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Four Methods for Creating Stronger Passwords

Four Methods for Creating Stronger Passwords

by | Jul 30, 2019

If you are incorporating cybersecurity standards in your organizations, stronger passwords are a great starting point. In addition, learn more about incorporating a cybersecurity framework.

stronger passwords

At any given moment, hackers are likely attempting entry into sensitive online services like bank accounts and social media accounts. If a hacker can access that account, they’ll either mine it for as much data or money as possible or sell it to the highest bidder to do the same.

Creating Stronger Passwords

That’s why it’s absolutely critical to have a stronger password: one that’s hard to guess through personal details and one that’s hard to brute force with specialized computer programs. Here, you’ll find four quick tips for creating and remembering stronger passwords so you can keep scammers and hackers at bay.

#1. Avoid real words

Though words you use in everyday life may be easy to remember, they’re actually some of the weakest passwords. There are far fewer words than there are total combinations of letters, making it quite easy for password cracking programs to scan through dictionary words quickly.

This is the main reason you shouldn’t use real-life words but instead should use more randomly generated strings of letters. You can also use parts of dictionary words in combination with random letter combinations, an equally difficult combination for cracking programs to guess. Check out KnowB4’s weak password tool. 

#2. Use mnemonics

It can be extremely difficult to remember complicated, seemingly random passwords. But you can actually generate tough-to-crack passwords and remember them easily by using mnemonic devices. These are memory-triggering words or sentences that allow you to remember something far more complex.

For example, if you are aiming to generate a long password you may want to use some personal information. If your first pet was named Fido, then you could think of the following sentence: “Fido was my first dog. He lived until he was 12 and we got him when I was 7”. Then, you could take the first letter or number of each sentence and create the password “Fwmfd.Hluhw1awghwIw7”.

While you may want to add some special characters to that password, it is overall a strong password and is far easier to remember than a truly random string of letters.

#3. Add multi-factor authentication

Technology for cracking passwords is constantly advancing. Instead of trying to outpace this using single-layer passwords, you could instead add multiple layers of different types of account security that all link back to your password.

Two-factor or multi-factor authentication services offer ways to verify that you are actually logging into an account. This is usually done via text or phone calls to your phone number, where you then use a code given to access your account. This extra layer ensures that you’re the only person truly logging onto an account.

#4. Use password managers

Passwords managers are specialized programs that can create and store strong passwords for different websites and services. Though you should be rightfully wary of programs like this, top-tier software actually encrypts your passwords, so they’re completely inaccessible to anyone but you.

On top of remembering already existing passwords, these programs will generate unique strong passwords for each service. That means you’ll get the enhanced security of unique passwords instead of reusing variations of the same password on multiple sites.

Keeping track of complex passwords is no easy feat, but is necessary in today’s Internet world. With sensitive information constantly sent and received, it’s essential to create security settings that you can remember and that are difficult to crack. These three tips are simple methods for ensuring that you stay in control of your account with stronger passwords.

Read Next:

How to Meet the Guidelines for the NIST Cybersecurity Framework

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Is your Business at Risk from an Advanced Persistent Threat?

Is your Business at Risk from an Advanced Persistent Threat?

by | Jul 9, 2019

More than just a single hacker or thief trying to take advantage of your business or steal information about your customers or products, the Advanced Persistent Threat is the super-villain of the hacking world and needs to be prepared accordingly.

Defining the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

An APT or Advanced Persistent Threat is a sophisticated and coordinated network attack that allows an invader to access a network and to remain there, undetected, for a significant amount of time. The typical attacker has a goal of stealing data; APT attackers often set their sights on businesses and organizations with valuable secure data. An APT attacker often targets government agencies, financial institutions, and other businesses dealing with high-value information.

The Navy recently detailed the five stages of a cyber intrusion. 

A recent piece in Wired magazine highlighted the growing number of Romanian cyber criminals who have focused on stealing from US consumers at a rate of over $1 trillion each year. Unlike the stereotypical hacker who lives and works in his mom’s basement, these cybercriminals have learned to band together and collaborate. These collaborations in Romania and around the world allow a team of criminals to work together, increasing their potential gains while reducing their risk of prosecution by local law enforcement.

While these cybercriminals cause headaches for consumers, they rarely launch large-scale attacks against business organizations. Nations-sponsored espionage teams often engage in the same sort of collaborative efforts as their consumer swindling counterparts but focus on long-term gains and results. These organizations are often identified as Advanced Persistent Threats, and as the name indicates, they are both skilled at infiltration and likely to make repeated attempts to damage your organization.

Related: The Financial Industry’s Biggest Threat

Since APTs are clouded in secrecy and their operations can vary, learning more about how they operate and how they have impacted other organizations can help you protect your business from this particular brand of criminal.

Recent APT Attacks in the News

  • Anthem Health Insurance was targeted by hackers, and authorities believe that the attackers may have had access to the system for over six months before they were discovered. Malware and a series of faked domain names opened the door into the network, though the actual entry point is unknown. In all, hackers were able to operate within the network for eight weeks before being discovered and they were discovered by accident.
  • In 2015, the US Office of Personnel Management was breached, and hackers stole multiple terabytes of confidential information. The breach impacted over 20 million individuals, as the hackers were able to identify defense contractor users and target the specific systems they were operating.
  • Sony lost large amounts of data in 2014, including unreleased movies, private information, data about roughly 6,000 employees, and various other pieces of confidential information. According to the FBI, only about 10% of organizations would have been prepared to withstand this malicious attack

How an APT Attacker Gets Into your Network

  • The attacker will heavily research the target organization, focusing heavily on the people who work there in the hope of exploiting someone for information. Once a few targets have been identified, the APT hacker then launches a phishing attack to gain credentials or access to the network.
  • Once inside, the attacker explores the network and begins to slowly remove or export information. If service disruption is a goal, then the attacker may also attempt to disrupt operations or even cause physical damage to the organization.

Related: Top Cyber Security Websites

What can be done about Advanced Persistent Threats?

The security industry continues to create new protection and detection methods; these are used to identify possible issues and potential vulnerabilities before the criminal can get in. Various methods are used to shore up the technological side of the equation, but employee education and training are a must if an organization wants to prevent an attack by an APT.

Improve Employee Awareness and Education: Employees are a weak spot and can be easily exploited by any group wishing to harm your organization. Your workers do not have to be malicious to allow an APT attacker to access your system; they can be tricked by phishing scams, faked websites, and other methods. Boosting education and employee awareness of this type of attack can help reduce the risk of human error or malicious activity.

Better yet, monitor your organization’s endpoints so malware can’t execute. It’s possible with managed endpoint detection and response. 

Consider Baas or DRaaS: Both Backup as a Service and Disaster Recovery as a Service make it fast and easy for your brand to recover if you are breached. By having an up-to-date backup in place you can access your files and network from a remote location, without losing data. When you opt for DRaaS or have a robust recovery plan, you ensure that your business runs without interruption and that you don’t lose time and money restoring your full systems on a new network.

Choose Enterprise-Level Anti-Virus Protection: Multi-layered antivirus software and packages can help protect your system; the right AV system will include behavioral analysis and the ability to recognize and remove unknown programs and malware. A consumer solution may not offer the level of security needed to block an APT attack. Since infiltration is only the first step, regular monitoring of the way your systems are accessed via behavioral analysis can help you recognize an intruder and limit the amount of damage they cause.

Manage Devices: Any device, including smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices that can access your system also exposes you to risk. The devices allowed to connect with your enterprise can be targeted for infection or data theft, allowing an APT attacker a way into your system. Placing limits on data transfer, using encryption, and monitoring the way devices access your system can help cut your risk.

Include that in your overall cybersecurity strategy. Consider outsourcing the security monitoring of your SIEM, endpoints, patching, and vulnerability protection with a single service. 

Awareness of the danger is an ideal first step when you want to protect your network from APT attacks. Having an emergency backup plan in place and a robust disaster recovery setup can help you get back to work quickly if the worst happens.

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How to Prevent Data Breaches in Healthcare

How to Prevent Data Breaches in Healthcare

by | Jun 27, 2019

Data breaches in healthcare are rampant in today’s cyber threat landscape. Is it possible to prevent them? Security must become ingrained in the strategy of the organization. Keep reading the following tips to ensure success.

Why instigate data breaches in healthcare? The reason is apparent that the pharmacies, hospitals, doctors, and clinics practices have valuable information. Healthcare organizations attract cybercriminals as they are goldmines of private, personal information. Thus, there is a need to protect securely the information.

How Can Companies Prevent Data Breaches?

Ensuring the security of sensitive information has become a top priority for companies across all industries. The threat of data breaches is constantly looming, which can have significant consequences in terms of financial losses and reputational damage. To prevent such incidents, companies must implement a robust cybersecurity framework that addresses potential vulnerabilities. This entails several measures such as regular software updates, multifactor authentication, employee training on safe online practices, and limiting access to sensitive data only to authorized personnel. By taking these measures, companies can protect themselves against potential data breaches and safeguard their reputation and integrity.

10 Ways to Prevent Security Breaches in Healthcare Sector

1. Ensure that all software is properly updated: Regularly updating your healthcare organization’s operating systems, medical devices, electronic health records, and other software can help prevent attackers from exploiting outdated vulnerabilities.

2. Implement strong authentication systems: Multifactor authentication (MFA), using two-factor or biometric authentication could help protect patient data against unauthorized access.

3. Train and educate employees on data security: Regularly providing training to employees in areas such as phishing prevention, password management, mobile device security, etc. can help reduce the risk of data breaches due to human error.

4. Limit access to sensitive data: Implementing least-privileged user access controls can limit the scope of a potential data breach by granting access only to those who need it.

5. Encrypt patient data: Encrypting sensitive EHRs and other PHI can help protect them from unauthorized access, even if attackers gain access to your system.

6. Monitor medical devices and IoT networks: Regularly monitoring connected medical devices and IoT networks can help identify potential vulnerabilities and malicious activities before they become a serious threat.

7. Conduct periodic risk assessments: Regularly assessing the security posture of electronic health records (EHRs), as well as other sensitive data can help organizations identify potential risks and take steps to mitigate them.

8. Implement physical security measures: Securing physical access to medical equipment and other assets, such as servers, can help protect against potential data breaches.

9. Implement robust backup plans: Regularly backing up EHRs and other sensitive data is a crucial step in ensuring that patient information remains safe even if there is a breach.

10. Prepare for the worst: Developing a comprehensive incident response plan can help organizations respond quickly and efficiently to any data breach that may occur. This includes contacting affected parties, conducting investigations, and providing support. Additionally, having a clear policy on what should be done if a data breach occurs can help healthcare organizations better protect their data in the wake of an attack.

Causes of cybersecurity breaches in healthcare

The causes of cybersecurity breaches in healthcare are the same as any other industry – lack of security protocols, human error, malware and viruses, weak passwords, and inadequate patch management. However, the healthcare sector faces additional challenges due to its vast array of legacy systems that are often challenging to secure. In addition, there is a huge amount of sensitive information stored in these systems which attackers may target.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Enacted in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law designed to ensure that health information remains secure and private. HIPAA regulations include requirements for protecting patient data under the Privacy Rule, as well as data security standards under the Security Rule. These regulations establish specific safeguards that healthcare organizations must take to protect patient data from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. HIPAA compliance is mandatory for any organization that handles PHI or electronic health records (EHRs).

Data Breaches in Healthcare

If you look at the healthcare wall of shame, it seems the healthcare industry shows a lax attitude toward security procedures.

This lax attitude makes data breaches in healthcare almost inevitable.

Based on the high amount of personal information available within healthcare organizations, a data breach will only devastate patients and providers. There is a need to prevent data breaches in healthcare and it means tightening the security. A few actions to shrink a data breach possibility:

Perform Yearly Assessment of Security Risk

There are a lot of things going on in an organization in 12 months. This involves infrastructure enhancements, integration of a new system, employee turnover, and organizational restructuring. It is prone to vulnerabilities to take place.

Performing yearly assessments of security risk helps the providers to review the protocols of security and to assess system vulnerability, besides understanding the security measures to be improved.

Learn about healthcare data breach impacts

Accepting the fact that not all the people working with healthcare data are tech-savvy, there is a need to be more careful. This is because less or a lack of knowledge may cause a security breach. The risk is high and acquiring proper technical knowledge should be made mandatory.

Educating employees on data breaches and their impacts is the foremost step to preventing the breach from happening. Educating employees or the amount spent on data security learning is an investment. The cyber attack risk is reduced only when there are educated employees.

Nicknamed the “Healthcare Wall of Shame” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals, based on the HITECH Act. You can see the number of individuals affected, the type of breach, and the location of breached information.

Related: The Financial Industry’s Biggest Threat

Monitor records and devices

Constantly reminding employees about being mindful of using electronic devices and leaving unattended paper records is helpful.

Avoiding a healthcare data breach also involves paper records getting stolen. Thus, safeguarding a patient’s information is everyone’s responsibility, and the employees must ensure to keep data safe.

While security awareness training is important, the service has proven to be more effective in managed endpoint detection and response. 

By managing the endpoints and having the ability to prevent malware from executing, it’s possible to prevent data breaches in healthcare.

Install hardware and encryption of data

Encryption is critical to prevent data breaches in healthcare. It is the best way of safeguarding data. There is a need to ensure data is not accessed and so encrypting patient information is a must. Besides, the vulnerable hardware such as network endpoints, servers, medical devices, and mobile is the right decision.

Implementing data encryption is a must. Money spent on the protocols of encryption will soon outweigh government penalties, legal fees, forensics, negative publicity, and potential lawsuits that run into millions.

Restricting patient information

The healthcare environment always has many hands working and patient information is always in use. This is the reason it is important to limit access to data and to manage carefully the user’s identity.

Controlling access to information is rightly done by logging on and off the machines that are shared. These are safe methods that help in identifying a computer that is logged in or left unattended.  Running automation helps to check these protocols and ensures safety and efficiency for that involved.

Modernize IT Infrastructure

A common scene in hospital environments is outdated computer hardware. The healthcare environment must have secure equipment.  It is observed that even today in many hospitals Windows XP is in use.  Microsoft has already ceased support for XP and there are no new patches of security available. It means with XP users the healthcare data breach is open.

There is a need to realize the importance of healthcare data. Hospitals have sensitive information and are data banks. If someone breaches and lays a hand over a confidential medical record, it will be a disaster for the healthcare system.

Patching is vital, especially in older equipment. A Managed patching and vulnerability service could help prevent data breaches in healthcare.

Invest to defend networks

The truth is that hospitals require more doctors and nurses, but there is a need for supportive hospital administration.  There is a need to be careful of the medical data and to take preventive measures to safeguard the data.

Preventing cyber attacks implies that healthcare should invest in defending networks so that there is no data breach. The healthcare data should not be mitigated and so ensure your staff is vigilant and aware of data protection.

When you start with the security strategy, you can create a framework for all security-based decisions. Read more about People, Processes, and Technology here.

Subnet wireless networks

Nowadays, offering Wi-Fi as free access has become common. Hospitals are also offering the same. The key is to ensure the patients are not stranded and the Wi-Fi access allows them to access their requisites.

Offering patient Wi-Fi access is not wrong, but it should be done by creating subnetworks. Creating a subnetwork means it will be reserved for public use and permit restricted access to guest users. Creating more subnets for apps to know healthcare information, for business applications, and apps involving a monetary transaction is also essential. Subnetworks are recommended so that the healthcare data network is safe and secure in an encrypted form and there is no data breach.

Implement BYOD policy

Smart devices use is on the increase and aids doctors remotely. This is convenient but is also a threat to the IT departments that wish to safeguard the healthcare environment.

Thus, it means following a policy of BYOD ‘bring your device’. This will keep the IT associates and the employees aware of the devices that will be in use internally and externally. Also, draw a strict outline to adhere to the BYOD so that there is no healthcare data breach.

Remote smart device use comes with increased risk. Be sure to have endpoints secured through a managed endpoint service.

Hire a Cyber Team for Incident Response

There is a need for an expert cyber team as a standby representative. You must be ready for the worst if there is a data breach. If you aren’t able to prevent a data breach, you’ll reduce the negative effect of the breach when you have an incident response team standing by.

Protecting patient data with tight network advanced security helps in detecting the indicators and also in responding before the attack starts. Any sort of neglect cannot be acceptable in healthcare.   Regardless of what happens, accepting the situation is best, and dealing with it during sensitive circumstances is possible only by an expert cyber team.

Learn more about Incident Response and Incident Containment Services. 

How Can Data Breaches Be Prevented?

Preventing data breaches is essential in the digital world we live in to protect sensitive data and valuable information. System monitoring, training employees on cyber security, encrypting data, firewalls, and threat detection can all contribute to the prevention of a data breach.

By paying attention to detail and implementing strong prevention practices, businesses can improve their security system and protect customer or corporate data. Educating staff on cyber security systems and common threats will create an awareness that can help prevent a possible breach before it even gets started.

Additionally, updating systems regularly, using encryption techniques to store data safely, and using secure authentication protocols are all prevention strategies that should be taken seriously by businesses. Ultimately, the prevention of a data breach is key for keeping a valuable company or customer information safe from malicious attacks.

Data Loss Prevention DLP Solutions: Everything You Need to Know

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2019 Cyber Threat Landscape

2019 Cyber Threat Landscape

by | Jun 25, 2019

Are you prepared for the 2019 cyber threat landscape? While we continue to be awed at the way technology is moving forward and touching us in every aspect of our life, we are also shocked at the way cyber attacks are increasing.

cyber threat landscape

The attacks are not just increasing in numbers but also in the way they are being enacted. The attackers are devising new methods while cybersecurity companies struggle to keep up with them.

2019 Cyber Threat Landscape

With the enforcement of GDPR security of data has become a serious issue. It has moved from the IT department to the boardrooms. When there is a breach it is the board which is going to feel the heat. The blame is always on the Chief Information Security officer, the Chief Information Officer or the Chief Executive Officer. It is not just the reputation that is at stake with the implementation of GDPR. The financial implications are huge.

It is time to take a look at what will constitute the major threats in this year. With increased use of cryptocurrencies and IoT there will be increased threats which have to be dealt with. There is also a threat that even nations can use cyberattacks to weaken an opponent. Thinking on these lines have already started in many countries, even in the United States. 

Ransomware Slowing Down

Ransomware is on the decline though not completely out. Companies and government departments are adding to the security budget and making cybersecurity prevention a priority, using tools like Managed SIEM and Managed EDR. taking enough steps to combat a ransomware attack. This is not the only reason though. Attackers are finding other easier ways to make money and cryptocurrencies are one of the major sources.

Cryptocurrencies are mined using computer and software. Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies are generated by crypto-mining which is a process that requires a lot of computational power. This consumes a lot of energy and is also time-consuming. Now illegal miners are making use of others’ computers without their knowledge for the mining of cryptocurrencies. This is called crypto-jacking. This helps the criminals to get money added directly to their account. Without any centralized authority to check the bitcoin transactions, it is easy for the criminals to use this money for purely legal purposes.

Stealing money from bank accounts continue and will remain a trend in the 2019 cyber threat landscape. With more accounts being operated online it is easier for the banking trojans. People are still gullible enough to reveal their login details or opening malicious email attachments. People are also lured to visit websites where their bank details will be stolen from them.

IoT And The Threats Associated With It

IoT is being increasingly used in the world now. People prefer to have smart homes and smart appliances which they can control from anywhere. It is estimated that by 2020 around 40 billion devices will be connected to the internet. Organizations find using IoT very beneficial as they are able to control actions without human interference. Machines can find weaknesses in them by themselves thus avoiding breakdowns. There is much more to IoT and they are being explored. This should make understanding the cyber threat landscape a larger priority for organizations.

While IoT is very important in making functions more efficient there is an inherent danger in the technology. It will allow for easy access to data by cyber criminals. IoT generates a huge amount of data. Most of the data can be sensitive information. IoT has touched almost every business running today. It is in use in healthcare, agriculture, automobile industry, etc. The data which is generated in healthcare industry can be very sensitive and private in nature. All the data is stored in the cloud and is accessible by internet.

The increase in the demand for IoT enabled devices has made many manufacturers to be careless about many of the components. Sensors are used to capture data. Using the right sensors for each of the device may be expensive for the companies. They may connect external sensors to the devices which will be easy to penetrate. Once the attackers have penetrated one device it is easy to access all the data that is stored in the cloud.

There is another problem with IoT. The companies which make the devices are in a hurry to launch more advanced models. They don’t have the time to upgrade the existing models. This will mean that these devices will not be able to combat the latest threats. They become the weak spots in the network which the criminals can easily use. Because the makers of these devices are full of orders they continue to use old and obsolete testing methods.

Threats Through Mobile Devices

As the activities on mobile devices increase cyber criminals are also moving to the mobile phones to gain from them. Mobile apps are in general highly personalized. They contain a lot of personal information which can be very useful for criminals. This information will include credit card and bank details which users will feed so that the transactions are faster. Criminals are now finding it easy to penetrate mobile apps and steal personal information.

It is essential for mobile developers to improve the server-side protection. In many cases developers are in a hurry to release an app due to pressure from the client. There are many frameworks which lack adequate security. Developers use this to complete the job faster. It may not provide adequate security for the data that is stored in the server. Many times, the developers think that mobile OS will provide adequate protection which is not true.

Storage of data in the phone is another weak area. App developers will leave the protection of this data to the phone. But it is not safe there. The best solution to this is to avoid storage of data that is not needed. Developers should also provide an additional layer of encryption.

How To Protect Your Organization From Attacks?

The 2019 cyber threat landscape so far has proven to add more layers and dimensions of cyber attacks than previous years.  By starting with a security risk assessment, organizations will have a better understanding of the security gaps in their strategy.

While security awareness training is important, it is vital that organizations plan around employee/insider threats. By utilizing a managed service for log events, you will have 24/7 surveillance of potential cyber threats. Plus, when you add managed endpoint detection and response (managed EDR), you’ll have a team of experts that are able to stop malware before it can execute.

How to Prevent Zero-Day Attacks in 5 Steps

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Insight on Threat Hunting with Managed EDR and Its Effectiveness

Insight on Threat Hunting with Managed EDR and Its Effectiveness

by | Jun 20, 2019

Requirement or need results in more inventions. Threat Hunting with Managed EDR is the result of the massive cyber threat landscape we are dealing with in 2019. With the new breaches cropping up daily, there is a race going on between cyber-defenders and hackers. This has resulted in the managed security service disruption.

The advanced threats of today are designed to circumvent the defenses of conventional cyber security. This is where EDR, Endpoint Detection, and Response, have helped many organizations defend themselves.

They eliminate the advancing threats before they try compromising the data. This leverages the capabilities of automation and response. There is also endpoint protection using machine learning, application control, behavioral analysis, vulnerability protection, and other techniques enabling it to work seamlessly.

What is EDR?

EDR represents the Endpoint Detection and Response that help in detecting a threat. These are the tools focused mainly on detecting suspicious activities and investigating other hosts/endpoints’ problems.

It is a new solutions category relatively that is referred to as EDR. The EDR is a technology emerging to address the continuous need for monitoring advanced threats and responding.

How Does EDR Work?

EDR, Endpoint Detection, and Response work by monitoring the network events and endpoints. It records in a central database the information and this result in detection, further analysis, reporting, investigation, and alerting.

When you outsource the management of your Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), security analysts can:

  • Perform root cause analysis for any blocked threat or any other artifact deemed important found on an endpoint
  • Proactively search endpoints for signs of threats commonly referred to as threat hunting
  • Take decisive action when a security incident, or potential incident, is identified

Ongoing detection and monitoring are done using analytics tools. These help in identifying the tasks that promote the security overall state. It is done by deflecting common attacks. It also facilitates quick identification of attacks ongoing, if any, including external attacks and insider threats, besides enabling rapid response towards the detected attacks.

Read more: Traditional Antivirus vs. EDR

Of course, the fact stays that not all the EDR tools work typically or offer the same capabilities in the available space.  Some tools of EDR help in performing more analysis on agents, while some perform backend data analysis through a management console.  On the other hand, a few differences in the collection of scope and time may also differ in their integrating ability with the providers of threat intelligence. However, all the tools of EDR perform essential functions such as:

  • Providing means to monitor continuously and to perform analysis to identify readily
  • Work with tools to detect instantly and prevent advanced or advancing threats.

 EDR capabilities

 The capabilities of the EDR tool reveal a broader security function set. This is a tool offering EDR apart from application control, network access control, device encryption, and control, data encryption, privileged control, and a lot more capabilities.

The EDR tools are appropriate for endpoint visibility even in multitudes. Thus, endpoint visibility falls into three categories:

  • Data E
  • Data search and investigation
  • Detection of suspicious activity

Most EDR tools tackle the response portion of these capabilities. They make use of sophisticated analytics that helps in identifying the patterns and also in detecting the anomalies such as unique processes, unrecognized or strange connections, or even risky activity marks appearing on baseline comparisons. The endpoint detection and response, EDR tools permit user-led analysis of data to be done manually, though this can be an automated process such that the anomalies will trigger alerts when instant action or investigating further is required.

EDR, Endpoint detection, and response is a budding field, though the capabilities of EDR are becoming quickly an essential element for any enterprise security solution. There may be enterprises or companies with a requirement for advanced threat protection and they can consider the EDR very well as it features an in-demand capability. There are continuous benefits as it offers visibility into the data activity at all times. This makes the EDR tool very valuable and its response immediately ensures the security component of any enterprise.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

EDR solutions features include:

  • Detecting ability and preventing hidden exploiting complex processes than some simple pattern or signature.
  • Data collection enables the creation of a repository that will be used for analytics.
  • Automation of alerts and defensive responses on detecting an attack by turning off specific processes.
  • Threat intelligence including visibility of processes, applications, communications, and endpoints to detect nasty or spiteful activities and to abridge security incident response.
  • Forensic capabilities and this is because if you find an attacker is already inside, there is a need to plunge into their activities to comprehend their movements so that the breach impact may be minimized.

Threat Hunting with Managed EDR

Endpoint Detection and Response, EDR is highly powerful to detect attacks. EDR offers rapid actions in response as required enabling to contain the threat immediately. However, if you plan to proactively hunt a threat, it is not easy to do it all alone. That’s where threat hunting with Managed EDR is incredibly helpful.

Understanding the EDR platform’s categorization capabilities and automated detection is required to bypass successfully an adversary present on the systems. Hackers are very intelligent and they mostly get a better hand. Now it is the role of the hunters to look for granular logs collected by the EDR solution as the endpoint activity. These logs may be really powerful while hunting for historical events or adversary behaviors while leveraging. Such hunting type is the widely used technique for hunting known as ‘Historical Search’, and this is the primary technique.

Regrettably, most EDR solutions are less effective in threat hunting platforms and so there is a need for additional analytics solutions. This is needed to perform hunting to understand post-compromise behaviors and it is done using more advanced analysis. Thus, you may bank upon EDR as a data analytics solution or a log source.

The Financial Industry’s Biggest Threat – Click Here to Read More

Role of Managed EDR

Managed EDR refers to the agents monitoring and proactively hunting continuously for threats, known and unknown in each of your endpoints. Thus, they provide complete visibility of potential threats. As the analytics of the advanced endpoint identifies suspicious behavior, the AI-driven platform examines the threat. With the validation of the threat, instant action is taken to contain the endpoint or points compromised, the threat is resolved, and the endpoints are protected from similar attacks in the future.

Benefits of Managed EDR

Detects identified and unidentified threats

Managed EDR service is not focused only on identifying known threats. The advanced analytics of EDRs identify even the unknown previous threats and contain them, besides defining the attack’s root cause.

Stop the attacks in-progress

Managed EDR service is of immense help as it monitors the endpoint behavior continuously and it also uncovers the unidentified previously attacked campaigns even before they attain their objective.

High-speed response

Detection and response services are done under one platform. This also is combined with advanced machine learning featuring skilled security staff that immediately find a solution to any security incident the moment it is identified to be cutting coordination time.

Conclusion

In today’s massive threat landscape, it’s best to keep all your endpoints covered. And having the ability to stop a malware attack before it happens is a benefit of EDR. When you outsource the management of EDR to a trusted cybersecurity firm, you allow for 24/7 threat detection. Threat hunting with managed EDR is a vital aspect of a thorough cybersecurity strategy.

Consider Threat Hunting with Managed EDR

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