Analytics and Monitoring
Analytics & Monitoring technologies encompass a range of tools designed to collect, analyze, and report on data related to various aspects of an organization's digital presence, operations, and performance. These tools provide valuable insights into user behavior, application performance, website uptime, and business metrics, enabling informed decision-making and proactive problem-solving.
Essential for Cybersecurity:
From a cybersecurity perspective, knowing the analytics and monitoring technologies used by your organization, whether sanctioned or unsanctioned, is crucial for several reasons:
Data Exposure Risk: Many tools collect and process sensitive data, such as user behavior, personal information, and business metrics. Unsanctioned tools may need proper security controls, increasing the risk of data breaches and exposure.
Visibility and Control: A comprehensive inventory of analytics and monitoring tools, both on-premise and cloud-based, allows for better visibility and control over the data flow within the organization. Adequate security measures and compliance with data protection regulations are essential.
Third-Party Risk Management: Some tools may be provided by third-party vendors, introducing additional risks. It is crucial to assess the security practices of these vendors and ensure they adhere to industry standards to minimize the risk of supply chain attacks.
Incident Detection and Response: Monitoring tools can be instrumental in detecting anomalies and suspicious activities that may indicate a security incident. Knowing the tools in use enables security teams to leverage their capabilities for effective incident response and mitigation.
Regulatory Compliance: Data protection regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, impose strict requirements on collecting and processing personal data. Understanding the tools is essential for ensuring compliance and avoiding costly penalties.
Specific Types and Vendors:
Product Analytics: Tools like Amplitude and Mixpanel collect and analyze user behavior data within a product or website. This data is valuable for understanding user engagement, identifying areas for improvement, and optimizing product performance. However, it can also contain sensitive information, making it a potential target for attackers.
Business Intelligence (BI): Looker, a BI platform, enables organizations to analyze and visualize complex business data. This can help identify trends, patterns, and opportunities for growth. However, unauthorized access to this data could lead to competitive disadvantage or financial loss.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM): Dynatrace and New Relic are APM tools that monitor application performance, helping to identify bottlenecks and errors. These tools often have access to sensitive application data and configurations, making them attractive targets for attackers seeking to disrupt operations or steal intellectual property.
Website Monitoring: Pingdom and UptimeRobot monitor website uptime and availability, alerting administrators of any issues that may impact user experience. While this data is generally less sensitive, unauthorized access to website monitoring tools could be used to launch denial-of-service attacks or other disruptions.
Key Takeaways:
Organizations must maintain a comprehensive inventory of all analytics and monitoring tools used within their environment. It includes understanding the type of data collected, how it is processed, and where it is stored. It is also crucial to assess the security practices of any third-party vendors involved and ensure that all tools are properly configured and monitored to minimize the risk of data breaches and other security incidents.
By proactively managing the use of analytics and monitoring technologies, organizations can reap the benefits of these tools while mitigating the associated cybersecurity risks.
ThreatNG: A Holistic Approach to External Cybersecurity with Focus on Analytics & Monitoring
ThreatNG offers a comprehensive solution for external attack surface management (EASM), digital risk protection (DRP), and security ratings by continuously scanning and analyzing the open, deep, and dark web. It explicitly identifies the presence of "Analytics & Monitoring" technologies used by organizations, their third parties, and even deeper within their supply chain.
Uncovering Shadow IT: ThreatNG can reveal unsanctioned analytics and monitoring tools deployed without IT's knowledge. It could be rogue analytics scripts, unauthorized cloud integrations, or forgotten legacy tracking systems.
Assessing Third-Party Risk: ThreatNG evaluates the security posture of third-party vendors and partners by identifying the tools they use. It helps evaluate the potential for data breaches or misconfigurations that could impact your organization.Identifying Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: ThreatNG digs deep into the supply chain to identify potential risks associated with your supplier's and vendors' analytics and monitoring tools. It could include vulnerabilities in the tools themselves or risky data-sharing practices.
Working with Complementary Solutions:
ThreatNG integrates with existing security tools and workflows to enhance your overall cybersecurity posture. Here's how:
Integration with SIEM/SOAR: ThreatNG can feed its findings into SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) or SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms, enriching security alerts with external attack surface context.
Collaboration with Vulnerability Management: ThreatNG's discovery of exposed analytics tools can be correlated with vulnerability scan data to prioritize remediation efforts.
Informing Security Ratings: The security posture insights provided by ThreatNG can be used to validate or enhance security ratings, providing a more accurate and comprehensive view of an organization's risk profile.
Example Workflow with Other Solutions:
ThreatNG Discovery: ThreatNG scans the web and discovers an organization uses an outdated Google Analytics version on a subdomain.
Vulnerability Scanner Correlation: The organization's vulnerability scanner also detects this outdated version and flags it as a potential security risk.
SIEM Alert Enrichment: ThreatNG's findings are sent to the SIEM, which creates a high-priority alert, linking the external discovery with the internal vulnerability scan.
SOAR Response: The SOAR platform automatically triggers a workflow to notify the relevant teams, initiate patch deployment, and update the security policy to prevent similar issues in the future.
Overall Benefits:
By incorporating ThreatNG into your cybersecurity strategy, you can:
Reduce Attack Surface: Identify and mitigate risks associated with exposed analytics and monitoring tools, preventing potential breaches and unauthorized access.
Enhance Third-Party Risk Management: Understand your vendors' and partners' tools to gain visibility into their security posture.
Strengthen Supply Chain Security: Proactively identify and address vulnerabilities in your supply chain to reduce the risk of cascading attacks.
Improve Security Ratings: Provide a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of your security posture, boosting stakeholder confidence and improving your security ratings.
Streamline Incident Response: Integrate ThreatNG with your existing security tools to enhance threat detection and accelerate incident response.
ThreatNG offers a robust, all-in-one solution for organizations looking to proactively address external cybersecurity risks associated with analytics and monitoring technologies. By combining deep web scanning, advanced analytics, and seamless integration with existing tools, ThreatNG empowers security teams to protect their organization's digital assets and maintain a robust security posture.
