Business priorities, strategies and operations have shifted dramatically in recent years as a global pandemic, international conflicts and a myriad of other geopolitical factors have hugely impacted the way we work and live. However, the exponential growth of digital transformation as a result has left many organisations vulnerable to an ever-evolving and increasingly complex cyber threat landscape.
Development in cloud computing and the adoption of cloud models has consequently created security blind spots due to an increase in devices, endpoints and assets – something that perimeter security alone is not equipped for. Traditionally, perimeter security like antivirus protection and firewalls have been deployed as a first line of defence to prevent threats and attacks from accessing networks. While this may have worked for legacy infrastructure and more traditional networks, modern network architectures no longer have a traditional perimeter to secure, leading to significantly more vulnerabilities and risks for organisations.
If your organisation is investing in serious digital transformation through cloud-first strategies – and according to TechTarget’s 2022 report of Europe’s IT priorities, 39% of organisations are prioritising cloud-first strategies – then simply relying on your first line of defence security is no longer enough.
Organisational risks of an evolving threat landscape
So why is this approach to cybersecurity no longer sufficient? Cyber attacks are not only increasing in volume, but becoming much more sophisticated with targeted attacks that can be orchestrated and tailored to your organisation’s systems, processes and personnel. This is in addition to common attacks that target as many devices and services as possible, like phishing and water holing. Without a mature cybersecurity infrastructure, your organisation can be vulnerable to threat techniques that include:
- Spear-phishing: an attack that sends emails to targeted individuals, often containing attachments or links that downloads malicious software.
- DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service): a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or the surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.
- Ransomware: a tailored attack by threat actors that employs encryption to hold an organisation’s information at ransom, making it impossible for them to access files, databases or apps.
The consequences of these kinds of attacks for organisations can be significant and wide-ranging, and can cause both financial and reputational damage; reduced productivity, service outages, exposure of sensitive information – the list goes on. As attacks like this continue to evolve and develop in complexity, so should your cybersecurity infrastructure.
The complexities of maturing your cybersecurity tech stack
As cyber attacks increase and the risks to your organisation become more apparent, you’ll want to look at how you can improve your security posture. However, maturing and managing a complicated architecture framework of varied tools and systems is not without its challenges.
A diverse cybersecurity tech stack will include components that protect all your digital assets, including your network, operating systems, databases and applications from cyber attacks. What you’ll want to avoid though is the tendency to simply layer new security tools on top of your existing stack, as this can over-complicate matters when you’re already dealing with a complex threat landscape. In a survey by IBM, most organisations were found to use more than 45 different security tools, with each incident requiring coordination across an average of 19 tools. Identifying and responding to cyber threats in this way can be increasingly challenging as your analysts and engineers will have additional noise to filter through and investigate – slowing down detection and response time overall.
This kind of approach makes identifying, prioritising and correlating threats much more difficult. Instead, you should be looking to invest in a well-managed and coordinated detection and response strategy to avoid fire-fighting numerous incident alerts that might not actually pose a serious threat to your organisation.
Managed Detection and Response
Managed Detection and Response or MDR is a modern security solution to modern threats and cyber attacks, and a smart way to step-up your cybersecurity from a first line of defence approach. MDR provides organisations with remotely delivered security operations that more proactively and rapidly detect, analyse, investigate and respond to attacks through effective threat mitigation and containment.
MDR adds a dedicated Security Operations Centre (SOC) to your infrastructure, with experienced cybersecurity analysts and engineers to monitor your infrastructure for threats and vulnerabilities. With fast and effective threat response, risks of attacks on your organisation are mitigated efficiently and effectively. Compared to perimeter security, MDR delivers comprehensive defence through multi-layered security that combines industry-leading security platforms with the expertise of a 24/7 SOC.
Benefits of MDR for your organisation:
- An expert cybersecurity team to monitor your infrastructure 24/7, 365 days a year
- Real-time monitoring, detection and response to mitigate risks to your organisation
- Automatic containment of threats
- A comprehensive and up-to-date cybersecurity portfolio to protect against advanced and evolving threats
Discover if MDR is right for you
Cyber threats are affecting organisations at any time and can be highly targeted, so as potential attack surfaces continue to increase with accelerated digital transformation and remote working models, you need to make sure your organisation is equipped with more than a first line of defence like antivirus.
Click here to discover more about MDR, including 4 reasons why it might be the right solution for your organisation, or get in touch with our Brightsolid experts to discuss what security solutions are available to improve your organisation’s security posture.