Businesses nowadays are fundamentally dependent on the internet and technology. The economic and societal operations rely on these technological advancements to function effectively, especially amidst the COVID-19 era.
At one point, traveling employees with their work laptops have carelessly connected to public wi-fi connections whenever they explore their assigned areas. As much as we’d like to trust coffee shops, hotels, and airports, we’ll never know if they use outdated security tools or are already compromised. When high-profile data falls into the wrong hands, this could spell disaster not only to your workers’ but also to your customers if you maintain a massive database with all their sensitive information.
Alongside the evolution of technology, cybercrimes have acquired a bigger platform. And with more powerful tools, they aim for bigger targets. These cybercriminals are now strong enough to penetrate a business network.
That’s where early threat detection and response (TDR) comes in. With a decent product, you can defend your company’s network from most unauthorized entry or attack. But that’s not the entirety of it.
Dubbed as a “shield and sword,” cybersecurity tools like TDR detects an incoming attack and, at the same time, offer quick responses to a threat.
Moreover, it analyzes such attempts to infiltrate and create complex security operations based on its comprehensive analytics. It’s a proactive defense that gets better in time, which is why most IT executives who have immense digital assets to protect would rally the entire board to support him on this expense rather, investment.
Below are the components of cybersecurity and how each works to contribute to early detection and response.
Safeguarding
Everyone is aware of the importance of having a solid foundation for structures to be sturdy in the face of adversity. It is also why the first step into securing your network is to strengthen your defenses. A well-built barricade prevents attackers from accessing high-profile information early on instead of addressing the problem in later stages. It is vital for top-notch protection that the essential data’s location is known so that competent security can surround it.
A TDR is equipped with rigorous preventive technologies that refine its security coverage by lessening attacks on the surface, lessening the burden on the system so it can focus on detecting important alerts, and exert more energy into dealing with them effectively. It also uses user behavior analytics to understand the user’s activity and spot any irregularities that should be inspected.
Gathering
Cybersecurity runs on the information it receives and responds to it accordingly. Security teams rely on data to pinpoint any malicious activity and potential threats accurately, and the lack of data leads to inaccurate detection. A TDR can gather the needed action and context and create a security system that would best protect the user.
The data collection aspect is pivotal in developing threat intelligence, primarily used in antivirus and web proxies. It compares previous attacks and uses that information to diagnose threats so the system can decide on the most effective course of action concerning the breach it finds.
Recognizing Urgency
It’s quite easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of information present and fail to recognize which signal renders which action. In dealing with cybercrimes, speed and efficiency are key. That’s why data should be filtered and categorized by importance for efficiency. When everything is sorted out, each event is held against industry standards and frameworks to determine its danger level. One of TDR primary functions is to find out at what point in the attack sequence the attack is already at since earlier detection means earlier addressing which will prevent its escalation.
There have been cases wherein millions worth of threats underwent several filters to reveal a handful of security breaches. Imagine the time and power wasted in the millions of harmless threats. Threat and detection response systems avoid this inconvenience by having their automated security intelligence team up with their human element, who carefully analyze the data patterns and ultimately decides if the data found is a threat or not.
Response
The final step occurs once the threat or attack is verified. The system will then neutralize it to prevent things from getting worse, but you shouldn’t let your guard down just yet. Some alleged harmless activity could be the first of many attacks. You would need to find its source to guarantee overall safety. On a good day, simply disconnecting from the network would be enough of a solution, but there are times when security teams would need to dig deeper to uproot the real problem and deal with the source of the attack.
The threat hunting process includes the constant lookout for attackers’ activities for the threat hunters to neutralize them immediately. One of their strategies uses their knowledge of cybercriminals because some are known to be susceptible to specific opportunities.
They take advantage of this and set up intruder traps that would trigger an alert of a suspicious activity maximizing the use of deception technology to defend and protect the user’s network. Their expertise and teamwork with security AI bestow them a great advantage in dealing with these cybercriminals. All leads to better cyberspace and enough time and space to prepare for more damaging attacks.
Author:
Angelo Chongco – https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelo-chongco-26350a78/
Angelo is a travel buddy who writes about cybersecurity, digital marketing, virtual reality, and anime. After a long day of “keyboarding”, he would practice paddleboarding under the Boracay sun.