Maximizing Your Cybersecurity Efficiency by exporting Dashboard and Widgets

A cybersecurity analyst’s daily tasks related to data visualization often involve monitoring security measures for potential intrusions, investigating breaches or intrusions, installing security measures and protocols, and preparing reports and documentation for policy and procedure improvements.

When it comes to using OpenCTI custom dashboards and widgets, the experience can vary greatly depending on the individual’s familiarity with the platform, the data model, and their skill in data visualization. Creating a nice and useful ones can be challenging, time-consuming…

The ability to tailor data visualization to specific needs is a powerful tool in cybersecurity, helping to improve efficiency, collaboration, and overall security posture. Thus, carefully crafted Dashboards and Widgets should be shared with peers!

This blog post showcases new features for both widgets and the dashboard. Therefore, every specification mentioned here applies to both and vice versa.

Duplicate and Share Dashboards and Widgets easily

Users can now export Dashboard and Widgets configurations, regardless of their complexity. This export is in a file format that can be imported into another platform.

Note that the data itself is not exported, only the configuration! When imported, widgets are fed with the data of the receiving platform.

For OpenCTI users with read-only access, those handy features allow you to export and import the configuration of a dashboard or widget. This means that even if you cannot make changes directly to the current dashboard or widget, you can still export its configuration, import it, and make your edits there. Those features provide a powerful workaround that maintains the integrity of the original data while still allowing for individual customization and modification.

In addition to granular widget import/export, the ability to duplicate entire dashboards enhances reproductibility. This feature streamlines the process of recreating a dashboard, eliminating the need to start from scratch. Whether replicating a successful dashboard for a different project or creating a backup for experimentation, dashboard duplication adds another layer of convenience to the dashboard-building experience.

Filters based on specific Objects

It is common to create Widgets representing data related to a specific Object, like an Activity Sector. For example, a Widget about Threats targeting Energy sector. In this case, the ID of the specific Object is also exported and imported in the receiving platform. The receiving platform must have this specific Object in its database to ensure a consistent display of the Widget.

Backup and versioning

The export to a JSON file is a functionality that grants users the flexibility to store their dashboard configurations in a variety of locations, such as a cloud storage system or a hard drive. This not only facilitates easy access and sharing but also serves as a reliable backup. If any issues arise with the original dashboard, users can simply import the configuration from the stored file, effectively restoring the dashboard to its previous state.

When a user attempts to import a dashboard into a different platform version, the system will conduct a version check. This check assesses the compatibility between the exported version and the current platform version. If a mismatch is detected, the import process is halted, and a warning is displayed, preventing potential errors and ensuring a smooth transition.

Next Steps

Those new functionalities streamline the process of sharing and replicating custom dashboards and widgets, making collaboration more effective and efficient. Users can now effortlessly share their unique dashboards or widgets with their peers, while preserving specific filters and configurations. These features not only simplify the user experience but also elevate OpenCTI’s capabilities as a customizable and user-friendly platform for data visualization in the realm of cybersecurity.

Soon, we will go even further and allows users to publish Dashboard, making them accessible for stakeholders having no access to OpenCTI, or to integrate them into broader KPI boards! Stay tuned!

Feel free to discover the documentation: https://docs.opencti.io/latest/usage/dashboards

If you have any questions, requests, comments, or feedback, we invite you to join us on Slack!