Google Cloud Platform Case Studies Area 1 Security: Leveraging Google Cloud Platform to Preempt Phishing Attacks

Edit This Case Study Record

	Area 1 Security: Leveraging Google Cloud Platform to Preempt Phishing Attacks Google Cloud Platform

Area 1 Security: Leveraging Google Cloud Platform to Preempt Phishing Attacks

Google Cloud Platform

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Applicable Industries	Cement National Security & Defense
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases	Construction Management Tamper Detection
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services
Challenge	Area 1 Security, a leading anti-phishing solution provider, was faced with the challenge of analyzing massive streams of information to identify and preempt targeted phishing attacks. The company needed to process over 3 billion events every day and manage a data warehouse of approximately 3 petabytes, including a quarter of a trillion attack metadata records. The company's service required the ability to analyze this vast amount of information using sensors across the internet, a high-speed web crawler that spiders up to six billion URLs every month, and a distributed sensor network that gathers billions of network events in a day. The challenge was to find a scalable, high-performance platform with sophisticated data analytics tools that could handle this massive data load and help identify impending attacks. Read More
About Customer	Area 1 Security is a leading provider of comprehensive anti-phishing solutions. The company identifies threat campaigns, attacker infrastructure, and delivery mechanisms to stop targeted phishing attacks during the earliest stages of an attack cycle. Backed by top-tier investors, Area 1 Security is led by security and data analytics experts from NSA, USCYBERCOM, Cisco/IronPort, and FireEye. The company works with some of the most sophisticated organizations in the world, including Fortune 500 banks, insurance companies, and healthcare providers, to preempt targeted phishing attacks and help change outcomes. The company is based in the United States and operates in the technology industry. Read More
Solution	Area 1 Security turned to Google Cloud Platform for its scalability, performance, and sophisticated data analytics tools. The company's data is stored in Google Cloud Storage, and Google Cloud Dataflow streams data to Google BigQuery and Google Cloud Bigtable. Google BigQuery, which hosts a database of more than 330 billion rows, performs analysis and ad hoc queries that help Area 1 Security quickly identify impending attacks. A curated set of attack and phishing data is sent to Google Cloud Bigtable for fast searches. Area 1 Security then uses its cloud services to take action against phishing attacks before they cause damage to customers. Google Cloud Platform not only helps Area 1 Security find threats but also saves the company money and lets its engineers focus on predictive analytics to find threats instead of running data center infrastructure. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Applicable Industries

Cement

National Security & Defense

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Construction Management

Tamper Detection

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

Area 1 Security, a leading anti-phishing solution provider, was faced with the challenge of analyzing massive streams of information to identify and preempt targeted phishing attacks. The company needed to process over 3 billion events every day and manage a data warehouse of approximately 3 petabytes, including a quarter of a trillion attack metadata records. The company's service required the ability to analyze this vast amount of information using sensors across the internet, a high-speed web crawler that spiders up to six billion URLs every month, and a distributed sensor network that gathers billions of network events in a day. The challenge was to find a scalable, high-performance platform with sophisticated data analytics tools that could handle this massive data load and help identify impending attacks.

About Customer

Area 1 Security is a leading provider of comprehensive anti-phishing solutions. The company identifies threat campaigns, attacker infrastructure, and delivery mechanisms to stop targeted phishing attacks during the earliest stages of an attack cycle. Backed by top-tier investors, Area 1 Security is led by security and data analytics experts from NSA, USCYBERCOM, Cisco/IronPort, and FireEye. The company works with some of the most sophisticated organizations in the world, including Fortune 500 banks, insurance companies, and healthcare providers, to preempt targeted phishing attacks and help change outcomes. The company is based in the United States and operates in the technology industry.

Solution

Area 1 Security turned to Google Cloud Platform for its scalability, performance, and sophisticated data analytics tools. The company's data is stored in Google Cloud Storage, and Google Cloud Dataflow streams data to Google BigQuery and Google Cloud Bigtable. Google BigQuery, which hosts a database of more than 330 billion rows, performs analysis and ad hoc queries that help Area 1 Security quickly identify impending attacks. A curated set of attack and phishing data is sent to Google Cloud Bigtable for fast searches. Area 1 Security then uses its cloud services to take action against phishing attacks before they cause damage to customers. Google Cloud Platform not only helps Area 1 Security find threats but also saves the company money and lets its engineers focus on predictive analytics to find threats instead of running data center infrastructure.

Impact #1	By leveraging Google Cloud Platform, Area 1 Security has been able to protect its customers against phishing attacks in their earliest phases. The company can now take decisive and comprehensive action across all phishing vectors—email, web, network. It can perform rapid large dataset queries (100TB+) to identify small patterns indicative of emergent phishing campaigns. The use of Google Cloud Platform has also allowed Area 1 Security to focus on predictive analytics to find threats instead of running data center infrastructure. The company has found that when querying large datasets, Google BigQuery is the only cloud-based solution capable of handling a data set this size within the SLA required for its enterprise customers.

Impact #1

By leveraging Google Cloud Platform, Area 1 Security has been able to protect its customers against phishing attacks in their earliest phases. The company can now take decisive and comprehensive action across all phishing vectors—email, web, network. It can perform rapid large dataset queries (100TB+) to identify small patterns indicative of emergent phishing campaigns. The use of Google Cloud Platform has also allowed Area 1 Security to focus on predictive analytics to find threats instead of running data center infrastructure. The company has found that when querying large datasets, Google BigQuery is the only cloud-based solution capable of handling a data set this size within the SLA required for its enterprise customers.

Benefit #1	Analyzes more than 3 billion events every day
Benefit #2	Manages a total attack data warehouse of more than approximately 3 petabytes
Benefit #3	Hosts a database of more than 330 billion rows on Google BigQuery

Benefit #1

Analyzes more than 3 billion events every day

Benefit #2

Manages a total attack data warehouse of more than approximately 3 petabytes

Benefit #3

Hosts a database of more than 330 billion rows on Google BigQuery

Download PDF Version

Overview

Area 1 Security: Leveraging Google Cloud Platform to Preempt Phishing Attacks

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit