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Reporting & Forensics

The Reporting Service is a centralized log aggregation and analytics platform that collects, stores, and analyzes logs from all SafeSquid proxy nodes. It provides real-time dashboards, scheduled reports, and forensic capabilities for compliance, security investigation, and usage analysis.

What It Provides​

1. Centralized Log Aggregation​

Collects logs from multiple proxy nodes into a single database for unified visibility.

Benefits:

  • Single source of truth for all proxy activity
  • Simplified compliance audits (SOC 2, ISO 27001)
  • Reduced log storage overhead on proxy nodes

2. Real-Time Dashboards​

Visual analytics showing:

  • Top users and sites accessed
  • Bandwidth consumption by user/department
  • Policy violations and blocked requests
  • Threat detections (malware, phishing)

Access: SafeSquid Configuration Portal → Reports menu

3. Scheduled Reports​

Automated report generation and delivery:

  • Daily/weekly/monthly activity summaries
  • User-specific usage reports
  • Compliance evidence (access logs with timestamps)
  • PDF and CSV export formats

Use for: Management briefings, compliance documentation, user accountability

4. Forensic Logging​

Detailed audit trails for security investigations:

  • Full HTTP headers and request/response data
  • User identity tied to every transaction
  • SSL inspection events (certificate validation, decryption decisions)
  • DLP incidents (data exfiltration attempts)

Use for: Incident response, insider threat investigation, breach analysis

Key Features​

FeaturePurpose
Multi-node aggregationCollect logs from clustered proxies
Extended retentionStore logs beyond local proxy capacity (90+ days)
Search and filterQuery logs by user, URL, time range, category
Alert thresholdsNotify on policy violations or anomalies
Compliance templatesPre-built reports for audit requirements

Deployment Patterns​

Single Node​

Reporting runs on the same server as the proxy (suitable for small deployments, <500 users).

Pros: Simple setup, no additional hardware
Cons: Shared resources with proxy, limited scalability

Dedicated Reporting Server​

Separate server for log aggregation and analytics (recommended for >500 users or compliance requirements).

Pros: Dedicated resources, better performance, independent scaling
Cons: Additional hardware/VM required

Setup: Configure proxy nodes to forward logs to reporting server IP.

Cloud-Integrated Reporting​

Stream logs to cloud SIEM (Splunk Cloud, ELK, Azure Sentinel) or SafeSquid Cloud Reporting.

Pros: Unlimited retention, advanced analytics, cloud redundancy
Cons: Data egress costs, requires cloud connectivity

Integration with External Systems​

SafeSquid logs can be forwarded to:

  • SIEM platforms: Splunk, ELK, QRadar, Azure Sentinel
  • Syslog servers: rsyslog, syslog-ng
  • Cloud storage: S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage

Log formats: JSON, CEF, syslog

Details: See Audit & Forensics for log forwarding configuration.

Common Use Cases​

  1. Compliance Audits: Prove who accessed what and when (SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS)
  2. User Accountability: Investigate inappropriate web usage
  3. Security Investigations: Trace malware downloads or phishing attacks
  4. Capacity Planning: Analyze bandwidth trends and user growth
  5. Policy Tuning: Identify false positives in content filtering

Next Steps​

  1. Audit & Forensics — Configure logging and retention policies
  2. Proxy Clustering — Set up multi-node logging
  3. Access Restriction — Define policies to enforce and monitor