Five key security features in the SAS Visual Analytics App

SAS Visual Analytics is easy to use that helps everyone get insight into the data for solving complex businesses efficiently. It is easy to create and share the reports that monitor business performances thus you do not have to be analytically skilled. You can easily examine and understand patterns, trends, and relationships in data. 

Since SAS offers the leverage to users of all skill levels to explore data visually, use automated analysis, and create a visualization for faster computation and discoveries. With such leverage and flexibility at hand, it becomes extremely essential to secure it. 

What does SAS Visual Analytics App Offers?

Easy to use with multi-touch gestures, the SAS Visual Analytics App allows you to move through, filter, and dig deep into the data in the report. The app gives you the leverage to make decisions regardless of your location. Business users can explore massive data and collaborate with others. 

SAS Visual Analytics App updates automatically reports and data changes made to ensure that users always stay updated. 

Benefits of SAS Visual Analytics App

• Freedom to work from anywhere. Work on reports whether you are connected or not.
• In order to meet business demands, SAS Visual Analytics App provides the customization and flexibility you need with the help of a variety of interactive reports, dashboards, graphs, and gauges.
• SAS visual analytical app gives you multiple gestures such as pinch, zoom, tap, and multi-touch to use.
• The app response is extremly quick, just as you expected, which gives you great experience to work with the reports.
• Easy accessibility to big data from SAS Visual Analytics for deep analysis.

Security is Essential 

Using any software, you must ensure that it is secure so that no malicious attack disrupts your confidential business processes. Similarly, app security must be a top priority. Since a lot of information travels around the mobile devices, without any physical boundaries that were with the traditional desktops.

Leaders and researchers, when evaluating SAS Visual Analytics App for mobile devices, shifted their focus on the importance of security. The reason to focus on the security of the app are -

• The app is free to use.
• In order to use the Visual Analytics Service, no license is needed.
• You can try sample reports within the app before using them.
• SAS Visual Analytics App can easily connect with your server, add reports to the app, and start interacting with reports from the comfort of handheld devices.

Measures Taken to Secure SAS Analytics App

What approaches are been taken by SAS to control any breaches or malicious attacks? 

Authentication

Authentication, in literal terms, states that whether a user is who they claim to be. SAS Logon Manager is a web application designed to handle the authentication request for SAS Visual Analytics, which can be accessed by the Apache HTTP Server. There are protocols supported by the SAS Logon Manager such as -

• Direct LDAP authentication
• Kerberos
• Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
• OAuth and OpenID Connect 
• Host Authentication 
• Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) extending UNIX host authentication.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

SSO is an authentication model that allows users to access a variety of computing resources. The best part about this model is it does not poke for user's IDs and passwords repeatedly.

External Credentials

Along with logon credentials, the users using SAS Viya will require external credentials to access databases and other third-party products. To establish connections from SAS Viya to other external data sources, the functionality supports SAS Environment Manager using the Domain page to manage credentials. 

Encryption

Encryption is a secure process to protect data from malicious breaches. The complex algorithms called ciphers are used to encrypt and decrypt the data in your SAS Viya deployment. 

Identities need a secret key to render and secure user data. Encrypted data is unintelligible during both transmission and storage. Hence, SAS Viya deployment provides default level encryption. This functionality is deployed with Transport Layer Security (TLS) to secure network connections that are fully compliant with SAS security standards. 

SAS Viya offers self-signed certificates to provide both HTTP and HTTPS sites access to SAS web apps.

Securing the Visual Analytics App 

These five things make SAS Visual Analytics App robust and secure -

Device Whitelisting 

Your device must be whitelisted to connect with the SAS Analytics server, hence require registration. In case of losses of devices, the administrator can remove the device from the whitelist to prevent access to reports and data.

Cached Reports

A secure way to view data and reports on your device is by enabling the default Cache Mobile Report Data. Turned off will remove the data from the report and can only be downloaded when you open and view the report.

Passcode 

Visual Analytics App offers two kinds of passcodes - required and optional. In addition to it, there are several features for passcode use that builds a secure and robust wall, such as time-out, lock-out, and so forth.

SSL/HTTPS

One of the common and necessary ways to secure your reports is by setting up SSL/HTTPS. The data viewed on your mobile screen will be encrypted to keep them secure. 

Offline Time Limit

The robust security provided by the SAS logs out its users when not used for a specific number of days. To view the reports, open them, and even download them, you need to log back in. 

Conclusion -

Security features of  Visual Analytics have different ways to secure your reports and data to avoid any data breach.