Security management platform: the core strength of multi-field and all-round security assurance

Definition and Functions of Security Management Platforms

A security management platform is a software system that integrates multiple technical means. It realizes services such as security management, monitoring, and configuration of information system-related resources through the integration of network, computer, storage, security, application and other technologies, and conducts comprehensive management and maintenance of them. The main functions of security management platforms include modules such as system management, security management, device management, access control, log auditing, threat perception, incident response, and risk management.

Roles of Security Management Platforms

The roles of security management platforms are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Comprehensively Protect the Security of Information Systems: Security management platforms can comprehensively protect the information systems of enterprises and organizations, including monitoring the running status of systems, detecting security vulnerabilities in systems in real time, and intercepting malicious attacks in a timely manner.

Improve Security Management Capabilities: Security management platforms can enhance the security management capabilities of enterprises and organizations, enabling better management and protection of systems and data.

Realize the Automation of Security Management: Security management platforms can automatically execute many security management tasks, reducing the burden on manpower and improving management efficiency.

Applications of Security Management Platforms

Security management platforms play a crucial role in numerous fields. The following are their main application scenarios:

1. Enterprise Information Security Management

• Asset Discovery and Management: Security management platforms can automatically scan various assets in enterprise networks, including servers, terminal devices, network devices, application systems, etc., and comprehensively grasp the quantity, location, and configuration information of assets. For example, through network scanning technology, newly connected devices can be discovered, and the asset list can be updated in a timely manner to avoid security risks caused by unknown assets.
• Vulnerability Management: Continuously monitor the vulnerability situation in enterprise information systems, evaluate, classify, and prioritize the discovered vulnerabilities. It can integrate data from multiple vulnerability scanning tools to provide security managers with a unified view of vulnerabilities. For example, when a high-risk vulnerability that may lead to data leakage is discovered, the platform will issue an alert in a timely manner and provide repair suggestions.
• Access Control Management: Conduct refined management of the access rights of internal users and external partners of enterprises. Set different access strategies based on factors such as user roles, departments, and security levels. For example, limit employees in the finance department to only access finance-related systems, and ｇｒａｎｔ specific permissions according to work needs within a specific time period, thereby effectively preventing unauthorized access.

2. Industrial Security Management

• Industrial Control System Security Protection: In the field of industrial production, security management platforms can be used to protect the security of industrial control systems (ICS). By monitoring ICS networks in real time, threats such as network attacks, malware intrusions, and illegal operations can be prevented. For example, in the petrochemical industry, the security of automated control systems in the production process is protected to ensure the stable operation of the production process.
• Supply Chain Security Management: In complex industrial supply chains, security management platforms can achieve the security assessment and management of suppliers and partners. They can collect and analyze security information in all links of the supply chain to ensure the information security of raw material supply, parts production, product assembly and other links. For example, an automobile manufacturing enterprise uses the platform to assess the network security status of numerous parts suppliers, reducing production risks caused by security vulnerabilities in the supply chain.

3. Network Security Operations Center (SOC)

• Security Incident Monitoring and Analysis: As the core tool of the SOC, security management platforms can collect security incident information from various security devices (such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software, etc.) and systems in real time. Through correlation analysis, behavior analysis and other technologies, potential security threats can be quickly discovered. For example, when multiple abnormal login attempts from the same IP address are detected, the platform can determine that there may be a brute force cracking attack and take measures in a timely manner.
• Emergency Response Coordination: When a security incident occurs, security management platforms can coordinate the security teams, operation and maintenance teams, and other relevant departments within the enterprise to start the emergency response process. It can provide guidance and suggestions for incident handling, track the progress of incident handling, and ensure that incidents are resolved in a timely and effective manner. For example, when an enterprise's website is under a DDoS attack, the platform can quickly coordinate with network service providers and security operation and maintenance personnel to take measures such as traffic cleaning to respond.

4. Cloud Computing and Data Center Security

• Cloud Security Management: In the cloud computing environment, security management platforms help enterprises manage the security measures of cloud service providers and provide an additional security protection layer. They can monitor the usage of cloud resources to prevent the cross-infection of security risks among cloud tenants. For example, when using public cloud services, the platform can manage the encryption of data in cloud storage to ensure the security of data in the cloud.
• Data Center Security Operations: For an enterprise's data center, security management platforms can optimize the configuration and management of security devices and improve the efficiency of security operations. They can monitor the physical environment (such as temperature, humidity, power, etc.) and network environment (such as server status, network bandwidth, etc.) of the data center in real time to ensure the stable operation of the data center. For example, by monitoring the CPU usage and memory occupancy of servers in the data center through the platform, performance bottlenecks or potential failures can be discovered in advance.

5. Security Applications in the Financial Industry

• Transaction Security Guarantee: In financial institutions, security management platforms ensure the security of financial transactions. Through means such as access control of trading systems and monitoring of trading behaviors, financial crimes such as fraud and money laundering are prevented. For example, real-time risk assessment is conducted for online banking transactions, and when an abnormal large-amount transfer transaction is discovered, users are notified in a timely manner for confirmation to prevent funds from being stolen.
• Financial Data Protection: The financial industry involves a large amount of sensitive customer information. Security management platforms protect the security of such data through measures such as data encryption and access auditing. They can conduct life-cycle management of the storage, transmission, and use of data to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. For example, the account information, transaction records and other data of bank customers are encrypted and stored, and data access rights are strictly restricted.

Development Trends of Security Management Platforms

The development of security management platforms shows the following trends:

1. Intelligence and Automation

• Intelligent Risk Assessment and Early Warning: Utilize big data and artificial intelligence technologies to analyze massive amounts of data, enabling more accurate identification of potential security risks and issuing early warnings in advance. For example, the Security Risk Intelligent Management and Control Platform of Universal Software can conduct dynamic assessment of the risk levels of operation areas and equipment by combining multi-dimensional risk indicators, and can also comprehensively predict possible security incidents based on operation scenarios and AI algorithms and issue early warnings in advance.
• Automated Response and Disposal: When a security incident is detected, the platform can automatically trigger the corresponding response process, such as automatically isolating infected devices and blocking malicious traffic, reducing human intervention, improving response speed and efficiency, and reducing losses caused by security incidents.

2. Integration and Integration

• Multi-system Integration: Conduct in-depth integration with other information systems within the enterprise, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), office automation (OA), etc., to achieve information sharing and collaborative work, break information silos, and improve the overall security management level of the enterprise.
• Multi-cloud Environment and Hybrid Architecture Support: With the advancement of the enterprise's multi-cloud strategy, security management platforms need to be able to conduct unified management and security protection for various cloud environments such as public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, as well as local data centers and other different architectures to ensure the security of data and business under the complex IT architecture of the enterprise. For example, Huawei Cloud's integrated cloud and on-premises security solution deeply integrates cloud and on-premises resources to achieve seamless connection of internal and external security protection of the enterprise.

3. Cloudification and SaaSification

• Cloud Platform Deployment: Security management platforms are increasingly adopting cloud platform deployment methods, which have the advantages of elastic expansion, pay-as-you-go, and rapid deployment, and can better meet the security needs of enterprises at different stages, reducing the security construction costs and operation and maintenance difficulties of enterprises.
• SaaS Service Model: Provide security management services in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS). Enterprises do not need to build and maintain complex security infrastructure by themselves. They only need to use various security functions and services provided by the platform through the Internet, further simplifying the security management process and improving the convenience and accessibility of security management.

4. Data-driven and Visualization

• Data Deep Mining and Utilization: Pay more attention to the in-depth mining and analysis of security data, extract valuable information from it, and provide support for security decision-making. Through the analysis of historical security incidents, vulnerability information, user behavior and other data, security trends and rules are discovered, and more effective security strategies are formulated.
• Visual Display and Interaction: Adopt an intuitive visual interface to display complex security data and information in the form of charts, maps, dashboards, etc., enabling security managers to understand the security situation of the enterprise more quickly and clearly, facilitating decision-making and command. At the same time, interactive operations are supported to facilitate managers to dig deeper into data details.

5. Strengthening of Compliance and Privacy Protection

• Meeting Regulatory Requirements: As countries continue to improve data security and privacy protection regulations, security management platforms need to have stronger compliance capabilities to help enterprises meet the requirements of relevant regulations, such as the "Cybersecurity Law", the "Data Security Law", the "Personal Information Protection Law" and the EU's "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR), etc., to avoid legal risks caused by violations.
• Application of Privacy Protection Technologies: In the process of data collection, storage, transmission, and processing, adopt advanced privacy protection technologies, such as encryption, anonymization, and desensitization, to ensure the privacy and security of user data, while meeting the needs of enterprises for data utilization and sharing in the digital transformation process.

6. Application of Zero Trust Architecture

• Continuous Verification and Authorization: The zero trust architecture emphasizes continuous verification and authorization of users and devices. Whether users are in the enterprise's internal network or external network, strict identity verification and authorization are required every time they access resources, thereby effectively preventing identity theft and data leakage.
• Micro-segmentation and Principle of Least Privilege: Through micro-segmentation technology, divide the enterprise network into multiple smaller security areas to achieve fine-grained access control between different areas. At the same time, follow the principle of least privilege and only ｇｒａｎｔ users and devices the minimum permissions required to complete tasks, further reducing security risks.

7. Collaboration and Ecological Cooperation

• Internal Collaboration: The security teams, operation and maintenance teams, development teams and other departments within the enterprise need to work more closely together to form a joint force and jointly cope with security challenges. Security management platforms can promote information sharing and collaboration among various departments and improve the overall security defense capabilities of the enterprise.
• Ecological Cooperation: Security management platform suppliers establish extensive ecological cooperation relationships with other security manufacturers, technology partners, industry organizations, etc., and jointly create a security ecosystem. By integrating the technologies and resources of all parties, more comprehensive and high-quality security solutions and services are provided for enterprises.

Core Functional Modules of Security Management Platforms

Security management platforms are important tools used by enterprises to protect their information assets and business processes from security threats. These platforms usually include the following core functional modules:

• Risk Assessment Module: This module is responsible for evaluating and quantitatively analyzing the information assets, business processes, and security threats of enterprises, forming a risk assessment report to help enterprises understand potential security risks.
• Security Incident Monitoring Module: This module can monitor security incidents of enterprise networks, terminal devices, application systems, etc. in real time, quickly identify and respond to security threats, and ensure the information security of enterprises.
• Security Policy Management Module: This module is used to formulate enterprise security policies and norms, including password policies, network access control, application program control, etc., to ensure the information security of enterprises.
• Security Vulnerability Scanning Module: Conduct vulnerability scanning on enterprise networks and application systems to discover and repair security vulnerabilities in a timely manner and prevent potential security risks.
• Security Incident Response Module: Conduct rapid response and disposal for security incidents, including threat intelligence collection, incident analysis and tracking, emergency response, etc., to reduce the impact of security incidents.
• Security Log Management Module: Collect, store, and analyze enterprise security logs to help enterprises discover security incidents and threats and provide a basis for post-event analysis and evidence collection.
• Security Training Module: Conduct targeted security training to improve employees' security awareness and skills, reduce human security risks, and enhance the overall security defense capabilities of enterprises.
• Security Report Module: Generate various security reports, including risk assessment reports, security incident reports, vulnerability scanning reports, security compliance reports, etc., to help enterprises comprehensively understand their own security status and formulate improvement measures accordingly.

The above modules jointly form the core functions of security management platforms, and they cooperate with each other to provide all-round security guarantees for enterprises.

Roles of Security Management Platforms in Improving Security Management Capabilities

Security management platforms play an important role in improving security management capabilities, which are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

• Integrate Information Resources: Security management platforms can integrate various information resources for production safety management, including equipment information, personnel information, production information, and safety risk information, etc., and build a digital production safety system. This system can provide enterprises with real-time monitoring and alarm functions, and conduct early warning and management of potential safety hazards.
• Improve Management Efficiency: Through security management platforms, enterprises can effectively improve management efficiency, prevent and respond to production safety accidents, reduce safety risks, and ensure production and employee safety. The platforms can realize real-time collection, analysis, processing, and storage of various security data of enterprises. When abnormal data is detected, the early warning mechanism can be immediately triggered to remind relevant personnel to handle it in a timely manner, effectively preventing the occurrence of accidents.
• Realize Visual Management: Security management platforms can build a visual data center for production safety, support multi-dimensional data statistical analysis, and automatically generate visual data reports, providing powerful data analysis and decision-making support for the continuous improvement and scientific research and judgment of enterprise production safety.
• Strengthen Employees' Safety Awareness: The platforms have built-in massive professional knowledge bases, comprehensively covering safety knowledge, safety culture, accident case libraries, standard norms, etc., which professionally assist the daily safety work of enterprises, quickly improve the safety awareness of all employees of enterprises, and provide a convenient way for enterprises to carry out safety education and training and employees' self-study.
• Mobile Office and Process Control: Security management platforms are matched with mobile application terminals, facilitating enterprises to carry out hidden danger inspections, risk inspections, special operation management, accident reporting, equipment and facility spot checks, etc., realizing mobile office, offline implementation, online approval, process control of operation links, and full tracking of security management.

In summary, security management platforms, through intelligent operation, integrate security data, optimize operation processes, implement the responsibilities of all employees, enable managers to fully control the overall situation, and continuously improve the security management level of enterprises.

Typical Application Cases of Security Management Platforms in the Education Industry

1. Campus Security Management Platform in Jinan High-tech Zone

Han Yu Primary School and Feng Ao Jia Yuan Primary School in Jinan High-tech Zone took the lead in launching an AI intelligent platform, realizing the intelligentization of campus security management. This platform can perform diversified functions such as student attendance management, early warning for dangerous areas, and personnel tracking. It has transformed the traditional post-event handling into pre-event prevention and in-event alarm reminder and timely disposal. In this way, the ability to prevent and control campus security risks has been greatly improved, and the intelligent perception, timely early warning, instant response, and rapid disposal of campus risks and hidden dangers have been achieved.

2. "I'm on Campus" Intelligent Student Whole-cycle Security Management Platform of Xi'an University of Posts & Telecommunications

The "I'm on Campus" Intelligent Student Whole-cycle Security Management Platform of Xi'an University of Posts & Telecommunications was selected as a typical case of smart campus in 2023 by the Smart Education Working Committee of the Internet Society of China. Through digital means, this platform has realized the whole-cycle security management of students, including the management of students' entry and exit from school, the handling of emergencies, health monitoring, etc., effectively improving the efficiency and level of campus security management.

3. Xue'an Campus Security Prevention and Control Management Platform of Xianyang Municipal Education Bureau

Xianyang Municipal Education Bureau put forward a plan to promote the construction of the Xue'an Campus Security Prevention and Control Management Platform, aiming to build the security management capabilities of pre-event early warning, event early warning, in-event emergency response, and post-event evaluation through the organic integration of human defense, physical defense, and technical defense. This platform has realized the interconnection and interoperability of business data between the Education Bureau and schools, forming a four-level vertical security management system architecture at the provincial, municipal, county, and school levels, effectively improving the city's campus security risk prevention and control ability.

These cases demonstrate the diversified applications of security management platforms in the education industry. They not only improve the efficiency and level of campus security management but also provide students with a safer learning environment. With the continuous progress of technology, the applications of security management platforms in the education industry will be more extensive and in-depth in the future.