What Challenges Does Network Detection and Response Solve?

by Dallon Robinette | Sep 13, 2023 | Back to Basics

Network detection and response (NDR) could be the answer your organization is looking for to solve the challenges you face. Several network detection and response use cases can help organizations better detect and respond to the threats they face daily. This blog post will provide an introduction to NDR and highlight how it can support your organization.

What is a network detection and response tool?

A network detection and response tool is a cybersecurity system that monitors network traffic to help identify and respond to potential cyber threats. The best network detection and response tools do this while achieving the following 4 functions:

Automated Threat Detection:

Utilizing advanced algorithms and machine learning, NDR software automatically pinpoints potential threats within network traffic. By continuously monitoring and analyzing network data, NDR swiftly identifies anomalous behaviors, malicious patterns, and Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) in near real-time. This functionality is pivotal for executing incident response strategies.
Incident Response:

NDR software captures detailed logs of network activity and traffic data, empowering security teams to reconstruct the sequence of events, investigate the root cause, and comprehend the extent of a breach. This heightened visibility accelerates response times, allowing organizations to efficiently contain and mitigate the impact of security incidents.
Proactive Threat Hunting:

Security analysts leverage the advanced search capabilities, behavioral analytics, and threat intelligence provided by NDR for proactive threat hunting. By actively exploring network data, analysts can identify hidden threats and uncover emerging attack patterns. This proactive approach keeps organizations ahead of threat actors, enabling the detection and neutralization of threats before they cause harm.
Remediation:

Once a threat is identified, NDR software can automatically initiate response actions through integrations with other systems, such as EDR. These actions may involve blocking suspicious IP addresses, isolating compromised end-user devices, or implementing access control policies. Such automated responses effectively contain the threat, prevent lateral movement, and minimize the impact of a security incident.

What challenges does network detection and response solve?

Network Detection and Response (NDR) plays a crucial role in addressing cybersecurity challenges that could impact an organization’s ability to safeguard its networks, assets, and data. To better understand the various challenges NDR is equipped to solve, organizations should consider the following network detection and response use cases:

Advanced Threat Detection: Traditional security measures struggle to identify advanced threats, but NDR overcomes this limitation. By utilizing advanced analytics, machine learning, and behavioral analysis, NDR can detect unusual patterns and behaviors. This proactive approach enables early identification of sophisticated threats such as zero-day exploits and advanced persistent threats (APTs).
Visibility and Context: NDR offers comprehensive visibility into network activities, shedding light on user behavior, device interactions, and application usage. This contextual information is essential for effective threat detection and response, empowering organizations to understand the dynamics within their networks.
Real-time Network Monitoring: Operating in real-time, NDR enables continuous monitoring of network activities. This capability significantly reduces "dwell time” — the duration a threat goes undetected. As a result, it minimizes the potential impact of security incidents by swiftly identifying and responding to threats.
Insider Threats: NDR excels at identifying unusual user behaviors that may indicate insider threats or compromised accounts. Through continuous monitoring and establishing baselines for normal behavior, NDR systems can detect deviations that signal malicious intent or unauthorized access.
Improved Incident Response Time: NDR automates certain actions and provides timely alerts to cybersecurity teams, facilitating rapid incident response. This swift response is critical for preventing the escalation of security incidents and minimizing the damage caused by a breach.
Adaptability to Evolving Threats: In the dynamic cybersecurity landscape, new threats emerge regularly. NDR's adaptive nature, employing mechanisms like machine learning and updated threat intelligence, allows organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats by dynamically adjusting to new attack vectors and tactics.
Reducing False Positives: NDR employs sophisticated analytics to minimize false positives. This ensures that security teams focus on genuine threats, enhancing the efficiency of cybersecurity operations by avoiding unnecessary investigations into benign events.

What are the capabilities of NDR?

Network detection and response products are made up of several different tools and features that make them capable of identifying, analyzing, and mitigating various cyber threats. The following features are common in many modern NDR solutions:

Deep Packet Inspection: Certain NDR systems engage in the real-time capture and analysis of network traffic. This involves extracting metadata, understanding communication patterns, detecting potential threats, identifying anomalies, and logging activity.
Behavioral Analysis Engines: Network detection and response products leverage machine learning and behavioral analysis to establish baselines for normal network behavior. These engines excel at detecting deviations that may indicate malicious activities, providing a proactive layer of defense against evolving threats.
Threat Intelligence Integration: Competent NDR solutions seamlessly integrate with third-party threat intelligence feeds. This integration enhances detection capabilities by continuously providing up-to-date information about known threats and indicators of compromise, ensuring a more robust and adaptive security posture.
Network Forensics: Network forensics tools play a crucial role in investigating security incidents by analyzing historical network data. This aids security teams in gaining insights into the scope and impact of potential breaches, facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity landscape.
Automated Incident Response: Most NDR systems offer the capability to initiate predefined automated responses to security incidents. This feature ensures swift containment and mitigation of threats, contributing to an efficient incident response strategy.
Vulnerability Discovery: Certain network detection and response products claim the ability to identify and assess vulnerabilities within the network that could be exploited by attackers. This proactive approach to vulnerability discovery contributes significantly to threat mitigation efforts, fortifying the network against potential exploitation.
Threat Hunting: Integrated into some NDRs, a threat-hunting platform utilizes data collected by the system to sift through network traffic. This enables the identification of user-selected threats, suspicious behaviors, or anomalous activities, empowering security teams to proactively hunt for and address potential security risks.

Why is network detection and response important?

Network detection and response is important because it enhances network visibility, which is the key to unlocking a deeper understanding of your organization’s network infrastructure. The best network detection and response vendors have identified three primary benefits to increased network visibility:

Early Threat Detection: By maximizing network visibility, organizations can identify malicious activities and indicators of compromise (IOCs) at their earliest stages. Network traffic holds essential information to spot abnormal behaviors, suspicious communication patterns, and unauthorized activity. This early detection empowers security teams to respond promptly and mitigate threats before they cause significant damage or compromise sensitive data.
Rapid Incident Response: Increased network visibility enables real-time monitoring and analysis of network traffic, allowing organizations to respond swiftly to security incidents. Clear visibility into network activities helps security teams identify the incident's scope, trace its origin, and take immediate action to contain and remediate the threat. Timely incident response minimizes potential damage, reduces downtime, and aids in quickly restoring normal operations.
Comprehensive Threat Analysis: Expanded network visibility facilitates in-depth analysis of network traffic, aiding organizations in understanding the context, nature, and scope of potential threat proliferation. By scrutinizing network communication patterns, traffic flows, and data exchanges, security teams can identify malicious behavior, detect malware infections, unveil hidden threats, and gain valuable insights into attackers' tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). This comprehensive threat analysis empowers security teams to develop effective countermeasures and enhance overall defenses.

The Stamus Security Platform

The Stamus Security Platform (SSP) is the world’s most advanced Suricata-based network detection and response (NDR) system. We combine the very best of machine learning, signature-based, IoC matching, and algorithmic threat detection into a single platform that identifies both known and unknown threats lurking on your network.

If you are considering using NDR to solve the challenges faced by your organization, then you should take a deeper look into SSP. To learn more about the Stamus Security Platform, view the following resources:

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ABOUT STAMUS NETWORKS

Stamus Networks believes in a world where defenders are heroes, and a future where those they protect remain safe. As organizations face threats from well-funded adversaries, we relentlessly pursue solutions that make the defender’s job easier and more impactful. The global leader in Suricata-based network security solutions, Stamus Networks helps enterprise security teams know more, respond sooner and mitigate their risk with insights gathered from cloud and on-premise network activity. Our Stamus Security Platform combines the best of intrusion detection (IDS), network security monitoring (NSM), and network detection and response (NDR) systems into a single solution that exposes serious and imminent threats to critical assets and empowers rapid response.