A single clear interface to manage the complex world of cybersecurity
Statistics
- Client
- Tenable
- Deliverables
- Interface design system
- Design concept
- Interactive dashboard
- Interactive data visualizations
The challenge
Cybersecurity tools are critical for businesses to protect sensitive information. With threats evolving rapidly and new tools constantly emerging, professionals face overwhelming amounts of data. To address this challenge, Tenable set out to create a unified platform that serves as a single source of truth, streamlining data management and providing a clear, comprehensive view of cyber exposure to help companies stay ahead.
Value delivered
CLEVER°FRANKE collaborated with Tenable to design and develop Tenable One, a smart, unified platform that consolidates all segmented products into a single, comprehensive interface. This platform delivers a “single pane of glass” for users, enabling them to monitor the entire attack surface, identify critical risks, and respond to threats efficiently. By integrating all assets and surfacing the most relevant data, Tenable One empowers businesses to proactively manage cybersecurity across their environments, enhancing protection and reducing risk.
Background
Over a period of nine months we delivered three key deliverables to Tenable: a fully functional frontend, design strategy, and two strategic product vision tracks for future development. Our iterative and multidisciplinary process involved the development of an MVP, followed by a public release.
With the vision to create a single source of truth, we explored concept designs that would convert complex data into visualizations to best help cybersecurity specialists understand their priorities and make informed decisions.
Phases and toolkit items used
Userresearch
Based on user interviews, we identified two key user profiles: Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and Cybersecurity Practitioners. The CISOs need to quickly quantify their companies’ overall risk exposure, while the cybersecurity practitioners must take action and evaluate their assets. With these needs and priorities in mind, we devised a system that provides insights on multiple levels.
Journeymapping
For each key user profile a journey map was developed, highlighting their key activities in regard to cybersecurity, relevant touchpoints within the Tenable ecosystem, and opportunities for Tenable to capitalize on.
Datainventory
Through a data inventory an overview was produced of all available datapoints. Understanding how metrics are connected throughout Tenable’s products and how they can be captured into KPIs enabled us to develop a layered approach to the data visualizations.
Prototypingforuniqueinterfaces
We used sample datasets in our prototype for interactive interfaces to assess the viability of the concept designs, and inform how the interfaces should behave.
Solution
We designed Tenable One to provide companies with an exposure management platform that delivers a holistic overview of their cyber security. Our vision was to make this platform a smart single source of truth that would empower organizations to identify, prevent, investigate and respond to risks across their entire environment.
CyberExposureScore
At the core of the platform are the Cyber Exposure Scores. The scoring system helps create a cohesive and consistent visual language throughout the platform. Present in all visualizations, it allows users to read through the platform and quickly understand their cybersecurity landscape.
To give more insight into how the overall score is built up, there is the option to break it down into five different categories in which all assets are distributed. By clicking on each category, users can explore further and gather more information about their exposure.
The Cyber Exposure Score is woven throughout data visualizations on the platform, making them easy to scan and providing important clues on where investigation and action is necessary.
Tailoredinterfaces
The platform has three views—Exposure View, Attack Path and Asset Inventory—that are designed to address distinct use cases, each tailored to specific needs and audiences. Whether providing a strategic overview, facilitating detailed asset management, or enabling proactive threat modeling, each view serves a unique purpose within the cybersecurity workflow. This segmentation ensures users can focus on the most relevant insights for their roles, driving efficiency and informed decision-making across various levels of expertise.
Exposureview
This view allows the users to easily assess the company’s cyber exposure and drill down into specific areas of concern. Custom cards can be created to track and monitor specific categories.
Attackpath
This view simulates paths that attackers may take in order to help cybersecurity professionals understand and eliminate them on time. It showcases how a threat can affect assets across the entire ecosystem.
The view is a powerful interface that enables complex actions like query building while having clear interactions and providing visual results.
Assetinventory
This view enables users to navigate a detailed list of assets or tags. They can sort, filter by categories, and access detailed pages about specific assets or tags of interest.
Collaboration
Collaboration tools can be used within the platform itself: sharing exposure cards across teams provides everyone with a clear view of the scores while allowing customizable access rights. Users can add contextual comments directly within the exposure cards, with each comment linked to a snapshot of the data at the time it was made. This ensures team members have the necessary context to make informed decisions.
Additionally, exposure card reports can be exported in PDF or presentation formats, making it easy to share insights and highlights with the team.
Reportingataglance
The user interface is designed to stand out from the typically dark and cluttered interfaces commonly associated with “big data” by embracing a light and clean aesthetic.
Cleandatadesign
Data takes up a prominent place in Tenable One: it is what enables users to understand and act on the state of their cyber exposure.
In every data visualization the focus is on clarity: the key insights should be readily available. Still, the visualizations are rich enough to enable deeper investigation when necessary. This depth is added through context, highlights and interactions.
Trendlines
Trendlines help users see how their exposure score has evolved over time, and understand the reasons why by scrolling through events linked to specific moments in their history.
Exposurecards
With Exposure Cards users can create and share custom groups they want to monitor, providing quick insights into their cyber exposure and serving as a departure point for deeper investigation.
Technology
From the outset we adopted an iterative approach, combining design and development to prototype and refine the platform in smaller, manageable chunks. This collaborative process allowed us to map essential data points and ensure seamless integration between the frontend and backend systems.
The platform's complexity required a well-designed architecture. Built with modern frontend technologies, it was constructed with a Snowflake data lake serving as the backbone of its backend infrastructure. Leveraging insights from prototyping, we refined the development pipeline to enable high performance, scalability, and efficiency.
Results
We were looking for a company capable of apprehending the complexity of our data to provide us with state-of-the-art visualization solutions. We could not have found a better partner than CLEVER°FRANKE. The data design agency helped us all along the way, from the initial storyboard to the actual product implementation. The result is an immersive product that changed the way decision-makers are managing cybersecurity.
Luc Delsalle
VP of Engineering, Tenable
The newly designed Tenable One platform achieved remarkable success, doubling its customer base within just one year from 2022 to 2023. This rapid growth contributed significantly to Tenable’s total sales, solidifying the platform's role as a critical tool in the company’s cybersecurity offerings. By unifying its products into a single, intuitive solution, this platform enabled Tenable to not only enhance its market presence but also demonstrate the value of streamlined cyber risk management for enterprises worldwide.
