When looking into what makes security solutions effective in the current landscape, we must first focus our attention on its predecessors to evaluate the need for an upgrade. Before extended response and detection, known as XDR, we had endpoint detection and response – EDR. The EDR focuses on endpoint protection, limiting its visibility to only managed devices and endpoints, posing a problem within the current cybercrime environment.

Due to advances in technology propelled by the health pandemic, organisations worldwide are currently undergoing digital transformations that have affected the execution of day-to-day operations. With hybrid work environments and increased cloud adoption, businesses must consider the vulnerability of their unmanaged endpoints. As the name suggests, XDR extends the concept of the EDR by essentially acting as a watchtower and control centre over your entire network. It collects data from various security devices placed all across your security infrastructure, analyses the data, creates in-depth reports, and delineates the necessary actions accordingly to ensure you stay one step ahead of evolving cybercriminals. 

XDRs, if done right, aggregate data from across the entire network infrastructure into a single platform, giving security teams visibility of the whole network at any given time. Aside from the visibility benefit, XDRs also provide continuous monitoring, threat detection and automated response. Going back to the title of this article, XDRs play a vital role in the breaking down of security silos. Let’s first answer the question of “what is a silo”? When data is stuck in a single application or perspective without the ability to communicate with data in other applications, that is known as an information silo. Data trapped in siloes are often rendered useless without the ability to coordinate with other types of data. Siloed data is a headache for security teams as it means having to watch over multiple data sources, which can lead to important information slipping through the cracks.

To eliminate these detrimental blind spots, XDR integrates and standardises all that information eliminating the headache-inducing silos. What’s even better than a complete view of your network is the cost savings. Having integrated the disparate cybersecurity silos that organisations today are experiencing, the XDR saves employees’ time and optimises the tools already deployed in your security infrastructure. 

Now it’s time to look into choosing the right XDR solution. While the concept of an XDR sounds inviting, CSOs need to make careful considerations before picking a provider. A good XDR should comprehensively see, understand and act. To provide your organisation with the best security, an XDR should:

• Have the ability to integrate all forms of logging data types.

• Wield powerful AI and ML technologies for better analysis.

• Be able to integrate with third-party applications or solutions.

• Have a seamless execution strategy.

The Hillstone iSource XDR solution ticks all the right boxes of a great XDR. It is a data-driven, AI-powered threat intelligence platform that represents a radical new approach to cybersecurity. Its key features include:

Integration Spanning the Ecosystem

Data integration into iSource spans the entire network environment. This includes Hillstone security products and services alongside third party products. The solution integrates and standardises data from across information silos to bring complete security visibility while improving detection accuracy and appropriate response. 

AI and ML-Powered Big Data Analysis

With the integration of data across the environment, cybersecurity teams are faced with too much data to process manually. With ML-driven analytics, iSource helps distinguish anomalous activities and provide context awareness to give SOCs the complete picture of an attack chain for further understanding. 

Automated Security Orchestration and Cohesive Response

iSource comes with built-in playbooks to offer automated security orchestration. The automated responses span Hillstone devices and specific third-party devices to enable incident triage and attack containment.  

Unified Management and Reporting 

The console provided is customisable to allow simple access to an organisation’s security posture with comprehensive statistical information and visual summarisations. The reports can be generated on demand and on schedule to give SOCs the information required to protect the organisational network from dangerous threats. 

XDR will help your organisations stay cyber secure as we enter the post-pandemic work landscape. To learn more about Hillstone iSource XDR solution, head on over to their website.