Google Cloud has revealed a significant security upgrade

Google
Image Credit: TechRadar (Image credit: Future)

Google’s Chronicle security analytics tool has been updated to provide analysts with more context for each individual alert. 

The company hopes that this update means users should be able to track potentially hazardous situations faster, more precisely, and with less alert fatigue.

Announcing the news in a blog post, Google Product Architect Mike Hom, and Engineering Lead, Travis Lanham said the product is getting “context-aware detections”, “creating efficiencies in every step of a customer’s detection and response journey, starting by making alerts more functionally enabled”.

TechRadar needs you!

We're looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn't take more than 60 seconds of your time. Thank you for taking part.

>> Click here to start the survey in a new window <<

Google Chronicle

Currently, to analyze (and contextually de-risk) a potentially hazardous Excel macro, a security analyst needs to take five steps, including doing a host lookup, identifying the host owner, and eventually, identifying if the user is likely to use a macro in their financial spreadsheet.

With context-aware detections, Google claims all the supporting information from authoritative sources, which include “telemetry, context, relationships, and vulnerabilities”, are all joined as part of a single detection event. 

The update also brings a couple of new capabilities to the battleground, including the ability to use risk scoring to prioritize threats, faster addressing of security alerts, and an enhanced fidelity of alerting.

Not only will things move faster now, but analysts will also suffer from less alert fatigue, a problem that’s exacerbated since the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Google did not mention a specific date when the new context-aware threat detection would be generally available, but it did say that the modules will “move towards general availability” in the coming months. 

Hom and Lanham added that there will also be a “steady release” of new detection capabilities, in the coming weeks and months.

Google’s new capabilities are being introduced on the heels of two acquisitions - Siemplify (security orchestration, automation, and response), and Mandiant (a cybersecurity firm offering threat intelligence, and incident response services, among other things).

TOPICS

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.

Read more
A hand reaching out to touch a futuristic rendering of an AI processor.
Google Cloud unveils new AI Protection security tools, no matter which model you use
Abstract image of cyber security in action.
Four key questions to strengthen your cyber threat detection strategy
An Android phone being held in the hand
Google is ramping up Android security protection with new Android app safety tools
An abstract image of a lock against a digital background, denoting cybersecurity.
Why AI is playing a growing role in helping SOC teams keep up with cyber threats
Padlock against circuit board/cybersecurity background
Preparing for the future of cybersecurity with next-gen SIEM
A padlock resting on a keyboard.
AI-powered cyber threats demand enhanced security awareness for SMEs and supply chains
Latest in Pro
Hands typing on a keyboard surrounded by security icons
Outdated ID verification myths put businesses at risk
Google Meet create custom backgrounds
More AI features are coming to Google Workspace
Google Chrome dark mode
Google updates Chrome extension rules to ban affiliate link injection without user action or benefit
Abstract image of robots working in an office environment including creating blueprint of robot arm, making a phone call, and typing on a keyboard
This worrying botnet targets unsecure TP-Link routers - thousands of devices already hacked
Windows 10 button on a keyboard
Microsoft’s Remote Desktop app becomes the Windows App
Abstract image of cyber security in action.
Four key questions to strengthen your cyber threat detection strategy
Latest in News
GTA 5
GTA Online publisher Take-Two is gunning for a black market that’s basically heaven for cheaters
The Discovery+ homepage
Discovery+ just got a big update to its streaming app that makes it more like Max – here are 5 great new features to try
Two Android phones on a green and blue background showing Google Messages
Struggling with slow Google Messages photo transfers? Google says new update will make 'noticeable difference'
Google Meet create custom backgrounds
More AI features are coming to Google Workspace
Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve dressed regally and on horseback in The Wheel of Time season 3
'There's a reason why we do it': The Wheel of Time showrunner responds to fans who are still upset over the Prime Video show's plot alterations
A mockup of the possible Apple M3 Ultra logo
Performance isn't the only reason you should buy Apple's M3 Ultra Mac Studio - it's reportedly one of the most power-efficient processors too