Business Benefits of Network Detection and Response (NDR)

When we talk about the business value of a tool or a system that at first glance may seem like a “nice to have” or a “helpful but not absolutely necessary” technology, it is a good idea to start any discussion on the merits of the tool by putting some things into perspective.

Businesses today depend on ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of business information that is stored, processed, and transmitted over IT systems and used by applications. These IT systems and applications, in turn, depend on effective and secure network infrastructure for their connections and communication. Everything works out as intended when you have these three main parts set up and maintained correctly. You have satisfied your “minimal business operational requirements.” As soon as one of these parts, for whatever reason, stops working or gets corrupted, the whole business is impacted.

The Threat Landscape today

Let’s face it. The threat landscape has changed in the last couple of years. The risks that enterprises now face have multiplied both in terms of the size of the impact as well as an increase in the likelihood of a cyberattack targeting a specific organization. Here are some new threats that should make businesses rethink their security strategy.

• Cryptojacking is just one example of the change in security risks. DDoS attacks for a penny are another. Artificial Intelligence backed attacks are another method that is changing the threat landscape.
• The increasing complexity of the network and business infrastructure (IoT devices and sensors, different communication layers, mobility of the workforce, etc.) plus the chronic lack of skilled technical workforce all help to make this problem worse.

It gets harder and harder to keep up, and many businesses face huge problems because of security incidents or operational issues that are either not being resolved or, worse, not even being detected as occurring in the first place.

Rethink your Security Strategy

The first choice is to pretend nothing drastic will happen to your business, and even if it does, you will “figure it out somehow”, as you have been doing. News sites are full of examples of organizations that made this choice.

The second choice is perhaps to be more proactive and check if there is an affordable network monitoring system that can help you achieve your business goals while staying safe and secure. You already have all the data available inside your network. You just need the lens through which to recognize any issues and help direct what action needs to be taken.

The Benefits of NDR tools

Network Detection and Response tools allow you to detect anomalies on your network and then identify the root cause of any issues or potentially dangerous activities highlighted. One of the ways how NDR helps is by reducing your mean time to respond to detected anomalies and potential security incidents. By reducing your time to respond (or troubleshoot root causes), you make sure that the impact of the event is minimized, the chances of responding in an appropriate (regulatory defined) way are increased, and the amount of resources you need to allocate (or spend) for mitigation is minimized.

As Gartner points out, detection and response are top security priorities for all organizations.

So, in the end, without some form of automated and proactive 24/7 analysis and alerting system, it simply becomes impossible to maintain and ensure “minimal business operational requirements” for your organization. You have to ask yourself, how can you ensure the availability and efficiency of your critical business systems if you don’t know what is happening inside your network in the first place? If you don’t have eyes inside your network, it is impossible.

As in every business, the decision, as well as the outcomes, are yours alone! Let Flowmon help make your business effective, efficient, and secure.

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