If anything is a sure bet about network security today, it’s that it will only become a greater concern for enterprises going forward. The combination of more devices, changing technology, greater speed and productivity, as well as classic human error, are all contributing to this.
But what are organizations supposed to do to protect themselves from malicious threats? Network detection and response is one such approach that covers many bases for the enterprise. In essence, network detection and response (NDR) is a way for businesses to stop threats in multiple ways through a single solution.
This works in three main stages: delivery, dormancy, and detection. If the threat is detected right away in the delivery state, it can be surrounded and neutralized with minimal damage. Research from IBM shows the average threat takes 280 days to be understood and contained. That’s a lot of time. NDR combats this by using enterprise networks as a sort of immune system that roots out unwelcome guests. Finally, NDR can stop extensive damage from advanced threats by detecting when they attempt to communicate outside of the network. Quarantining these dangers as soon as possible can mitigate maximal data loss.
Now that you have a grasp on the broader concepts of NDR, it’s time to dig into some of the details that will affect the quality of products and services. Here’s what you need to know when evaluating network detection and response solutions.
What Kind Of Visibility Is Offered?
If you want to stop cyber threats from causing problems for your enterprise networks, you need to have as much visibility as possible. There are a few ways organizations should think about this when searching for network detection and response tools.
On the most basic level, you’ll want to have the ability to view threat assessments across your entire enterprise network. Seeing overarching performance and security readouts will be helpful in evaluating whether or not your networks are actually sufficiently secure. This, however, isn’t the only thing that needs to be considered here.
While having a wide focus is important, the devil is often in the details. This is especially true when dealing with network security. Just because the whole system is working fine right now doesn’t mean nothing is amiss. This is why it’s important to have the ability to view things at a more granular level. Without this, it’s possible to miss threats that are sitting at the packet level.
Can They Triage Without Internal Intervention?
Time is of the essence when dealing with network threats. The longer an attack goes unnoticed, the more time it has to spread and cause damage throughout a network. Therefore, it’s a huge deal if an NDR service is able to triage for you, even if you don’t have anyone at the helm.
Threats don’t sleep. It doesn’t matter if your top IT person is on vacation; attacks on your network need to be remedied immediately. Not only are the going to be financially damaging the longer they persist, they can lead to legal and reputational issues as well. Having network detection and response services provided by a third-party organization means you’ll always have experts monitoring your networks, and ready to triage.
What Technology Is Powering Them?
In today’s world, the power of your technology can make a big difference in an organization’s ability to fight cyber threats. This is why it’s important to look at how a NDA solution uses modern tech in its approach.
Machine learning is a particularly valuable asset here, as it’s constantly refining its methods and improving the discovery process. Services that utilized ML and AI are likely going to have a more robust product with far greater capabilities. This is an essential consideration when your whole organization is on the line.
While this might seem like an exaggeration, it’s really not when you consider 60 percent of small businesses shut down permanently within six months of a breach.
Overall, network detection and response is a great way for enterprises to protect themselves against threats. Keep these important concepts in mind while searching for the right NDR for your organization.
