Atlassian Guard Premium - Part 2: Data Security & Privacy

Out of The Box!

What security features do my Atlassian products offer?

Atlassian provides fundamental data security and privacy measures, ensuring that all data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, safeguarding it from unauthorized access. Users can manage access through basic permission settings, restricting visibility and editing rights for projects, issues, spaces, and repositories. However, activity tracking is limited, offering only basic insights like last login times.

In terms of compliance and reliability, Atlassian meets key industry standards, including FINMA, SOC2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA, ensuring regulatory compliance for businesses handling sensitive data. The system also includes automated monitoring to detect and respond to service disruptions, maintaining platform security and stability. Basic audit trails also provide minimal insights into user activity, lacking the depth required for thorough security investigations.

Understanding Atlassian Guard Premium!

How It Enhances Your Atlassian Experience

As teams work together using the Atlassia toolset, it’s crucial to keep things running smoothly and ensure that there are no disruptions or security issues that could cause problems. Atlassian Guard is a feature designed to provide security and protection for your Atlassian products. However, Atlassian offers different levels of protection with Guard: Standard and Premium.

So, what’s the difference? And why should you care? Let’s dive in!

What Is Atlassian Guard?

Before we jump into the differences between the Premium and Standard versions of Guard, let's quickly define what Atlassian Guard does. Think of it as your security watchdog. It monitors activities on your account, watching for any unusual or risky behaviour. If anything suspicious happens, Atlassian Guard can step in and alert you, giving you the chance to act quickly before any real damage occurs.

Now, there are two versions of Guard: Standard and Premium.

Atlassian Guard Standard vs. Atlassian Guard Premium‍

1. Basic Protection (Standard)

Guard Standard offers essential security features, such as:

• Login Protection: Guard detects suspicious logins, like multiple failed attempts or logins from unfamiliar locations.
• Basic Threat Detection: If something unusual happens, Guard will notify you so you can check it out.

This level of protection is generally enough for smaller teams or those who don’t deal with sensitive data or complex workflows.

2. Enhanced Protection (Premium)

Guard Premium provides more advanced features to further protect your environment, including:

• Advanced Threat Detection: In addition to basic alerts, Premium goes deeper by identifying more complex risks, like abnormal patterns of behaviour that could indicate malicious intent or insider threats.
• Workflow Protection: It monitors key workflows, ensuring no unauthorized changes occur without your knowledge.
• Compliance Monitoring: For teams that need to follow strict industry rules or regulations, Premium helps by keeping track of these requirements to make sure your instance stays compliant.
• Faster Response Times: Premium provides quicker alerts and action to get things under control faster when something goes wrong.

3. Why Should You Consider Premium?

Here’s a Scenario:

Regulatory requirements are constantly evolving across industries, making compliance an ever growing challenge. For one financial services customer who was expanding their Atlassian cloud tools, the risk of employees inadvertently sharing sensitive data, such as customer information or bank account details, was a concern.

To mitigate this, they enforced a policy restricting the use of international bank account numbers (IBAN) in Confluence. With Guard Premium, they implemented Content Scanning to detect IBAN violations and enabled ‘more alerts’ for real-time notifications, ensuring immediate action on potential compliance risks.

Another Scenario:

Large organizations face challenges in preventing unauthorized content access, especially with frequent employee transitions. While most departures are routine, some pose security risks—particularly when employees move to competitors.

A customer developing an AI solution who was using Guard Premium to monitor user activity, scanned through users who had recently resigned. When a sales employee rapidly exported Confluence pages on their last day, Guard Premium’s Page Export Detection and Slack Alerts enabled swift investigation. The security team promptly suspended access, uncovering an attempt to steal trade secrets. Thanks to Guard Premium, critical data was protected.

Debunking 5 Myths About Atlassian Guard Premium

Myth #1: Guard Premium Offers the Same Security as the Standard Version

Reality: While the Standard version provides essential security measures, Atlassian Guard Premium offers Data Classification and Enforcement capabilities. This feature enables organizations to label sensitive data and enforce security policies accordingly, ensuring confidential information is properly protected. Unlike the Standard version, Premium allows users to set granular access controls based on data classification.

Myth #2: There Is No Difference in Threat Detection Between Standard and Premium

Reality: Guard Premium significantly enhances threat detection with Anomalous Activity Detections. This feature identifies unusual behaviours, such as unauthorized access attempts and suspicious user actions, allowing security teams to respond proactively. Standard users lack this level of automated threat analysis, making them more vulnerable to undetected breaches.

Myth #3: Audit Logs Are the Same in Both Versions

Reality: Guard Premium provides Comprehensive Organization Audit Logs, delivering deeper insights into user activities, API token usage, and webhook interactions. This level of detail is crucial for compliance and forensic analysis. Standard users receive basic logging but miss out on the extensive tracking and reporting capabilities available in Premium.

Myth #4: Guard Premium Is Only for Large Organizations

Reality: Guard Premium benefits organizations of all sizes by offering advanced security features with easy setup and usability that help protect sensitive data, detect threats, and ensure compliance without requiring a large IT team. Features like automated Content Scanning help prevent accidental data exposure, while Anomalous Activity Detection identifies suspicious behaviour early. SIEM Integrations and Real-Time Alerts ensure even small teams can respond quickly to threats. Security isn’t just for enterprises, Guard Premium makes it accessible to everyone.

Myth #5: Guard Premium Automatically Fixes Security Issues

Reality: Guard Premium enhances security by detecting threats and enforcing policies, but it doesn’t replace human oversight. It provides real-time alerts for suspicious activity, content scanning to prevent data exposure, and detailed audit logs for investigations. While it automates threat detection, security teams still play a crucial role in reviewing alerts and taking action.

Alternatives…

• Cloudflare CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker): Cloudflare's CASB integrates with various applications, including Atlassian products, to provide comprehensive security. It scans connected applications for critical security issues and offers real-time alerts, helping organizations identify and remediate vulnerabilities promptly.
• Splunk Enterprise Security: Splunk offers a robust security information and event management (SIEM) solution that provides real-time monitoring, advanced threat detection, and incident response capabilities. It enables organizations to collect and analyse data from various sources, facilitating comprehensive content scanning and immediate alerts on potential security threats.
• McAfee MVISION Cloud (formerly Skyhigh Networks): This Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solution provides data security, threat protection, and compliance for cloud services. It offers real-time visibility and control over data, with features like content scanning to prevent data loss and real-time alerts for policy violations.

Conclusion: Is Guard Premium the right choice for you?

‍While also beneficial for smaller teams, Atlassian Guard Premium delivers a higher level of security with advanced features that are especially valuable for larger teams, projects involving sensitive data, or organizations subject to industry-specific regulations. Guard Standard offers solid baseline protection, but Guard Premium adds extra layers of security and greater control over your Atlassian tools.

Ready to take your security strategy to the next level?
Get in touch with us today to learn more about how Atlassian Guard Premium can help protect your organization.

👉 Check out Part 1 here: Maximum Security with Atlassian Guard Premium