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You may have EDR, but did you know you can add threat detection and response to improve a SecOps team’s efficiency and outcomes – read more.

Security teams face a number of pressing challenges. Take alert overload: many state that alert and investigation fatigue contribute to feeling stressed. At the core of this issue is disconnected and inefficient threat detection and response solutions. Many security professionals will leverage a SIEM to collect logs and alerts from multiple, disparate security tools.

There are two issues that can arise: one, cyberattacks rarely stay in siloes and two, SIEMs are great at collecting data, but not all of them can effectively correlate that data. Hampered visibility and lack of context often leads to noisy false positives, which slow down investigative efforts.

What is XDR?

XDR is the evolution of endpoint detection and response (EDR). It goes beyond the single-layer EDR approach by collecting and correlating data in real-time across multiple security layers like email, server, cloud workload, network, and endpoint.

Correlating related activities to reduce high-confidence detections reduces the overwhelming volume of false positives and enables faster threat detection and response. Adopting and fine-tuning XDR capabilities improves security efficiency, streamlines security operations, and bolsters staff productivity.

Taking the right XDR approach

The approach you take will depend on the needs of your organization. There is no one way to achieve an XDR capability, and not all XDR solutions or approaches are created equal. The three most common XDR approaches are:

• Native (Comprehensive): This approach leverages its own foundation for many of its data sources and manages the full XDR process within a single platform.
• Open: Delivers certain XDR capabilities via a collection of third-party integrations.
• Hybrid: Uses native sources in tandem with third-party and API integrations for correlated detection, integrated investigations, and multi-layer response.

Integrating investigations for greater detection effectiveness

The key is to unite third-party and API integrations with sensors deployed on email, server, cloud workloads, and network layers. Correlated detection provides the context needed to answer the following critical questions:

• How did the users or hosts become compromised?
• What was the first point of entry?
• What or who else is part of the same attack?
• Where did the threat originate?
• How did the threat spread?
• How many other users are potentially vulnerable to the same threat?

Key XDR considerations

While sensor coverage is important, there’s a lot more to consider when choosing an XDR vendor to ensure you receive the best threat detection and response capabilities. Consider asking the following questions:

1. Is the product API-friendly?
2. Does the product visualize an end-to-end understanding of an attack?
3. How is the user experience? Finding (and keeping) skilled staff remains a challenge.
4. Are they looking ahead?
5. Are the alerts actionable?
6. What is the pricing structure?
7. Are managed services offered?
8. Has the product received industry analyst accolades?

Next steps

For more information on XDR and cyber risk management, Read more here.