Organizations today are scrambling to protect increasingly expansive digital assets from continually evolving cyber threats.
For security professionals, it’s a constant firefight.
Analysts in today’s SOCs are coming under mounting pressures: Not only are they expected to navigate the complexity of the modern hybrid enterprise, but they are equally required to protect corporate data wherever it resides.
Indeed, in a recent Twitter poll, we found that almost 63% of respondents highlighted data security as being most important to their organization when establishing the need for effective cybersecurity services.
Unfortunately, succeeding in this arena has become an incredibly difficult task.
A recent global survey revealed that almost six in 10 organizations are receiving more than 500 cloud security alerts per day. The alert fatigue created by this volume of work has left more than half (55%) of firms in a position where they miss critical alerts weekly or even daily.
Faced with a range of evolving threats, rising tides of alerts and lack of adequate resources to respond, security experts continue to become ever more worried about critical incidents slipping through the cracks that could lead to a hefty fine, data breaches and/or major reputational damages.
The anxiety facing many security professionals in this regard has come to be known as the fear of missing incidents (FOMI). Unfortunately, it’s a very real problem, leaving many analysts seriously stressed and burned out.
Indeed, in our Twitter poll, 35% of cybersecurity professionals cited employee burnout as the most concerning issue relating to growing cyber threats.
Turning to Technology
Current ways of working have become outdated and unsustainable, creating a volatile operational cocktail. Where organizations lack the experience, skills and bandwidth needed to detect and manage security incidents and data, under-resourced analysts left to find impossible resolutions are regularly overwhelmed by alert fatigue and FOMI.
Today, more than ever, change is needed. To turn this tide and better support security professionals, firms should embrace new technologies and techniques capable of solving these most pressing challenges.
In a previous Integrity360 poll, 52% of respondents pointed to artificial intelligence and machine learning as critical to futureproofing the security of their organization. However, investing in and implementing such technologies effectively can both be costly and require highly advanced skillsets.
Automated solutions can undoubtedly help reduce the number of manual tasks analysts need to address. However, such systems can equally bring an additional layer of complexity for beleaguered security teams. Indeed, these solutions must be applied in tandem with better identification, diagnosis, and even prognosis of incidents for security professionals to focus their attention where it matters.
Bridging the Gap With MDR
Fortunately, Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offers organizations a means of bridging this gap without breaking the bank.
In simple terms, MDR is a cybersecurity service that combines technology and human expertise to detect threats that may have bypassed traditional defenses.
It allows organizations to outsource some of the most complex aspects of modern security operations and tap into cutting-edge technology and expertise to rapidly identify and limit the impact of threats without developing highly complex in-house operations.
For this reason, MDR is an effective resolution for companies that have found themselves completely overwhelmed or under-resourced in the security arena. Threats across the network, endpoint, cloud, SaaS, and identity can all be managed through MDR and tailored to a specific customer’s environment, removing any blind spots to better prevent cyber-attacks from escalating.
What’s more, it will continuously ensure that organizations are ahead of the curve. Working with an expert third party will facilitate ongoing adaptability and continuous improvement in incident detection, investigation and responsiveness to maximize rapid containment of threats, incidents and vulnerabilities.
In other words, it takes the pressure off entities keeping pace with evolving threats, freeing analysts to focus on generating value rather than fighting fires in an endless arms race to build and manage better cyber security defenses.
Now is the Time for Change
By enabling organizations of all shapes and sizes to tap into advanced analytics and threat intelligence underpinned by a sophisticated mix of specialists and technologies, MDR is changing the game in cybersecurity.
For many, the door to easier incident detection and response has been opened, alleviating significant pressures on the SOC and increasing productivity. Organizations leveraging such services are well placed to react faster, more effectively and efficiently, targeting and heading threats off in real time.
MDR is undoubtedly a key ingredient in the future of security for many organizations, and a vital, accessible resource capable of easing the rising burdens on security professionals.