Security and certification

This page is for administrators and security reviewers. It explains what stays inside the visual, which services Icon Map Pro connects to and what it sends them, and why the visual is not certified by Microsoft.

Summary

• Icon Map Pro runs inside Power BI's custom visual sandbox, in the browser or in Power BI Desktop. Power BI gives it only the fields you add to it.
• It draws your data inside the visual. Nothing from your report data is sent to Icon Map.
• It loads basemaps, and any layers you link to, from external services. That is what a map needs, and it is the reason the visual cannot be certified.
• A server you connect to your data, such as an ArcGIS layer joined to it, receives the values it needs to match. You choose those servers.
• It sends feature usage telemetry that contains no report data, which you can turn off.
• On the Modern engine, the JavaScript libraries it uses are packaged inside the visual. None are loaded from the internet at run time.

Your report data

• Icon Map Pro draws your rows itself, inside the visual. It has no geocoding service that your rows are sent to: you supply coordinates, shapes or values that match features.
• Routes and flow lines are worked out inside the visual.
• Nothing from your report data is sent to Icon Map's services: not to the basemaps, the license check, telemetry or the Icon Map Catalog.
• The Search control looks up places in an index the visual downloads. It searches for what a reader types, not for your data.
• When you join an ArcGIS feature layer to your data through the Feature Reference field, the visual asks that ArcGIS server for the features that match. The values it matches are sent to that server as part of the query.
• A link you build from your data with conditional formatting, such as a file link or a filter value, is sent to the server that link points to, as part of the request.
• Tooltips, selection and cross-filtering go through Power BI's own interfaces.

What the visual is allowed to do

Power BI runs every custom visual in a sandbox: a separate frame that cannot read the report page, the other visuals on it or your Power BI sign-in. Power BI passes the visual only the fields you add to it, and the visual hands selections and tooltips back through Power BI.

Power BI also grants a custom visual only the privileges it declares. Icon Map Pro declares three:

External services

Each service is contacted only when the feature that uses it is in use. The addresses are listed, for firewall rules, in Supported environments and limits.

To stop every call to Icon Map services, turn on Airgapped Environment. See Power BI Report Server (on-premises).

Basemaps and features that belong to the Legacy engine, such as Google Maps, Mapbox and MapTiler backgrounds, are described in the documentation for 1.1.0.9 and earlier.

The proxy

The Icon Map proxy is off by default. When you switch it on for a server that does not allow Power BI to read it, the visual's requests to that server, and any credential attached to them, pass through a relay run by Icon Map, which passes back the response. Its logs keep the site and path of each request, not the query or what was sent.

API keys, authentication and the proxy describes exactly when the proxy is used and what is sent to it.

Credentials

• Provider API keys and the Icon Map license key are saved in the report as settings. Treat a report that contains them accordingly.
• An ArcGIS client secret is saved in protected form.
• Personal ArcGIS sign-ins are kept in the visual's local storage on the reader's device, not in the report.

See API keys, authentication and the proxy and Connect to ArcGIS.

License checks

• User licenses are checked by Power BI. The visual asks Power BI which Icon Map plans the signed-in user has. Nothing is sent to Icon Map for this.
• License keys are validated online with the Icon Map licensing service. A visual licensed by key also records usage with that service when it loads data: the key, the environment it is running in, the product, the optional Reference, the visual's instance ID and a session ID. Usage-based licenses are measured this way. Use of Icon Map Catalog layers is recorded against the license.

Telemetry

Icon Map Pro sends feature usage telemetry to Azure Application Insights in the UK South region. It is used to understand which features are used and to diagnose errors.

• What is sent. A list of the features a map uses, not your data: the map engine and projection, the type of basemap and the Icon Map style, whether hillshade is on, which reference layers and data layers are on, the image source, the number of shape levels, and for Icon Map Catalog layers their name, ID, access type and visibility. Each event also carries the visual's instance ID, its version, the environment it is running in, and whether the report is being edited or read.
• Errors. Errors such as a failed license validation are sent as exceptions. Before an error is sent, quoted text, numbers and web addresses are removed from its message, so it cannot carry a value from your report.
• What is not collected. Automatic tracking of page views and network requests is turned off. Only the events above are sent. No data from your report is included.
• Opt out. Turn on Format pane > Icon Map Pro > Information for Support > Opt out of telemetry. Telemetry does not start until the visual has read this setting, so a report that opts out sends nothing at all.
• Detailed telemetry. Additional diagnostic events are sent only while Detailed telemetry for support is on. Leave it off unless support asks for it.

Certification by Microsoft

Icon Map Pro cannot be certified by Microsoft. One of the requirements for a certified visual is that it does not access any external services:

Accessing external services or resources. For example, no HTTP/S or WebSocket requests can go out of Power BI to any services.

Background maps are too large to store inside a visual, so they have to be served from an external source. The full criteria are in the Microsoft documentation on certified visuals.

Uncertified visuals are not permitted in my organization

When you publish a report to the Power BI service, you may see this message in place of the visual:

It means uncertified visuals are not permitted in your Power BI or Microsoft Fabric tenant. An administrator can make an exception for a specific visual by adding it as an organizational visual, which can then be used across the organization. See Microsoft's guidance on organizational visuals.

Code security reviews

We are happy to support code security reviews. We can release the source code under NDA for your organization's IT security team to review. Contact support@icon-map.com.

Related

• Supported environments and limits
• API keys, authentication and the proxy
• Power BI Report Server (on-premises)
• End user license agreement
• Third-party notices