The benefits of an XDR solution for threat detection and response

The evolving threat landscape and expanding attack surface have made traditional reactive cybersecurity methods obsolete. Extended detection and response (XDR) is an approach to cybersecurity that focuses on identifying and detecting threats before they can cause damage. It accomplishes this task by integrating, correlating, and contextualizing data and alerts from multiple cybersecurity components. XDR provides complex reactions to breaches, automation for greater response speed and accuracy, and increased visibility into a computing environment.

XDR offers a proactive solution to protecting an organization’s infrastructure that does not rely on identifying the signatures of known threats. XDR employs artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to effectively detect new and emerging threats. It consolidates multiple technologies such as network detection and response (NDR) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) for a unified, holistic approach to cybersecurity.

How XDR Works

XDR is a cloud-delivered solution employing advanced analytics to evaluate alerts and weak signals from multiple sources to perform more accurate threat detection. XDR’s functionality relies heavily on the power of AI and ML technology to automate aspects of organizational cybersecurity. Implementing XDR helps an enterprise minimize product sprawl, enhance platform integration, reduce alert fatigue, and trim operational expenses.

XDR systems continuously learn from the information they collect. They construct knowledge bases that codify network behavior to enable anomaly identification that may point to potential threats. The extended visibility of an organization’s complete infrastructure enables XDR to manage multiple aspects of cybersecurity. These include network detection, lateral movement, unfamiliar connectivity attempts, data exfiltration, and malicious artifacts that may indicate the presence of advanced persistent threats (APT).

Following are the three primary functions of XDR.

Telemetry and data analysis - Advanced analytics enables XDR to add context to its monitoring and data collection tasks. Telemetry data is obtained by the automated collection of activity data and logs and transmission of the data from remote sources. This data is collected and analyzed against threat intelligence (TI) to uncover attacks. ML (machine learning) capabilities allow XDR to identify trends and patterns used for attacks, which are then utilized to update and enhance threat intelligence.

Detection - Correlating weak signals from different sources gives XDR the capability to uncover attacks before they can be launched and cause damage. The continuous refinement of TI enables potential threats to be identified even if they might appear to be harmless when looked at in isolation. The AI and ML foundation of XDR allows the service to keep up with cybercriminals’ sophisticated attacks.

Response - XDR responds to threats detected across the entire network. It goes beyond manually defined plans by automating the process for faster and more accurate incident response. As with the detection aspect of the service, responses are refined over time by machine learning.

Benefits of XDR for Enhanced Threat Detection and Response

XDR provides substantial benefits to an organization’s cybersecurity posture. These benefits are essential to address the ever-increasing and more elaborate attacks cybercriminals are attempting to launch to compromise the computing environment.

Better visibility across networks

Increased visibility into an organization’s infrastructure is provided by XDR’s consolidation of data sources. Rather than having multiple tools that address the network and distributed endpoints, XDR looks at the complete environment. The consolidation reduces the number of interfaces a security team needs to monitor, improving productivity and efficiency.

Incorporating all signals from across the environment provides the raw materials from which AI and ML refine threat intelligence, detection, and response. Weak signals that might be glossed over when detected on a single endpoint can present a pattern that indicates a viable threat that must be addressed.

Fewer false positive threat alerts

Multiple inefficient cybersecurity solutions can generate a large volume of false positive threat alerts. Over time, this often results in alert fatigue affecting an enterprise cybersecurity team. Alert fatigue degrades the performance of a security team in several ways including:

• Wasting time investigating false alarms;
• Desensitizing team members to legitimate alerts;
• Missing important alarms that indicate real threats.

XDR reduces the number of false positive alerts so a security team can concentrate on investigating those that pose a real danger.

Improved automation

An XDR system automates responses based on observed behavior within an environment.

Automated responses reduce the stress and strain put on the staff responsible for cybersecurity. This lets XDR handle the bulk of responses and allows team members to devote their attention to unique situations that demand their intervention. Automated responses will always be faster than manual processes. XDR automation ensures that threats are dealt with quickly before they can damage the environment.

Faster and more efficient threat detection and response

Improved visibility and automation lead to faster and more efficient threat detection and effective responses. Threats are identified dynamically based on observed behavior and coordinated threat intelligence and can be addressed immediately. XDR also provides security teams with the means to conduct proactive threat hunting to identify potential focus points for further investigation.

Minimized impact of real threats

The impacts of real threats on the infrastructure are minimized by reducing false alerts and improving visibility. Without excessive noise getting in their way, security teams can concentrate on meeting actual threats with an effective response that includes compelling actions.

Samurai’s XDR Solution

Samurai XDR is a cloud-based XDR SaaS solution that provides customers with an effective platform for enhancing their cybersecurity. The service offers extended detection and response powered by advanced ML and AI that can handle current and future threats. The features that distinguish Samurai XDR include:

• Threat intelligence that shows where an attack is coming from and how to stop it;
• An alert dashboard to quickly view current and past threats;
• Alert management to control the flow of false positives;
• Investigation details and alert triage to promptly address threats;
• Advanced query and threat-hunting capabilities;
• One year retention of telemetry data to facilitate threat hunting;
• Ability to ingest telemetry from multiple vendors, providing a single point of visibility;
• Advanced analytics which allows the automatic detection of many threats not directly detected by vendor technologies.

Customers can see the power of Samurai XDR for themselves by signing up for a 30 day trial. Talk to our experts to see how Samurai XDR simplifies threat detection and response for a more secure computing environment.