_EMAIL
• TALKBACK_PASSWORD

Talkback Messenger can be run from the command line with the following options:

usage: talkback-messenger [-h] [-v] [--config CONFIG] --timeframe {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24} [--debug]

Talkback Messenger

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --version         show programs version number and exit
  --config CONFIG       Path to the configuration file. Do not use if you are running in a container and have mounted the config file
  --timeframe {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24}
                        How many hours back to search (1-24)
  --debug, -d           Turn on debug level logging

Example:

talkback-messenger --config /path/to/talkback.yml --timeframe 1

Docker/Containerised

Talkback Messanger has been designed to also run in a container, meaning you can schedule it to run at regular intervals to keep you up to date with the latest content.

You will need to pass the configuration file to the container by mounting it as a volume. Talkback Messenger will look for the configuration file at /etc/talkback-messenger/talkback.yml.

To run the Docker container, you can use the following command:

docker run -v /path/to/talkback.yml:/etc/talkback-messenger/talkback.yml papermtn/talkback-messenger --timeframe 1

[!Important] The config file must be mounted in the following path: /etc/talkback-messenger/talkback.yml

The --config option is not required if you are running the container and have mounted the configuration file.

Make sure you pass the required environment variables to the container in a secure manner:

• SLACK_API_TOKEN
• TALKBACK_EMAIL
• TALKBACK_PASSWORD

Future additions

Talkback Messenger is a work in progress, and currently in pre-release.

Possible future additions to the app include:

• Add the ability to post to multiple channels
• Add posting to individual users via DM from the bot
• Add channels and users as destinations for specific subscriptions
• Add integration with Microsoft Teams

If you have any suggestions or feature requests, please feel free to open an issue.