Threat detection is a key practice to information security. Identifying threats and detecting them on time helps to ensure enterprise security. If a threat is detected, then mitigation efforts must be enacted to properly neutralize the threat before it can exploit any vulnerabilities. Some of the most common threat detection processes are implemented through Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solutions and Security Information and Event Management

People often ask me, “What’s the purpose of cybersecurity?” I tell them that it serves to protect the valuable, intangible data assets of firms or private individuals, usually by trying to shrink the attack surface. One way to achieve cybersecurity is to utilize threat intelligence research in your firm’s security plan. In this article, I will discuss the benefits of understanding and implementing a threat intelligence program.

“Automation” has become a buzzword in cybersecurity circles. That’s not surprising in an environment where security specialists are in short supply and under intense pressure to defend the business against a huge variety of threats from innumerable different sources. Using technology to do at least some of the work seems like a no-brainer. Nevertheless, it seems that organizations are finding it hard to get the right approach to cybersecurity automation.

Gartner defines Extended Detection and Response (XDR) as “a SaaS-based, vendor-specific, security threat detection and incident response tool that natively integrates multiple security products into a cohesive security operations system that unifies all licensed components”. Simply put, the main component of XDR is the ability to correlate data across multiple security systems and tools for better detection and response.

Discovering security threats is good and well. But, in many cases, simply knowing that a threat may exist is not enough. Instead, you also need threat intelligence enrichment. Threat enrichment plays a critical role in helping to evaluate and contextualize threats, root out false positives and gain the insights necessary to mitigate risks as efficiently and quickly as possible.

The cybersecurity industry has talked about security automation for years. We’ve grappled with what, when and how to automate. We’ve debated the human vs machine topic. And when we’ve been burned by machines quarantining a system or blocking a port on a firewall in error, we’ve wondered if there’s any place at all for automation. But deep down we know that automation is the future, and the future is here.

If you work in an organization, you’ve probably had to take a cybersecurity training course at some point during your time there. Regardless of whether you work in cybersecurity or not, most of us breeze through the slides or videos, halfway listening to the warnings about spear phishing emails and hacking tactics. We complete the training and then we tuck away the lessons learned until the next year when we have to do it all again.