Security Analytics
Security Analytics is the process of collecting, aggregating, and analyzing large volumes of security-related data to identify patterns, anomalies, and potential threats. It goes beyond simple monitoring by applying advanced analytical techniques to provide deeper insights into an organization's security posture and detect malicious activity that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Here's a breakdown of what Security Analytics typically involves:
Data Collection: Security Analytics systems gather data from various sources, including:
Security logs (firewall, IDS/IPS, endpoint)
Network traffic data
System events
User activity logs
Threat intelligence feeds
Data Aggregation and Normalization: The collected data is often in different formats and needs to be aggregated and normalized to create a consistent dataset for analysis.
Analytical Techniques: Security Analytics employs various analytical techniques, such as:
Statistical analysis
Machine learning
Behavioral analysis
Correlation analysis
Data mining
Threat Detection: A key application of Security Analytics is to detect security threats, including:
Intrusion attempts
Malware infections
Insider threats
Data exfiltration
Anomalous user behavior
Security Monitoring and Incident Response: Security Analytics provides real-time monitoring of security events and helps security teams respond to incidents more effectively.
Vulnerability Management: Security Analytics can help identify and prioritize vulnerabilities based on their likelihood of exploitation and potential impact.
Compliance: Security Analytics can help meet compliance requirements by providing audit trails and demonstrating the effectiveness of security controls.
Security Analytics empowers security teams to proactively identify, investigate, and respond to security threats by providing actionable insights derived from comprehensive data analysis.
ThreatNG provides valuable data and analysis capabilities that can be used to enhance security analytics processes, particularly concerning the external attack surface.
ThreatNG's external discovery provides a comprehensive dataset of external-facing assets, crucial for security analytics focused on external threats.
ThreatNG is "able to perform purely external unauthenticated discovery using no connectors". This capability allows ThreatNG to identify all external assets that can be included in security analytics.
Example: ThreatNG discovers all subdomains, web applications, cloud services, and exposed systems, creating a complete inventory of the external attack surface for analysis.
Complementary Solutions:
SIEM Systems: SIEM systems can ingest ThreatNG's discovery data to correlate external assets with security events, providing a broader context for security analytics.
Asset Management Systems: These systems can provide internal asset data, which, combined with ThreatNG's external view, enhances security analytics with a more complete picture.
ThreatNG's external assessments provide detailed data about the security posture of external-facing assets, which can be used to identify trends, anomalies, and potential threats.
ThreatNG can perform all the following assessment ratings:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: Provides data on web application vulnerabilities that can be analyzed to identify attack patterns.
Data Leak Susceptibility: Identifying potential data exfiltration vectors is crucial for analyzing data breach risks.
Cyber Risk Exposure: Provides an overall risk score that can be tracked and analyzed for changes over time.
Examples:
Analyzing trends in "Web Application Hijack Susceptibility" scores can help identify emerging attack trends targeting web applications.
Correlating "Data Leak Susceptibility" findings with network traffic data can help detect potential data exfiltration attempts.
Complementary Solutions:
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): TIPs can enrich ThreatNG's assessment data with threat intelligence, enabling more sophisticated security analytics incorporating threat actor behavior.
Vulnerability Management Platforms: These platforms can provide detailed vulnerability data (e.g., CVSS scores) that can be combined with ThreatNG's assessments to prioritize and analyze vulnerabilities.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG's reporting features provide data on external security risks in a format suitable for security analytics.
It offers various reporting formats, including reports that detail vulnerabilities, security ratings, and risk exposures.
Example: ThreatNG's security ratings reports can be used to track changes in an organization's external security posture over time, providing valuable data for security analytics.
Complementary Solutions:
Data Visualization Tools: These tools can present ThreatNG's data in visual formats (e.g., dashboards, charts), making it easier to identify trends and anomalies.
Security Analytics Platforms: Dedicated security analytics platforms can ingest ThreatNG's data and perform advanced analysis to detect threats and improve security posture.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring provides a stream of up-to-date data on the external attack surface, which is essential for real-time security analytics.
ThreatNG provides "Continuous Monitoring of external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings of all organizations".
Example: ThreatNG's continuous monitoring can detect new subdomains or changes in cloud service configurations, providing real-time data for analyzing changes in the attack surface.
Complementary Solutions:
Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Platforms: SOAR platforms can automate security analytics workflows based on ThreatNG's monitoring data, enabling real-time threat detection and response.
Real-time Threat Detection Systems: These systems can use ThreatNG's data to detect anomalous activity on the external attack surface.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide detailed data and search capabilities that can be used for in-depth security analytics.
The "Advanced Search" feature facilitates detailed discovery and assessment results investigations. Users can use search parameters and filters to quickly find specific data, extract intelligence, and identify risks on their external attack surface.
Examples:
The "Domain Intelligence" module allows for analyzing domain-related data (e.g., DNS records, subdomains) to identify patterns of malicious activity. For example, it includes Domain Overview (Digital Presence Word Cloud, Microsoft Entra Identification and Domain Enumeration, Bug Bounty Programs, and related SwaggerHub instances, which include API documentation and specifications, enabling users to understand and possibly test the API's functionality and structure) and DNS Intelligence (Domain Record Analysis (IP Identification, Vendors and Technology Identification), Domain Name Permutations (Taken and Available), and Web3 Domains (Taken and Available).
The "Sensitive Code Exposure" module provides data on exposed code repositories and secrets, which can be analyzed to identify potential sources of data breaches.
Complementary Solutions:
Threat Hunting Platforms: These platforms provide advanced analytics capabilities to search for threats within ThreatNG's data proactively.
Log Analysis Tools: These tools can correlate ThreatNG's findings with log data from various systems to provide a more comprehensive view of security events.
ThreatNG's intelligence repositories provide valuable context and threat intelligence that can be incorporated into security analytics.
These repositories ("DarCache") provide continuously updated information on threats and vulnerabilities:
DarCache Vulnerability: Provides vulnerability data (NVD, EPSS, KEV) and exploits.
DarCache Dark Web: Provides intelligence on dark web activity.
Example: Analyzing data from the "DarCache Vulnerability" repository can help identify trends in vulnerability exploitation and prioritize remediation efforts.
Complementary Solutions:
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): Integrating with TIPs can provide a broader and more diverse set of threat intelligence, enriching security analytics with a broader perspective on potential threats.
Security Analytics Platforms: Dedicated security analytics platforms can use ThreatNG's intelligence feeds to enhance their threat detection capabilities.
ThreatNG provides a valuable source of data and analysis capabilities for security analytics, particularly for understanding and mitigating external security risks. Its potential to work with complementary solutions can further enhance the effectiveness of security analytics processes.
