As security threats continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, choosing the right combination of security tools to protect corporate environments becomes increasingly difficult. Security vendors, both start-up and well-established, are continuously developing new tools that solve very specific security problems. This further adds to the challenge of determining which products or services will satisfy a healthy balance between security and functionality, meet compliance requirements, and bring the organization’s overall security posture to a state that is within the bounds of acceptable risk.
Today’s CISOs, executives and boards have more choice than ever (for many, an overwhelming amount of choice) when it comes to products and services. So, what exactly is the best approach? Less is more? Zero-trust? Defense-in-depth? What does an organization actually need beyond a next-gen firewall and antivirus software in order to be considered secure? The answer (that will likely make you cringe as you read this) is, it depends. There is, unfortunately, no silver bullet that makes corporate assets completely safe and invulnerable to attack. Every organization has different drivers when prioritizing security needs: different budgets, compliance requirements, user behavior, etc.
In a world of not if, but of when threats make their way into IT environments, a good place to start in developing an effective security strategy is to find a solution that has strong foundational capabilities that allow for threats to be detected and responded to immediately. This is key to ensuring that the added tools effectively reduce risk and yield a return on the investment. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provides organizations with threat data that allows them to better prioritize additional (technical) controls that might be necessary. In many instances, with MDR deployed there is a decreased need for additional spend on incremental solutions, as it adequately reduces potential organizational risk.
eSentire’s MDR service not only improves an organization's security posture by leveraging a team of highly skilled analysts to hunt for and respond to threats 24x7x365, it also provides deep visibility into the corporate environment. This level of visibility enables security teams to fully grasp where vulnerabilities lie, what areas of the network need improvement, and where to find risk associated with third-party vendors in order to reduce the attack surface and continue to mature the overall security posture.
Through eSentire’s esNETWORK, esENDPOINT, esLOG, and esINSIDER services, customers partner with a team of Security Operations Center (SOC) analysts, enabling them to quickly detect and respond to threats and drastically improve the level of visibility into network activity. Operating as an extension of internal security teams, eSentire SOC analysts focus on false positive reduction along with true positive detection and response and make recommendations by identifying areas of improvement within the environments they monitor.
In a noisy crowded space with more choice than need, the best path for ensuring a strong security posture, is to take the less is more approach and build a strong foundation first.
To learn how your organization can build cyber resilience and prevent business disruption with eSentire’s Next Level MDR, connect with an eSentire Security Specialist now.
GET STARTEDABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tia Hopkins Chief Cyber Resilience Officer & Field CTO
As Chief Cyber Resilience Officer & Field CTO, Tia Hopkins is focused on engaging with the cybersecurity community, providing thought leadership, supporting strategic customer and partner engagements, and working closely with the sales, marketing, product, engineering, and customer success teams to drive security outcome-focused initiatives.
She has spent the past 20+ years of her career in various IT and IT Security roles and has over a decade of experience in the managed services space. Outside of her role at eSentire, Tia is also an adjunct professor of Cybersecurity at Yeshiva University and is currently pursuing her PhD in Cybersecurity Leadership.
Tia holds a B.Sc. in Information Technology, M.Sc. in Information Security and Assurance, a M.Sc. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, as well as a Master of Business Administration. She was recognized by SC Media as a 2019 Reboot Leadership Award recipient in the Outstanding Educator category. In 2020, Tia was awarded The Software Report’s Top 25 Women Leaders in Cybersecurity and the Cyber Defense Magazine’s Top 100 Women in Cybersecurity, and in 2021 was recognized by IFSEC Global as a top global influencer in the Security Executives category. Tia has been most recently recognized as Team Leader of the Year at the SANS Institute 2023 Difference Makers Awards.