ARN

Google Cloud updates Chronicle to climb on managed detection and response train

Google Cloud’s Chronicle security analysis service will now offer managed detection and response (MDR) features, in order to compete with incumbents in the marketplace.
  • Jon Gold (CSO (US))
  • 18 August, 2022 09:30

Google Cloud has announced the general availability of what it calls “curated detection” for its Chronicle security analysis platform, placing the company into the ranks of the contenders in the fast-growing managed detection and response market (MDR).

Chronicle’s new curated detection feature leverages the threat intelligence that Google gains from protecting its own user base into an automated detection service that covers everything from ransomware, infostealers and data theft to simple misconfigured systems and remote access tools.

The new product will integrate authoritative data sources like MITRE ATTCKto help organisations contextualise and better understand potential threats, as well as providing constantly updated threat information from Google’s own security team.

Google Cloud has made two recent security updates to its own products — including built-in DDoS protection and API security — but it’s important to recognise that, while curated detection builds on the company’s in-house expertise, Chronicle is very much a product to be sold to everyone, including non-Google Cloud customers.

It’s part of the mushrooming managed detection and response marketplace, according to Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Neil MacDonald, who says that his firm projects that market to grow at 49 per cent year-over-year, on an already sizeable $2.5 billion in annual revenue.

The technology’s popularity is largely a function of the ever-increasing complexity of modern security, and the increasing knowledge gap among in-house security teams, he says.

“Every organisation is under attack, every organisation wants to do a better job detecting and responding to these events and every organisation struggles with finding staff to handle it,” MacDonald says. “So the idea of turning to a third party to handle it on their behalf makes a lot of sense.”

The announcement for the revamped Chronicle announcement is also likely a response to rival Microsoft, which introduced a similar set of managed detection and response services earlier this year. With independent companies like CrowdStrike, Arctic Wolf and Red Canary making major headway in the sector, it’s no surprise that powerhouses like Microsoft and Google want to follow suit and claim a piece of the pie.

“It’s important to understand that when Google brought in Chronicle [out of its X research subsidiary], their intention was to enter the broader security information and event management space to compete with Microsoft’s Sentinel.”