Initiative #2.
*Source: Ponemon Institute "Cyber Resilient Organization Report" 2020
Cybersecurity is plagued by point-tool problems. As new threats emerge, organizations often try to keep up by purchasing the latest and greatest technology. But this isn’t enough to bolster your defenses. In fact, it can have the opposite effect.
Strength in numbers doesn’t apply to security tools. Excessive use of disconnected solutions generates too many alerts, strains understaffed security teams, and makes security operations complex and time-consuming. This hinders inability not only to detect, but also to defend against attacks. Organizations that deploy over 50 tools ranked themselves 8% lower in their ability to detect threats, and 7% lower in their defensive capabilities than those with fewer tools.*
To strengthen threat detection and accelerate compliance efforts, tool sprawl needs to be kept under control. And to do that, you need to reassess the threats you face and take a fresh look at the best way to defend against them.
Many organizations believe their solutions are delivering the desired results but in fact, 35% have security tools with overlapping capabilities, and 80% have tools that are underutilized.* - Fireye "Mandiant Security Effectiveness Report" 2020 Innovative technology can help you evaluate and improve the value of your cybersecurity controls.
Attack Surface Management (ASM) ASM technology monitors internet-exposed assets to provide insight into an organization's external attack surface, enabling security teams to analyze data through the eyes of hackers. Solutions simplify cloud security with visibility into internet assets associated with known and unknown cloud accounts.
Security Validation/Breach & Attack Simulation These solutions assess the effectiveness of security controls with automated, continuous monitoring. They integrate into the security stack and safely execute real attack behaviors, automatically extracting evidence-based data about how your defenses react.
Security Scoring Security scoring technology utilizes predictive analytics and security risk assessment tools to issue FICO-like scores—or grades ranging from A to F—to help predict an organization’s likelihood of a breach. Platforms facilitate the discovery and remediation of cybersecurity risk in your environment and help identify the risk vendors pose to your organization.
Extended Detection & Response (XDR) XDR automatically collects and correlates data from multiple security products to improve threat detection and incident response. Solutions combine alerts triggered by email, endpoint and network security controls into a single incident, enabling analysts to do more thorough investigations.
Evaluating your cybersecurity stack is a critical first step in the effort to address inefficiencies. Several best practices can help you investigate your controls, reduce or eliminate shelfware, and establish a foundation of tightly integrated tools.
1. Take an inventory. A comprehensive tool inventory enables you to assess the capabilities and scope of coverage for solutions you already own, and facilitates the removal of redundant or underutilized tools that add complexity and cost you time and money. 2. Conduct vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. Regularly conducting assessments will help you uncover weaknesses and misconfigurations that could result in compromise. It will also enable you benchmark your security posture with frameworks such as ISO, NIST Cybersecurity Framework or the CIS controls, and target security dollars to solutions that will have the most impact.
3. Integrate and consolidate. When individual point solutions don’t work well together, it results in operational hardship. Reducing manual processes is essential. The easier it is for tools to share data, the more successful you’ll be in creating automated workflows and freeing up security analysts for critical tasks.
Vendor consolidation can increase operational effectiveness while reducing spend and complexity. Tools from a single vendor are easier to manage and can form an ecosystem that leaves fewer gaps, enabling you to secure more with less.
4. Target your spending. Budget spent on new technology should be designed to address inefficiencies. Oftentimes, multiple existing solutions can be replaced with a single, more modern control that supports your digital risk management strategy.
The average security operations team receives over 11,000 security alerts daily.*
Data breaches caused by cloud misconfigurations have cost enterprises more than $5 trillion globally over the past two years.*
*IBM “Cyber Resilient Organization Report” June 2020
Vendor-independent advisory services can provide an objective view of your existing capabilities to prevent, detect and respond to security incidents, and help you rationalize your security architecture.
