Last updated at Wed, 07 Apr 2021 18:29:54 GMT

Merry HaXmas to you! Each year we mark the 12 Days of HaXmas with 12 blog posts on hacking-related topics and roundups from the year. This year, we're highlighting some of the “gifts” we want to give back to the community. And while these gifts may not come wrapped with a bow, we hope you enjoy them.

Machine generated log data is probably the simplest and one of the most used data source for everyday use cases such as troubleshooting, monitoring, security investigations … the list goes on. Since log data records exactly what happens in your software over time it is extremely useful for understanding what had caused an outage or security vulnerability. With technologies like InsightOps, it can also be used to monitor systems in real time by looking at live log data which can contain anything from resource usage information, to error rates, to user activity etc.

So in short when used for the right job, log data is extremely powerful... until it's NOT!

When is it not useful to look at logs? When your logs don't contain the data you need. How many times during an investigation have your logs contained enough information to point you in the right direction, but then fell short of giving you the complete picture. Unfortunately, it is quite common to run out of road when looking at log data; if only you had recorded 'user logins', or some other piece of data that was important with hindsight, you could figure out what user installed some malware and your investigation would be complete.

Log data, by its very nature, provides an incomplete view of your system, and while log and machine data is invaluable for troubleshooting, investigations and monitoring, it is generally at its most powerful when used in conjunction with other data sources. If you think about it, knowing exactly what to log up front to give you 100% code or system coverage is like trying to predict the future. Thus when problems arise or investigations are underway, you may not have the complete picture you need to identify the true root cause.

So our gift to you this HaXmas is the ability to generate log data on the fly through our new endpoint technology, InsightOPs, which enables you to  fill in any missing information during troubleshooting or investigations. InsightOps is pioneering the ability to generate log data on the fly by allowing end users to ask questions of their environment, InsightOps is pioneering the ability to generate log data on the fly by returning answers in the form of logs. Essentially, it will allow you to create synthetic logs which can be combined with your traditional log data - giving you the complete picture! It also gives you all this information in one place (so no need to combine a bunch of different IT monitoring tools to get all the information you need).

You will be able to ask anything from 'what processes are running on every endpoint in my environment' to ‘what is the memory consumption' of a given process or machine. In fact, our vision is to allow users to ask any question that might be relevant for their environment such that you will never be left in the dark and never again have to say ‘if only I had logged that.'

Interested in trying InsightOps for yourself? Sign up here: https://www.rapid7.com/products/insightops/

Happy HaXmas!