Why the Buzz on XDR Solutions?

Why should XDR play a central role in your cybersecurity strategy? How is it a material improvement over the technologies you already have? And what specific outcomes should you expect in return for your investment in XDR technology?

For answers to those questions, I’m inviting you to listen to “XDR in a Hybrid World,” a podcast for Enterprise Management 360 with Secure Anchor Consulting’s Dr. Eric Cole and me.

We discussed the challenges you and your team face as you seek to defend digital environments that include growing network infrastructure, large numbers of endpoints, multiple clouds, remote users, and diverse SaaS applications that include email—which is increasingly the target of potential compromise. (The podcast is about 25 minutes long—but you can skip to the seven-minute mark to get right to XDR.)

XDR vs. SIEM

In the interview, we compare and contrast XDR and SIEM, as looking at these two solutions can cause confusion. In fact, many SIEM vendors are trying to pass themselves off as XDR—even though they are really just making incremental improvements to their core SIEM offerings.

Not that there’s anything wrong with SIEM. It’s been a big help to many because it helps us stay on top of security issues across the enterprise by bringing together telemetry from a growing number of sources.

But aggregation isn’t enough. We also need a better way of coping with a massive volume of alerts. And, above all, we have to make sure we’re using our limited time wisely, so we’re truly providing maximum protection to our organizations instead of chasing alerts that don’t pan out.

Capabilities	SIEM	XDR
Open platform for aggregating telemetry and security-relevant data from diverse sources	Yes	Yes
Leverages machine learning and human intelligence to prioritize, filter, and correlate alerts—rather than simply “bubbling up” overwhelming volumes of alerts	No	Yes
Streamlines collaborative investigations so internal SecOps teams and their external partners can get to the heart of urgent security issues faster	No	Yes
Helps SecOps respond to and remediate security issues faster and more efficiently with automated actions and proven playbooks	No	Yes

XDR solutions do a lot more than just aggregate telemetry. They empower you and your team to really make use of that telemetry—and to minimize the time spent dealing with minor issues when there are major ones requiring your attention.

Why now?

Understanding XDR’s advantages is one thing. Actually greenlighting a new technology for active implementation in your production environment is another. So why now? Why should you make the move to XDR sooner, rather than later?

I believe we’ve reached a tipping point due to:

The rising intensity and sophistication of the attacks we’re facing
The expanding scale and complexity of the environments we’re charged with protecting—especially with multiple IaaS clouds and apps (for which, like it or not, we are ultimately responsible)
Greater use of remote access—which makes identity a bigger issue than ever—as a result of the pandemic and what are now permanently rooted flexible work policies
Limited availability of professional cybersecurity talent
The need to retain the cybersecurity staff we already have (creating a positive work experience, preventing burnout, etc.)
Increased scrutiny from executives who are more security-aware than ever—but also want to make sure they get the most from their security investments

Simply put, the status quo isn’t going to cut it anymore because there’s too much at stake. So be sure to give the podcast a listen. And if you’d like to see how the Secureworks® Taegis™ XDR solution addresses the challenges discussed in this podcast, register for this 15-minute demo that simulates an attack sequence. You’ll see how we’re able to detect an attack before traditional point solutions, allowing you to stop even the most advanced threats with speed and precision.