The new year brings with it mounting security challenges that business leaders must wrestle with, else lose precious data or functionality. While the level of risk and uncertainty can seem daunting, there are increasingly specialised tools that can support security teams to protect systems and data.
As part of the World Economic Forum’s recent annual meeting, the organisation released new research on the state of global risk management and resilience. Overall, the report found widespread cybercrime and cyber insecurity to be as impactful to the world as the cost of living crisis, natural disasters and geopolitics.
As noted by Cybersecurity Ventures, by 2025 the total cost of cybercrime will be around $10.5 trillion globally. WEF states that today it’s far easier for bad actors to launch a cyber attack, with the likes of ransomware-as-a-service rapidly increasing entry points and vulnerabilities.
Technology-driven innovation is a proven counter-measure to these attacks. The researchers note that developing a resilience strategy is of utmost importance, with advanced solutions such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) and extended detection and response (XDR) fundamental to achieving adequate security.
Securing for today’s threats: protecting the endpoint and beyond
Securing the endpoint and beyond is a sure-fire way security leaders can improve their resilience strategy. As attack vectors increase and threats move from endpoints to networks and the cloud, leaders must consider how to defend at every touchpoint. EDR and XDR should be a priority investment for many organisations in today’s modern landscape.
EDR is a common security practice that’s been around for a decade, with the term first coined by Anton Chuvakin from Gartner in 2013. At that point EDR was used to describe the class of tools and solutions that were increasingly prolific, and provided greater visibility into endpoints. At its core, EDR monitors endpoints and records activity relating to these devices, flagging any suspicious behaviour. This information is then compiled to provide further context into advanced threats and enable security teams to not only shut down threats but reduce risk moving forward. The technology has evolved to support additional use cases, such as automatically isolating infected endpoint devices from the network before threats can infiltrate further.
For many years and still to this day EDR is a useful measure of security, however it’s no longer enough. Organisations now require visibility over multiple sources and the ability to implement multiple security layers across departments and solutions. This is where XDR comes in. This new breed of security solutions extends EDR with crucial context and defence capabilities
Delving into XDR: what it brings to security teams
A threat detection and incident response approach, XDR is not a standalone product or solution but a holistic approach to cybersecurity that brings together endpoint security, network analysis and visibility, email security, identity and access management, cloud security and more. XDR integrates these multiple products into one security operations system that functions in real time. Gartner finds that at the beginning of 2022, fewer than 5% of organisations were using XDR, and this is set to grow 40% over the next five years.
An XDR platform functions on a proactive approach, with a big focus on enhancing visibility across all key areas. This enables security teams to be able to identify hidden and sophisticated threats quickly, to track threats to any source within the organisation, reduce manual tasks, and improve follow-up investigations.
While the benefits of a well-defined XDR security are ample, there are a few main ways in which an organisation can realise value. This includes the ability to block known and unknown threats including malware, exploits and fireless attacks. Security teams are also more prepared to shut down threats such as insider abuse, ransomware, fileless and memory-only attacks, and advanced zero-day malware. Analytics and custom threats can help to pinpoint threats and launch investigations, and users can remain undisrupted as these take place. In addition, security teams are supported with automation that enables greater ability to catch anomalous behaviour and quickly sift through security alerts.
More broadly, as C-suite leaders and boards step into the cybersecurity conversation, holistic security measures such as XDR, when combined with EDR and other components, can improve productivity and lower costs, achieving an improved cost of ownership and return on investment
Investing in your security solutions: what to look for when it comes to XDR
As with every investment, security leaders and teams must first pose the question, what are our priorities, what do we want to protect, and what are we working with (what are our existing tools)? Mapping out your existing security infrastructure and your most valuable assets you need to protect will help to highlight any gaps and define your approach moving forward.
For more information please contact our cybersecurity professionals today.
Recent news
Latest posts
Key Strategies and Best Practices for Enhancing OT Security
05 April, 2024
A Comprehensive Guide to Third Party Risk Management (TPRM)
26 February, 2024
