Security teams face alert fatigue and struggle to make sense of the 22,000 events per second that flood their SIEM systems. XDR addresses this by automatically correlating intelligence alerts and consolidating disparate data into one view of the threat landscape. It provides visibility and context into advanced threats so they can be prioritized, hunted and remediated to prevent data loss and breaches.
Detecting Advanced Threats
With advanced threats escalating in sophistication, the need for a more comprehensive and automated approach to detection and response is clear. XDR systems integrate and correlate data from multiple domains and threat vectors to deliver more accurate threat detection and enable faster response times. But really, what is XDR? Unlike EDR solutions focusing on individual threat vectors, like endpoints, XDR expands the scope of what can be detected and monitored. It allows organizations to see and prioritize advanced threats, such as lateral movement or the attempted escalation of privilege, from the network to the endpoint. AI/ML is central to XDR because it can analyze and normalize data from multiple security tools and combine them into a single context for the security team. Some XDR platform combines data from native security sensors, threat intelligence feeds and third-party platforms, using unsupervised ML to identify potential cause-and-effect attack chains and then supervised ML to pinpoint specific attacks.
Detecting Malware
The use of XDR allows businesses to detect malware more quickly and efficiently. It can help prevent data breaches and other costly consequences. However, it’s important to note that XDR solutions do not replace the need for additional security tools and technologies. Before installing an XDR system, businesses should thoroughly examine their needs and requirements. The best XDR solutions reduce the number of alerts that require human intervention by centralizing and normalizing data from multiple sources. They also improve detection by combining softer signals from different components and leveraging stronger pre-validation capabilities. Additionally, they provide visibility into the entire threat lifecycle to identify malicious behavior and reduce the time required for incident response.
In addition, XDR solutions utilize AI to detect anomalous behavior and predict future attacks. They use classifiers to indicate the most appropriate response measure for a specific threat and then automatically activate the defenses that will be most effective against it. These systems can even stop security breaches, preventing them from spreading to other systems within the organization. XDR solutions can help address cybersecurity teams’ most significant challenges, including security tool sprawl, alert fatigue and cybersecurity talent shortages. These platforms support cloud-first remote workforces and integrate with key collaboration and identity management solutions. They also offer expert-managed services to deliver advanced threat detection, proactive threat hunting, rapid response and continuous monitoring and support.
Detecting Ransomware
Detecting ransomware requires an attack chain detection and response platform that provides both visibility and automation to stop attacks from taking hold and preventing them from progressing. Security teams cannot afford to waste time manually triaging and investigating disparate alerts across multiple solutions—giving ransomware actors more opportunity to move laterally on the network and exfiltrate data. With an AI-driven XDR solution, security teams can embrace an operation-centric approach to detection and response to attacks at their earliest stages. Using advanced technologies like MITRE ATT&CK and artificial intelligence, XDR unifies detection and response in a single platform to deliver comprehensive protection, detection and remediation capabilities. The result is a more effective, cost-efficient and simplified cybersecurity solution. For example, XDR can detect ransomware by correlating the full range of events a malicious actor triggers. In addition, a business can use its unified incident response capabilities to automatically take snapshots and recover critical systems before an attacker can encrypt or otherwise compromise them.
An XDR security solution also provides visibility into the latest threat intelligence, allowing businesses to identify the most common attacker tactics and techniques (TTPs). It makes it easier to prioritize threats requiring the highest attention or mitigation. Companies can then use their unified incident response to accelerate investigations and reduce the time it takes to respond to incidents.
Detecting Phishing
The XDR platform is designed to centralize security data from multiple sources, allowing security teams to detect threats across the entire attack surface. It’s also agnostic to the protocols and brands of equipment used in the network. It can be implemented on the edge (firewall) or through internal network equipment like routers and switches.
XDR is a powerful complement to security information and event management (SIEM) solutions by eliminating alert fatigue and delivering a unified experience. Its centralized configuration, automated correlation support, and alert weighting ensure that only relevant alerts are received, allowing security analysts to focus on threat detection and response.
Unlike SIEM solutions, which can trigger an overwhelming number of alerts that are often false positives, XDR provides the ability to identify and prioritize true threats based on a unified threat intelligence feed. Moreover, XDR enables MSPs to automatically take a prescriptive approach to detecting and responding to these threats.
For example, suppose an XDR solution detects privilege escalation attempts (such as running a process with administrator rights). In that case, it can automatically take a remediation action such as killing the PID, isolating the user or disabling the device.
