How Simplifying Security Solutions Can Optimize Cyber Risk Management Business
How simplifying security solutions can help optimize cyber risk management,Author: Phil Muncaster,Since the cyber security sector first emerged, network defenders have been locked in a perpetual arms race with their adversaries. This translates into a continuous quest for more security solutions. But more doesn't necessarily mean better. In fact, it can mean more suppliers, more connections, more security solutions to manage and potentially more gaps for threats to hide in. According to PwC, . If left unchecked, this could have disastrous consequences for your organization. The focus should instead be on simplifying security solutions through cloud platforms, vendor consolidation and managed services. Why IT environments are becoming more complex,Aside from a new breed of cloud-native startups, most organizations are built on IT foundations that may be decades old. Layer upon layer of new solutions, systems and services have been added to this legacy technology. The past two years in particular saw an explosion in digital investment, including:,All of these factors have combined to continually expand the corporate cyber attack surface over recent years. One recent estimate claims the average security team is today, including cloud workloads, devices, network assets, applications and data assets. At the same time, threat actors continue probing, hoping to find new ways to compromise these networks and assets. Nation state and cyber crime , driving up cyber risk for organizations and democratizing sophisticated attack tools and techniques to a much larger set of actors. Ransomware affiliate groups, for example, regularly use multistage advanced persistent threat attacks. They might circumvent perimeter security with breached or brute-forced passwords and then move laterally without setting off alarms by using legitimate tools like Cobalt Strike. Automation is heavily used in tactics like , scanning for exposed cloud systems and even mapping attack pathways. Why simplification matters,Too often, unengaged board leaders react to these challenges by investing in additional point solutions. This creates a surfeit of siloed security solutions that are often left under-used. It means more user interfaces for security teams to manage and maintain, and more coverage gaps that threat actors can exploit. The administrative overhead is particularly acute in the context of , which number over 2.7 million professionals globally. This tool bloat can overwhelm security operations (SecOps) analysts tasked with critical threat detection and response. Organizations run an average of , with that number rising to almost 46 for companies with over 10,000 employees. Yet threat responders often have no way to prioritize the alerts pumped out by such tools, drowning them in noise. One study found that 51% of by the volume of alerts they have to manage. The benefits of simplifying security solutions,Security solution simplification matters. By reducing the number of vendors and products your teams have to manage, the organization can benefit from:,How to simplify security,There's no single, definitive path to more streamlined security, but a good rule of thumb is to look for platform-based approaches, cloud-deployed solutions and comprehensive cyber risk monitoring offerings. These could include:,No one can overstate the importance of cyber security. But by reducing complexity can your organization optimize its existing resources and drive truly effective and continuous risk management. Learn more about how Verizon can . GartnerPress Release, April 19, 2022. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. 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