Recent disruptions of traditional working models have rendered organisations more susceptible to various security threats after increased remote access. Security Operations (SecOps) teams now confront the complex challenge of protecting an expanded attack surface that encompasses multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises environments, as employees connect from diverse locations using both company-owned and unmanaged personal devices.

SecOps teams have deployed multiple specialised security solutions, which, though beneficial for safeguarding specific assets, have introduced complications by segmenting data and detection capabilities. It has created a need for threat oversight across various environments, facilitating enhanced resource protection and expedited incident response times.

A breakthrough response to recent challenges in security operations is end-to-end protection with the integration of cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) capabilities with Extended Detection and Response (XDR) by Microsoft.

OPTIMISE OUTCOMES WITH REDUCED RESOURCES

Maintaining a complex array of best- of-breed point solutions is common, but this well-intentioned strategy can both delay threat detection and guarantee higher costs.

A Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact study into the benefits of deploying Microsoft’s SIEM and XDR assessed the transformation in the context of a hypothetical composite organisation of 8,000 total employees with a security team of ten. The study found that the risk of a material breach was reduced by 60 percent, due to more efficient security investigation and response workflows, improved security response automation, and the increased ability to protect all computing environments, including multi-cloud protection.

This vendor consolidation saved the organisation US$1.6 million annually in fees, and the technology decreased the need for remediation expenses as fewer machines were compromised. The study’s interviews and financial assessment found benefits of US$17.68 million over three years with costs of only US$5.76 million, an ROI of 207 percent.

EMPOWER SECOPS TEAMS

A bombardment of signals risks overwhelming SecOps teams, but an integration of SIEM and XDR with a single-console view reduces alert noise and allows prioritisation of significant threats.

It’s an opportunity to release a Security Operations Centre (SOC) from being overburdened by correlating alerts, prioritising threats, and orchestrating enterprise- wide action. Employing advanced AI and automation enhances proactive threat detection and remediation.

Traditional SIEMs may overlook low- level signals, but a cloud-native SIEM can automatically compare signals from various sources, detecting multistage attacks.

The system normalises, analyses and correlates data, offering insights into the attack’s entry and spread timeline. This allows SOC teams to visualise and address breaches efficiently from a single console, bolstering cybersecurity measures.

GAIN EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY

Simplifying and expanding protection through integration of SIEM and XDR reduces common barriers to productivity, but also creates new chances for productivity improvements. These include more self-service security support, better dashboards and reporting, and more responsiveness and faster boot times.

The hypothetical Forrester Consulting organisation experienced annual productivity improvements of 64,000 hours for end-users after deploying integrated SIEM and XDR, savings worth US$6.7 million.