Data breaches continue to pose a significant challenge to organizations worldwide. In 2023, the average cost of a breach hit an all-time high at almost $4.5 million each, according to the most recent Cost of a Data Breach report. As organizations grapple with the escalating costs of recovery and the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, SOC (Security Operations Center) teams are struggling as well. Sixty-two percent of security professionals reported that alert fatigue is leading to staff turnover. Recognizing the critical need for robust yet simplified security solutions, Cisco Breach Protection is an integrated suite of tools specifically designed to bolster organizations’ defenses against breaches. Through an understanding of this suite and the solutions it includes, distribution partners are better able to help their customers empower their SOC teams to take proactive measures in safeguarding their networks.
Current Challenges for SOC Teams
In today’s digital landscape, SOC teams face a myriad of challenges, and as the statistics show, many are becoming burnt out, leading to high turnover rates. James McGregor, U.S. GTM Strategist – Cisco Security, TD SYNNEX, said, “essentially, the landscape for the SOC team has evolved.” Bad actors are exploiting vulnerabilities across an increasing number of control points, from email to network infrastructure. “Organizations are struggling to respond to sophisticated threats that have multiple techniques involved,” John Wallace, Cyber Security – Partner Business Development Specialist, Cisco, said. The lack of integration among security tools exacerbates this issue, forcing analysts to sift through alerts manually to discern real threats from false positives.
As SecOps struggle with these issues daily, McGregor said these customers have a “pretty clear idea about what they want and what they need.” When asked, they sum it up with three main desires:
- Fidelity alerts that can help speed up time to detect, contain and recover threats so they can properly do their jobs.
- Unified experiences across all vendors, including third-party, that transition from reactive to proactive state to make informed decisions faster.
- To accelerate time to remediate and automate workflows to lower costs and strengthen security.
Description of Cisco Breach Protection Suite and What’s Included:
The Cisco Breach Protection suite is a comprehensive arsenal of tools designed to empower SOC teams, streamline operations, speed up detections, prioritize responses, and recover from threats across the entire organization. This suite includes several key components that Wallace described:
- Cisco XDR (Extended Detection and Response): Offers unified visibility across Cisco and third-party products, enabling proactive threat hunting, incident investigation and remediation actions.
- Cisco Secure Endpoint: Redefines endpoint security with host-based anti-malware and integrated components for comprehensive protection.
- Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense: Provides strong email protection, mitigating social engineering attacks and detecting malware in attachments through comprehensive analysis.
- Cisco Secure Malware Analytics: Enables secure analysis of unknown and suspicious files, leveraging behavioral-based analysis and threat intelligence sharing.
- Cisco Secure Network Analytics: Formerly known as StealthWatch, this component turns the network into a sensor, offering heuristic detection for deviations from baseline and network visibility with machine learning.
How the Cisco Breach Protection Suite Addresses Current Challenges
The Cisco Breach Protection suite directly addresses the challenges encountered by SOC teams by providing a comprehensive set of solutions and intuitive tools that simplify the investigation and recovery processes. It enhances the speed of threat detection through unified visibility and proactive threat hunting capabilities, enabling SOC teams to identify potential breaches sooner. This reduces dwell time and potential damage. In addition, threats can be swiftly contained through strong, automated response actions. This proactive approach helps to minimize the risk of further proliferation and reduce the overall impact on the organization. By addressing these key challenges, the Cisco Breach Protection suite empowers SOC teams to better protect their networks and assets against cyber threats. “It is significantly cheaper to just put adequate security tools in place to prevent breaches from occurring in the first place,” McGregor added.
Conclusion: Empowering Partners to Inform and Educate Customers
It is crucial for distribution partners to recognize the pivotal role they play in empowering organizations to defend against cyber threats. By understanding the capabilities of the Cisco Breach Protection suite and effectively communicating its value proposition to customers, they can help them navigate the complex cybersecurity landscape with confidence. Whether through product demonstrations, educational resources or proactive support, partners can play an important role in ensuring that organizations are equipped to defend against evolving threats.
To learn more about the suites and how to present the solutions to customers, or to schedule a demo, partners are encouraged to reach out to James McGregor at James.McGregor@tdsynnex.com.
