Monzy Merza, Head of Security Research, Splunk & Haiyan Song , SVP & GM Security Markets, sit with Dave Vellante and John Walls for Splunk .conf 2017 in Washington D.C. #splunkconf17 #theCUBE https://siliconangle.com/2017/11/21/splunks-big-data-chops-bite-into-automated-security-splunkconf17/ Splunk’s big data chops bite into automated security Security at the digital data level is a hot topic now, since firewalls alone can’t cut it in dispersed, multicloud environments. Data security provider Splunk Inc. got a jump on big data analytics before it was a buzz term, and now they’re applying hard-earned wisdom to that security layer, deploying a “nerve center” with multiple detection points. “It’s one thing to have a capability,” says Monzy Merza (pictured, left), head of security research at Splunk. “But it’s another to leverage that capability along with another capability and combine the forces together.” Thus, the security nerve center is born. A cyber attacker must tread a path, as it were, to reach a target and breach, steal or otherwise compromise data, Merza said. “The attacker has to work within that terrain; they cannot escape that terrain,” Merza said. When detection points along the path are linked together, they form the nerve center, which allows a bird’s-eye view of the attacker, he explained. Merza joined Haiyan Song (pictured, right), senior vice president and general manager of security at Splunk for an interview at Splunk .conf2017 in Washington, D.C. in late September. They spoke to John Walls (@JohnWalls21) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. (* Disclosure below.)