Guide to Better Extended Threat Detection and Response (XDR)

Not all threats originate at the endpoint. According to IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023, phishing and stolen or compromised credentials were the two most common initial attack vectors. XDR should enable you to detect email threats, including compromised accounts sending internal phishing emails. Upon a detection, XDR should also sweep mailboxes to identify who else received the email, so that it can be quarantined or deleted to prevent the spread

Furthermore, network detection and response (NDR), fills EDR blind spots. Real time activity data collected on traffic flow and behaviors plus perimeter and lateral connections help analysts discover how the threat is communicating and moving across the network. With this knowledge, security professionals will be able to block the host and URL as well as disable the Active Directory account to limit the scope of an attack.

Cloud workloads, servers, and containers are critical to business operations, so monitoring activity at this layer is necessary to reduce critical incidents. XDR collects and correlates activity data such as user account activity, processes, executed commands, network connections, files created/accesses, and registry modifications to tell the entire story beyond the alert. This enables security teams to drill down into what happened within the cloud workload and how the attack propagated.

Operationalize threat intel from XDR

According to ESG’s SOC Modernization and the Role of XDR report, the top SOC initiative for 2022 was to “improve operationalization of threat intelligence.” Incorporating threat intel is an integral part of the SOC function in the face of increasingly sophisticated and successful cyberattacks. The more you can understand the attacker’s maneuvers and objectives, the more resilient and responsible an organization can be.

The MITRE ATT&CK Framework is invaluable for mapping specific attack campaigns, threat groups, and individual attack activities. Despite its ubiquity, many organizations are still figuring out how to leverage the framework consistently.

From an XDR solution perspective, you can use TTPs to develop detection rules and models, while ensuring threat intel is directly inserted into the investigation of events. This surfaces the identity of a particular attack campaign and provides visibility into the full campaign lifecycle.

The TTPs can also be used to develop threat hunting criteria or provide proactive views of identified TTPs in the environment that can be leveraged as a starting point for targeted investigations. 
Lastly, leveraging the MITRE ATT&CK framework can be used to identify security gaps and prioritize activities to lower risk and improve resiliency.

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? Some vendors don’t integrate their APIs with SIEM and SOAR. The more XDR is integrated, the greater the ability it provides to automate and orchestrate tasks, enabling workflows across the ecosystem. Also, a vendor with an XDR solution that integrates into a cybersecurity platform will provide security professionals with a much-needed single pane of glass view across the entire attack surface.

2. Does the product visualize an end-to-end understanding of an attack? Some XDR solutions may only provide a snapshot of an attack. Security teams need visibility of managed and unmanaged assets and encrypted network traffic to understand where the attack originated and how it spread. By extending network telemetry and correlating against network events via NDR, teams can establish the full attack chain and strengthen your security posture.  

3. How is the user experience? Finding (and keeping) skilled staff remains a challenge. Avoid security solutions that have a steep learning curve and poor support. A vendor who wants you to succeed (not just sell you a product) will have in-app tutorials, an online help center, and even direct feedback loops or feature requests built-in. 

4. Are they looking ahead? Make sure the vendor is committed to improving their product to not only address the evolving threat landscape, but making it easier for your teams to do so. Do they have a strong strategy for how to greatly reduce the burden on your security teams with AI? Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions to make sure it’s not smoke and mirrors. Bonus points for vendors who have a strategy on how to secure your organization’s usage of AI tools.

4. Are the alerts actionable? As we mentioned earlier, legacy SIEM will spit out a ton of alerts, but they’re often useless. You have to do a lot of detection engineering to force your legacy SIEM to work for you. The right XDR solution will provide actionable alerts thanks to cross-layer correlation and detection models that are ready out-of-the-box. It should also prioritize alerts based off the risk score and severity of impact to accelerate response times

5. What is the pricing structure? Look for vendors who offer pricing models that are favorable to shifting business dynamics. Most vendors commonly charge by bundles or seat-based subscriptions which can leave you paying for unused sensors in case your employees leave or are laid off. Consider more flexible licensing options that allow you to adjust allocations on-demand, while removing fixed costs and any losses due to underutilized licenses.

6. Are managed services offered? Staff shortages and budget constraints can hinder threat detection and response efforts. A vendor who can offer managed services to augment your existing team with expert threat hunting, 24/7 monitoring and detection, and rapid investigation and mitigation can be invaluable. You can gain expertise and competencies while alleviating your overstretched teams to work on higher priority programs.

7. Has the product received industry analyst accolades? Everyone loves to say they’re #1, so make sure you check out reports from reputable industry analysts to validate the vendor’s claims. Shameless plug, see how Trend is viewed by the industry. 

Getting the board on board with XDR

While statistics show that cybersecurity spend continues to increase, that is no guarantee your budget will grow in-line. Getting the green light on cybersecurity investments can be challenging, so framing the benefits of XDR in a financial and risk context is critical. Here are some of the things to consider when making a case for XDR:

Investing in security solutions = investing in the business. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2022, organizations using XDR saved nearly 10% on average in breach costs and shortened the breach lifecycle by 29 days. Less operational downtime and financial impact are music to the C-suite’s ears.

Reduce cyber insurance premiums.Underwriters are looking for EDR, but demonstrating that you go beyond the endpoint with XDR to reduce cyber risk can help you lower costly cyber insurance premiums. 

Next steps

For more information on XDR and cyber risk management, check out the following series or click here to see how Trend Vision One(TM) – XDR can ensure attackers have nowhere left to hide.

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