What We Do
How We Do
Resources
Company
Partners
Get Started
Blog

How Generative AI Can Be Used to Enable Better Security Outcomes

BY eSentire

October 9, 2024 | 7 MINS READ

Managed Detection and Response

Cybersecurity Strategy

AI/ML

Generative AI

Want to learn more on how to achieve Cyber Resilience?

TALK TO AN EXPERT

Generative AI (GenAI) technologies have had a transformative impact on businesses, significantly improving efficiency and reducing overhead. However, as reliance on these technologies grows, they introduce their own set of complex cybersecurity challenges.

Security leaders are now tasked with understanding how these advancements impact cyber risks, business risks, and regulatory compliance, particularly with evolving guidance from bodies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

While GenAI is being applied on both offensive and defensive cybersecurity fronts, its true value lies in its ability to help security teams do more with less — a critical factor as many organizations face budget constraints and resource limitations.

Although threat actors are using GenAI technologies for offensive purposes, Managed Detection and Response (MDR) providers are also using it on the defense to counter these tactics by automating threat detection, accelerating incident response, and enabling continuous monitoring.

By analyzing large data volumes in real-time, MDR providers can use Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) for proactive threat detection, enhancing the efficiency of SOC operations, and streamline reporting.

In this blog, we explore some ways that GenAI and LLMs can be used by your MDR security provider to enable better security outcomes:

Threat Hunting: Gaining an Edge Against Evolving TTPs

Threat actors are constantly evolving their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), posing a constant challenge to organizations. From traditional phishing and social engineering to advanced disinformation campaigns, data poisoning, and deepfakes, the threat landscape is evolving rapidly. As these TTPs evolve, so must our approach to cybersecurity.

GenAI technologies can enhance threat-hunting capabilities by:

Improving SOC Operations: Empowering Analysts with AI-Driven Insights

There has been a surge in AI-driven Security Operations Centers (SOCs) that are enhancing efficiency by leveraging AI to summarize large amounts of data more effectively. SOC Analysts are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of alerts that need to be addressed and distinguishing between true positives and false positives.

Moreover, they may also benefit from using LLMs to conduct deep threat investigations into the true positives. With GenAI, these processes can be significantly streamlined:

At eSentire, the use of GenAI for our team of 24/7 SOC Cyber Analysts to conduct their investigations. In fact, the eSentire Labs team created an LLM Gateway, an open-source implementation framework to help security teams globally improve how they govern and monitor the use of LLMs internally.

Our SOC Analysts currently use the LLM Gateway to run complex queries, receive answers quickly, and summarize findings to reduce investigation times. Our SOC Analysts can automate the preliminary analysis is automated, allowing them to dive directly into validation and further investigation.

Our goal is to scale subject-matter expertise within the SOC and use GenAI to empower even junior analysts to understand complex scenarios rapidly and make confident decisions. This leads to faster, more informed responses, minimizing threat impact across our customers' attack surfaces.

Additional applications of using GenAI to improve SOC operations include:

Creating Tailored Insights with GenAI for Automated Reporting and Customer Communication

Clear and timely communication is a critical component of threat detection and response. For MDR providers, this means alerting their customers immediately, with relevant information, so they understand the risks they face, and the actions being taken to protect their assets.

Unfortunately, many low-level MDR providers take too long to communicate with their customers, or don’t provide contextually relevant information required for informed decision-making.

Here's how GenAI tools can be used to communicate effectively with customers:

Driving Continuous Learning and Adaptation

GenAI models thrive on continuous learning, allowing them to adapt and respond to emerging threats as they parse new data. This adaptability enables security teams to use the advanced analytics to improve their response strategies and defense frameworks.

By combining the continuous adaptation of GenAI models’ detection capabilities and the security team’s proactive responses, MDR providers can provide significantly better security outcomes for their customers and help them stay resilient against emerging cyber threats. Some examples of this include:

The Limits of GenAI in Cybersecurity: Why Human Expertise is Still Essential

While it’s important to find new ways in which GenAI tools can be adopted to enhance your cybersecurity, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge its limitations.

While excellent at summarizing and synthesizing existing information, current GenAI technologies still lag in identifying and understanding emerging threats. Human intelligence is crucial for context, interpretation, and innovation in the face of new or evolving threat vectors. Here are some limitations of current GenAI models:

Therefore, we believe that GenAI is best utilized as a support tool, enhancing the capabilities of SOC teams rather than replacing them altogether. Outputs from these AI systems require scrutiny and validation to ensure accuracy and relevance in the ever-changing cybersecurity environment.

Generative AI and LLMs have the potential to revolutionize cybersecurity operations, providing enhanced efficiency, better threat detection, and improved customer communication. By adopting GenAI, security teams can not only optimize resources and reduce costs but also significantly enhance their ability to protect against evolving threats.

To learn how eSentire is helping our MDR customers enable better security outcomes and drive efficiency with Generative AI, contact an eSentire cybersecurity specialist.

eSentire
eSentire

eSentire, Inc., the Authority in Managed Detection and Response (MDR), protects the critical data and applications of 2000+ organizations in 80+ countries, across 35 industries from known and unknown cyber threats by providing Exposure Management, Managed Detection and Response and Incident Response services designed to build an organization’s cyber resilience & prevent business disruption. Founded in 2001, eSentire protects the world’s most targeted organizations with 65% of its global base recognized as critical infrastructure, vital to economic health and stability. By combining open XDR platform technology, 24/7 threat hunting, and proven security operations leadership, eSentire's award-winning MDR services and team of experts help organizations anticipate, withstand and recover from cyberattacks. For more information, visit: www.esentire.com and follow @eSentire.

Read the Latest from eSentire