Pathway-Structured Cybersecurity Interface for Workflow Traceability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cybersecurity analysts face inefficiencies in exploring multiple investigative pathways due to the difficulty in documenting and retracing complex investigative workflows, leading to time-consuming and inefficient event resolution.
Innovation Solution
A system and user interface that structures investigative workflows through adjacent panels within a single interface, allowing analysts to easily review, retrace steps, and select alternate pathways, thereby facilitating efficient and timely event resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If analysts use conventional window-based interfaces to explore investigative pathways, then they can access detailed information about each log and event, but they experience difficulty in documenting, retracing, and navigating complex investigative workflows efficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface is segmented into multiple panes within a single window, where each pane represents a different investigative pathway or data view. This segmentation allows analysts to see multiple investigative contexts simultaneously without losing place or documentation, directly addressing the workflow documentation and navigation problems.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface implements a nested pane structure where panes can contain additional panes, allowing hierarchical organization of investigative data. This nesting enables analysts to drill down into specific log details while maintaining context of the broader investigative pathway, eliminating the need to lose documentation when exploring detailed information.
2Adaptability or versatility
If analysts open multiple windows to explore different investigative pathways, then they can access comprehensive information, but they experience confusion and difficulty in retracing steps and marking pathways that have not proved fruitful
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple investigative pathways that would traditionally require separate windows are merged into a single unified interface with multiple panes. This merging maintains the versatility to explore different pathways while improving ease of operation through a consolidated view that makes navigation and documentation straightforward.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface transitions from a single-window sequential view to a multi-pane spatial arrangement, adding a dimensional aspect to information presentation. This allows analysts to view multiple investigative pathways in parallel spatial arrangements, making it easier to navigate, compare, and document workflow decisions without the confusion of multiple windows.
3Loss of information
If analysts manually document investigative workflows through multiple windows and actions, then they can capture investigation details, but they experience inefficient replication of work and loss of discipline in timely event resolution
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically captures and documents investigative workflow actions as they occur within the pane structure, eliminating the need for manual documentation. This preliminary automatic action ensures workflow information is captured without adding time to the investigation process, directly improving productivity while maintaining complete documentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface automatically tracks and documents the investigative pathway through the pane structure and user interactions, making the system self-documenting. This self-service capability eliminates the burden of manual workflow documentation while maintaining complete records, thereby improving efficiency without sacrificing documentation quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A cybersecurity system generates user interface (100) including a root panel (102) and a series of adjacent panels (103-105). The root panel (102) represents the starting point of a workflow, for example, the results of a search query entered by an analyst. The root panel (102) provides a selection of interactive elements that can be used by an analyst to launch an investigation. The interactive elements may include hyperlinks to access additional information about an alert or other event or to drill down into particular fields of data. Selection of one of these interactive elements causes the system to generate a panel (103) adjacent to the root panel (102). Additional panels (104 and 105), in the illustrated workflow, are generated in response to selecting interactive elements from the preceding panel. A single user interface thus includes panels structured to reflect and memorialize a workflow of an investigation.