As cyber attackers get smarter and more creative with their attacks, the cyber threat landscape grows more complicated. In the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, global cyberattacks jumped by 30%, with organizations facing an average of 1,636 attacks per week.
We see major data breaches in the news all the time. With technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), attackers have even more tools to break into systems. While no network is 100% secure, many companies are lagging when it comes to noticing when they've been hacked. According to IBM’s AI cybersecurity report, it takes an organization 207 days on average to discover a traditional (non-AI specific) breach—that's over six months of hackers having free access to your data.
What's stopping companies from catching threats?
Any organization, no matter its size, can become a target. Hackers are targeting confidential data and looking for ways to compromise security every day. In general, hackers are interested in stealing high-value corporate data that should be protected by multiple layers of security but very often isn’t.
Whether your systems are in the cloud, onsite, or a mix of both, you need strong protection. To fight back effectively, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) need complete visibility into everything that's happening on their network. They need to know who's trying to get in, what they're doing, when it's happening, where it's coming from, and why it matters.
Assess your vulnerabilities
Organizations can't protect against threats that they don't know exist. Companies must regularly assess and check networks for security holes and fix vulnerabilities before hackers find them.
Research shows that unpatched vulnerabilities are directly responsible for 60% of all data breaches. Many successful attacks happen because companies didn't patch known problems. If there's already a fix available and you haven't applied it, you're making it easy for hackers to access your systems. An effective vulnerability assessment and patch-management strategy would have prevented them.
Modern attacks are usually deployed in stages across different parts of your system, often looking harmless at first. There is a place for analytics in security, with AI and machine learning being particularly useful for spotting patterns that humans might miss.
Security information and event management (SIEM) versus managed detection and response (MDR): What's the difference?
Security tools exist to protect your systems, networks, and data from threats like unauthorized access, malware, and data breaches. These work by constantly monitoring what's happening, catching threats as they emerge, and helping you respond quickly when something goes wrong.
SIEM is a security solution tool that collects and analyzes data from across your entire information technology (IT) environment in real-time. Think of it as a central command center that aggregates logs, alerts, and security events from firewalls, servers, applications, and network devices into one dashboard.
- Pros: Shortens the time it takes to detect threats, minimizes threat damage, gives complete visibility across all systems, has powerful analytics capabilities, and is customizable to your specific environment.
- Cons: Takes a long time to implement, requires technical expertise to configure and maintain, demands dedicated security staff to interpret alerts and respond to threats, and can generate alert fatigue if not properly tuned.
Managed detection and response (MDR) MDR is a service where external security experts monitor your systems 24/7 and handle threat detection and response on your behalf. Instead of managing security tools yourself, you get a team of specialists who watch for threats and guide you through incidents.
- Pros: Access to expert security knowledge without hiring specialized staff, around-the-clock monitoring, and clear guidance on how to respond to threats.
- Cons: Less direct control over your security operations, dependency on an external provider's capabilities and response times, and potential concerns about sharing sensitive data with third parties.
Companies that prioritize investment in modern threat detection strategies will be much better at stopping attacks and limiting damage when breaches happen.
For additional insights and to learn more about BSI Digital Trust Consulting’s penetration testing services, click here.
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