Page 22 - GCN, Feb/Mar 2018

ADAPTIVE RESPONSE
Adapting data analytics
to new cyber challenges
Natural language queries and an automated approach to integrated risk management are helping security professionals make decisions and respond to threats at machine speed. The techniques allow even non-technical people to interact with security data in a meaningful way.
Grant Wernick
CEO,
Insight Engines
Querying data in
human terms
Simplifying the way we mine information leads to more dynamic cybersecurity
AGENCIES CAN USE cybersecurity data more e ectively if their employees have faster and easier access to that data. Many agencies have one or two people on a team who can write complex queries to get value out of their data, but that can take hours or even days. However, using natural language queries allows non-technical people who are good security thinkers to gain insights from data immediately.
Humans are designed to think. When we ask a question, we are capable of seeing the results from di erent points of view, and our brains make connections more readily than machines do because we understand context. A natural language approach to querying allows people to ask questions of data the way we ask questions of Google. The rst question inspires another,
and so on. Then people can dig through the results to view the information from di erent angles and better understand what’s going on.
As agency employees generate data visualizations in real time, their analysis and response can become more dynamic. They can move beyond staring at a chart to truly interacting with data, generating actionable intelligence and staying one step ahead of the bad guys.
Being able to gure out what’s going on during a cyberattack in hours instead of weeks can help agencies ward o untold damage and strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
People are the core of any agency. If we can empower employees to access data more e ectively and e ciently, anyone can become a technical analyst. And everyone can contribute to a more adaptive cybersecurity stance.
Grant Wernick is CEO of Insight Engines. S-22 | SPONSORED CONTENT
Focus on insights & outcomes... not data queries
Plain English search on Splunk.
www.insightengines.com
GoMixer/Shutterstock/GCN Staff