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What if you could stop cybersecurity threats in real time without any delay? With zero-latency response, you can. Traditional security systems with inherent latency in threat detection and response leave a window for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. Zero-latency response bridges this gap by providing immediate mitigation capabilities.
Understanding Zero-Latency Response
In the past, you identified suspicious network activity, ran an investigation, and then underwent steps to remove the threat. Unfortunately, this lag time-to-response creates risk. The longer adversaries have, the worse damage they can do. Luckily, zero-latency response solves this issue.
It uses automation to combine multiple steps into just one — immediately spotting and removing cyber threats in real time. So, how do you adopt zero-latency response for your business? One way is through an advanced managed detection and response (MDR) service. Unfortunately, not every MDR provider can offer immediate threat response.
Luckily, CyberMaxx can through its MaxxMDR solution. It doesn’t just deliver alerts for anomalous activity but provides automated threat response directly in the security operations center (SOC). The result is a rapid and effective response to prevent threats from escalating.
The Importance of Immediate Threat Response
Higher intrusion times mean more data records are stolen, and systems are compromised. They also enable unrestricted lateral movement throughout a network. So, once a threat is identified, it’s all about speed-to-response. The faster you can neutralize the threat, the less damage it can do to the entire organization.
Speed, unfortunately, has not been something businesses can tout for responding to cybersecurity incidents. On average, it takes companies 73 days to contain a cyber threat once identified. That’s a lot of time. And in just about every cyber incident, response delays played a role in the impact. Here are just a few real-world examples:
- 2017 Equifax breach: For months after discovering a network intrusion, Equifax delayed action to remediate the threats and gave hackers time to steal over 147 million consumer data records. (Could’ve reduced the scale of breach if they took immediate action.)
- 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack: Targeted attacks on Microsoft’s operating system (OS) were discovered, for which Microsoft released an update to patch the vulnerability. Sadly, many companies delayed installing the update despite knowing hackers gained unauthorized access. (There would’ve been fewer victims had companies quickly installed the OS update.)
- 2022 Uber data breach: Once a hacker gains access to Uber’s intranet through social engineering, they can move laterally and escalate their privileges. After a few days, they penetrated all of Uber’s sensitive applications and millions of customer records. (Had they immediately detected and isolated the initial anomalous login, it could’ve all been entirely prevented)
Benefits of Zero-Latency Response
As the name suggests, zero-latency response can trim threat mitigation times from days, weeks, or months to 0 seconds. And this gives a security advantage to your business. The most notable is that it minimizes the total impact of a breach. What do we mean?
- Fewer data records accessed, stolen, or altered
- Fewer systems and apps are compromised or shut down
- Reduced total cost (legal, insurance, security provider, etc) of an incident
- Hackers can’t move laterally throughout the network or escalate privileges
Applying zero-latency response also lets you manage threats better. You get non-stop system visibility through continuous monitoring and automated response. This produces quicker recognition and neutralization of cyber threats.
And when you have this level of sophistication in your security systems, you’ll be loaded with confidence. Confidence that lets you sleep better at night and establish trust with customers and other stakeholders. Too many cyber incidents happen across every industry. So, it looks pretty good when your brand can build a reputation for prioritizing security practices via top-notch technology.
How MaxxMDR Implements Zero-Latency Response
As we like to say, CyberMaxx “puts the ‘R’ back in your MDR strategy.” And for us, MaxxMDR with zero-latency response is the only complete answer to keeping cyber attacks at bay.
MaxxMDR directly engages threats via its advanced tools and techniques. After detecting a threat and sending the SOC an alert, this automated mechanism goes into investigation mode. It’ll correlate the event to related activity and establish a network blast radius. From there, it runs a contain and evict function and, if needed, a Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) procedure. All of this happens instantly in real time.
Even after an incident, our proprietary security platform runs a continuous feedback loop based on threat data and forensic findings. So, the zero-latency response capability will always self-improve and only get better at finding and mitigating threats.
Reducing Cyber Attack Damage Through Zero-Latency Response
Zero-latency MDR solutions are vital to reducing or even eliminating the impact of data breaches. As emerging threats take hold, businesses must stay vigilant by adopting an immediate threat response strategy for enhanced network protection.