A Video Overview of the Heat Map
What the Heat Map Contains
The Heat Map is a matrix infographic that allows you to quickly see the pass/fail rate of Actions based on a defined set of dimensions. By default, it shows the source and destination zones by Behavior Type for all Actions. However, if you configure your filter, it will be saved as a Cookie and will become the new default view. You can view the Heat Map by selecting Analyze > Heat Map.
Each cell in the matrix can be selected to view additional information, including
- The percentage of Actions that failed
- The rank compared to the other cells
- This is initially based on the percentage passed/failed
- If multiple cells have the same percentage, the rank is based on the order the cells were processed
- The Actions that were run
- You can click on the Action to view the details
- You can click on the Pass/Fail button to view the job details
Heat Map with Cell Details and Actions run
Configuring & Working with the Heat Map
You can configure the Heat Map matrix to display the specific information you are interested in. By default, the configuration area is collapsed, but you can click Expand to see configuration details. Here you can define the following:
- Rows and columns (drag and drop the desired dimensions into the appropriate sections)
- Date range
- Actors
- Zones
- Tags
- All Results or Latest Results (Latest Results include only the most recently run Action if an Action has been run multiple times in the defined time range)
Heat Map Filter options
Exporting the Heat Map
Once you have the heat map configured to show the desired information, you can export it to PDF or export the individual graphics. When you click Save to PDF, it will create a Portrait PDF displaying everything you currently have displayed in the report. So, if you have clicked on a cell, the PDF will include the pass/fail percentage and the list of Actions associated with the cell.
NOTE: Do not navigate away from the Heat Map while you are waiting for it to print; once it is produced it will download automatically
How to Use the Heat Map
The Heat Map can give you a quick visual of your company's security posture. If you are going to do some tuning, you could create several heat maps to show your pre-, during, and post-configuration security posture. To do this, you could create the following Heat Maps, exporting them to PDF so you have the data:
- Before configuration starts - Heat Map for the current day showing all Actions
- During configuration - Heat Map showing all Actions - when you select a specific cell, if the failed rate goes down on cells you know you are making progress, if it goes up you know that configuration change did not help
- After final configuration - Heat Map showing all Actions - when you select that same cell you can see how many configuration changes you went through before achieving your final result
- After final configuration - Heat Map showing most recent Action - when compared to the first report you ran you can see the specific improvement
You can also use this to get a quick comparison of the security posture of the different zones, or by any of the dimensions you are interested in.