How does real-time response mitigate the risks of cyber threats?


The Importance of Real-Time Threat Information

When it comes to cybersecurity, timing is everything, which is why combating cybercrime proactively rather than reactively is crucial.

Fresh, focused, and actionable information is gathered from internal and external sources, as well as automated and human-generated sources, including real-time threat intelligence. Consider forums on the dark web, social media, analyst reports, and hacktivism sites.

This real-time threat information gathered from different sources may be used to assist IT professionals such as CISOs, fraud managers, and SOC managers, among others, in responding to attacks faster, repelling them more effectively and strengthening their systems against future threats. In fact, real-time threat information combined with a proper vendor may lower an attack's success rate by almost 97 percent.

No System is 100% Secure

There is no such thing as 100% invulnerable cybersecurity, no matter how many cybersecurity solutions you adopt or how much money you throw at the problem. You may make it more difficult by reducing your attack surface and increasing the cost of infiltrating your network, but a committed attacker — or even a random exploit or phishing attempt —might still succeed in the end. The time it takes to notice and respond to a cyber-attack is the difference between a little annoyance and a debilitating cyber-attack.

Guidelines for Rapid Discovery and Real-Time Response

"Rapid discovery and reaction is the difference between an incursion and a breach," noted respected cybersecurity expert Richard Bejtlich on Twitter. When prevention fails, compromise is unavoidable, but breaches are not certain when the adversary is prevented from completing his purpose.

Security does not end when an intrusion occurs: each subsequent step provides another opportunity to frustrate the attacker.

Following are some of the guidelines that can help security professionals in the rapid discovery of cyber threats and launch a quick real-time response in order to combat the threat −

Make a list of people who will be on your team

It's crucial to have the proper individuals with the necessary talents, as well as the relevant tribal knowledge. Appoint a team leader who will be in charge of the entire response to the event. This individual should have a direct line of contact with management so that essential decisions may be taken swiftly, such as shutting down critical systems if necessary.

Your SOC team or managed security consultants may be adequate to tackle an event in smaller firms or if the danger isn't as serious. However, you should engage other important divisions of the organization, such as corporate communications and human resources, for more critical situations.

Identify and confirm the source

The IR team you've put together should first try to figure out what caused the breach, and then make sure it's controlled. A wide range of signs will alert security professionals that an event is occurring or has occurred, including −

  • SIEMs or other security solutions provide alerts based on log data analysis Users, system administrators, network administrators, security employees, and others from within your business reporting symptoms of a security issue.

  • Hashing methods are used by file integrity checking software to identify whether crucial files have been changed.

  • Anti-malware software.

  • Logs (including audit-related data), should be evaluated in a systematic manner to search for unusual or suspicious behavior with −

    • Users

    • External hard drive storage

    • Memory in real-time

    • Devices on the network

    • Computer operating systems

    • Cloud computing services

    • Applications

Recover and Contain

A security breach is comparable to a forest fire. After you've identified the source of an event, you'll need to contain the damage. This may entail blocking network access to machines suspected of being infected with viruses or other malware (so they may be quarantined) and applying security updates to address malware or network vulnerabilities.

You may also need to change passwords for users whose accounts were compromised or for bank accounts of insiders who may have been responsible for the attack. Furthermore, your team should make a backup of any impacted systems in order to preserve their present condition for future investigations. Then, if any service restoration is required, proceed.

Determine the extent of the harm

It might be impossible to appreciate the gravity of an occurrence and the magnitude of the harm it has caused until the smoke clears. Examine the incident's cause in general. Consider the occurrence to be more serious in circumstances when a successful external attacker or malevolent insider was involved. Examine the benefits and drawbacks of starting a full-fledged cyber attribution inquiry at the appropriate time.

Get the notification procedure started

When sensitive, protected, or confidential information is exposed, a data breach happens it is copied, communicated, viewed, stolen, or utilized by an unauthorized individual. Notify those who are impacted so that they can take steps to protect themselves from identity theft or other negative consequences of the data leak.

Conclusion

Cyber-attacks have the potential to propagate throughout the network and do greater damage with each passing minute that goes unnoticed. However, in order to properly identify real-time threats, you'll need the correct combination of platform, intelligence, and professionals.

The dynamic nature of hybrid and multi-cloud settings, as well as the sheer amount of threats, make monitoring using older technologies or manual procedures nearly unfeasible. Machine Learning algorithms and artificial intelligence are critical in evaluating network traffic and activity in order to raise security alarms. Cybersecurity experts can then concentrate on specific security issues and take the necessary steps to prevent or defeat an attack.

Updated on: 30-Jun-2022

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