10 Benefits of a managed XDR threat detection solution
With cyber threats increasing and diversifying across the digital landscape, security requirements have evolved beyond frontline protection of your digital assets. No single solution can stop every threat. Paul Hogan, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Ekco, elaborates on why it’s important for companies to have safeguards in place to detect and respond to the threats that make their way through your initial defences.
XDR – The evolution of SOC and SIEM
Traditionally, threat detection tools have been both costly and complex to implement and were the preserve of the enterprise organisation. With threat actors increasingly targeting smaller companies, these kinds of solutions are becoming more and more popular in many different workplaces.
Traditionally referred to as a SIEM (security information and event management) solution, managed from a SOC (security operations centre), the general term that now describes this threat detection service is XDR (extended detection and response). One popular way of implementing such a solution is to do so as a managed service. This article outlines some of the benefits of such an approach.
Read more about Ekco’s XDR solution
1. Event correlation & analytics
Activity in your organisation can be noisy. Every log in, password reset and activity on your network creates a log that could indicate a potential threat. But how do you track these events, understand which ones are normal, which ones are abnormal, and which abnormal activities represent a threat to your security posture?
An intelligent and managed solution analyses network, endpoint, asset, user, risk, and threat data to uncover known and unknown threats. The best solutions leverage artificial intelligence to identify and track related activities throughout the kill chain and provide end-to-end visibility into a potential incident from a single screen.
2. Threat intelligence
The best threat detection platforms, whether managed or standalone, leverage machine learning and AI to analyse and correlate activity across multiple data sources. These can include logs, events, network flows, user activity, vulnerability information and threat intelligence to identify known and unknown threats.
The benefit of an AI-driven approach is that it reduces the number of alerts for an analyst to manage and by grouping activity in a logical manner, can help to identify threats as they move across your environment.
For instance, our managed XDR solution leverages the IBM Security QRadar platform. This can intelligently correlate and analyse a variety of data types from a wide range of sources, including:
- Endpoint data
- Network activity
- Vulnerability data
- Cloud activity
- User and identity data
- Application data
- Threat intelligence
- Container activity data
3. Analytics
Our managed solution, which leverages a combination of AI and human expertise, can manage and identify actual positives and disregard false positives, making sure we can tell the difference between a real threat and a regular event/log.
4. Real-time alerts – 24/7 monitoring
Malicious actors are based all around the world and do not stop looking for ways into your environment outside of your normal office hours. The cyber threat landscape is a round-the-globe, round-the-clock ecosystem and you need to ensure that your threat detection capabilities are active when the hackers are. Monday to Friday, 9-5,won’t cut it.
Having the tech in place is one thing, but you also need the people who know that technology. Finding a trusted provider that can talk to you in your language, and who is monitoring your security continually, is the best way to gain peace of mind.
5. Dashboards & reporting
Measuring the success of your security can be difficult. Showing stakeholders a report that can quantify and explain what is happening with your threat detection is a great way to validate security spend. In addition, it can give you real insight into the activity happening on your infrastructure and help you understand activity on your endpoints and within your network.
6. Untapped expertise
For several years, there has been a significant skills gap in the cybersecurity space. According to the (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study, there was a skills gap of 2.7 million cybersecurity professionals globally in 2021. Many organisations struggle to identify, recruit, and retain the talent required to run a comprehensive security team in-house.
Working with a managed security provider removes the burden of staffing a team internally. It opens an organisation to the talent and experience of hundreds of cyber experts who can advise and recommend on the strategy and execution of your security needs.
7. Scale & flexibility
Implementing a threat detection solution for an organisation has long been the domain of the enterprise, whether running the operation in-house or outsourcing. The cost of the software and the overheads required to build and manage the solution made it beyond the reach of all but the biggest firms.
However, there are now solutions that offer enterprise-grade security at a price that is affordable for medium-sized companies.
For many fast-growing organisations, taking on a solution as a managed service can make the most sense. The solution will have a range of offerings, can be rapidly upgraded to meet changing needs, and can continually evolve to reduce security risk.
8. Compliance & reporting
Many industries are becoming increasing regulated, and organisations are required by industry bodies to comply with certain security standards. Most organisations that have certain accreditations also require a certain level of cyber security protection to maintain their certifications.
By working with Ekco and our managed XDR solution, we can help you automate many compliance reporting tasks with pre-built content for major regulations such as:
- PCI
- GDPR
- HIPAA
- Common Criteria
- FIPS140-2 (Level 1)
- STIG / Hardening
- ISO 27001
- NIST RMF 800-53
9. Cyber insurance
With the proliferation of incidents affecting companies, cyber insurance has become an increasingly popular layer of financial protection from companies worried about the cost of a cyber breach. But the increase in attacks has also seen an increase in the number of claims being made against cyber insurance policies.
As a result, insurance companies are becoming more and more selective about who they offer a cyber insurance policy to. One of the requirements that insurance companies increasingly look for is a threat detection capability. Having a managed XDR solution from a trusted provider not only offers you that additional layer of protection, but it also increases the likelihood of your cyber insurance policy application being approved by insurers.
10. Speed of implementation – 6 weeks for managed v 6 months for DIY
Even if you have the skills and the budget to launch an in-house security solution, the time from purchase to live threat detection monitoring can be between six and 18 months. Looking at a managed solution that is already set-up and can be quickly configured by experts to your organisation’s needs means that we can have a viable solution up and running in four to six weeks.
To learn more about Ekco’s managed threat detection solution, you can click here.
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