Following a record year for cybercrime in 2021, nearly three-quarters of senior IT decision-makers say they are not sure their organizations can fend off increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Many are turning to managed detection and response (MDR) services to boost their defenses.
MDR is an outsourced security service that gives organizations access to a provider’s team of dedicated security analysts and engineers. With the tools, training and manpower that few organizations have in-house, MDR providers help customers rapidly detect, analyze and mitigate even the stealthiest threats.
Faster detection is key to limiting damage. According to a Ponemon Institute study, it takes the average company 206 days to detect a threat and another 73 days to contain it. That means attackers have the better part of a year to rummage around a victim’s systems performing reconnaissance, manipulating data and stealing credentials. However, the study further finds that companies can dramatically limit damage and save roughly $1 million in remediation costs if they can contain a threat within 30 days.
Rapid Containment is Key
That’s a stretch for most organizations, though. In a recent Arctic Wolf survey of more than 1,400 senior IT decision-makers and business executives in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, 74 percent said their in-house security teams lack the ability and expertise to fend off ransomware attacks and other sophisticated threats.
More tools aren’t the answer. Organizations commonly have up to 100 different security tools, but most of those are underutilized. In a separate Arctic Wolf survey of cybersecurity pros, 30 percent admitted they don’t know how to use all their organization’s tools effectively.
What’s more, all those tools create an enormous volume of security alerts — IDC analysts say enterprise systems can generate more than 10,000 alerts per month, with more than half of them false alarms. Individually evaluating all those alerts can overwhelm security teams and lead to alert fatigue.
How MDR Can Help
Leading MDR providers such as Arctic Wolf take the pressure off in-house IT teams with automated detection and response capabilities. The Arctic Wolf system collects, aggregates and analyzes log data from throughout the existing technology stack to identify threats — without requiring the involvement of in-house IT staff. Over time, machine learning algorithms help build the threat intelligence necessary to actively hunt for and disrupt threats.
The Arctic Wolf solution was recognized as CRN’s 2021 Product of the Year in the MDR space and is rated among the industry leaders by Garter and IDC. The cloud-native platform aggregates security telemetry from all network and cloud environments, endpoint devices and multiple threat intelligence communities. It forwards this data to Arctic Wolf’s Concierge Security Team for analysis based on threat’s unique tactics, techniques and procedures.
How We Can Help
With the ability to reduce the duration of an attack from months to minutes, Arctic Wolf’s MDR solution delivers immediate value. Contact us to learn more about using this solution to improve your cybersecurity capabilities.