Open XDR (Open Extended Detection and Response) is one acronym that stands out in the cybersecurity space that is otherwise riddled with marketing acronyms. It presents a compelling solution to address emerging threats in the ever-changing cyber threat landscape. It is a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity that goes beyond endpoints and takes advantage of various security tools and data sources.
Open XDR has links with Network Detection and Response (NDR), which is an important cyber defense strategy and solution given the prevalence of network attacks. Nearly half of the online traffic generated over the past year has been identified as bot-generated. This means that bandwidth and computing resources are wasted on illegitimate and likely malicious activities. Hence, there is a need to level up network protection.
One Gartner research shows that more than half of organizations have already integrated or are planning to integrate network security products into their cyber defense. Around 57 percent of the respondents say that they are already using or intending to use NDR solutions, an indication of how serious network attacks have become.
NDR: The Network Sentinel
Network Detection and Response serves a vital role in protecting modern organizations. It acts as a reliable sentinel that protects the network infrastructure. It comes with the ability to analyze network traffic and activity to identify vulnerabilities, possible security risks, or instances of attacks. NDR detects unusual traffic patterns or network activities as well as the suspicious behavior of software and users.
Powering these capabilities is a combination of techniques including signature-based threat identification, behavioral analysis, and machine learning algorithms. NDR oversees network activity and detects threats with a proactive approach to maximize protection and minimize the possibility of attack penetration.
How NDR supports Open XDR
Open Extended Detection and Response (Open XDR) is an enhanced iteration of XDR. It amplifies the effectiveness of a relatively new cybersecurity technology (XDR) by expanding the scope of security data gathering and analysis. XDR is a relatively new cybersecurity solution that emerged back in 2018, coined by the CTO of a well-known cybersecurity firm. The term was then defined by Gartner in 2021 as a platform that “automatically collects and correlates data from multiple security products to improve threat detection and provide an incident response capability.”
Gartner’s definition, however, is rather vague as to the extent of the sources of data covered. The general perception is that conventional XDR is limited to proprietary data sources as observed in organizations that mostly rely on cybersecurity solutions from a single vendor. Open XDR clarifies this to mean data from all existing security components. It is not limited to what proprietary data sources can provide. It expands into all possible security data that operate under an open architecture.
This means that data from an NDR solution (and various other security products including SIEM, UEBA, CASB, and SOAR) is used under Open XDR to comprehensively analyze vulnerabilities and the overall threat situation. NDR does not necessarily merge with Open XDR but it becomes an important component that handles cybersecurity at the network level. Open XDR is not a jack of all trades but a platform that brings together the expertise of different cybersecurity solutions to optimize security.
NDR’s integration with Open XDR results in the following key advantages:
- Significantly broader security visibility – NDR ensures that an organization’s cybersecurity team stays on top of the vulnerabilities and threats targeting the network infrastructure. It thoroughly examines network activity to identify threats typically missed by other security controls.
- Timely detection and response – Conventional security tools rely on threat signatures and frameworks to catch threats in the network. This is not necessarily an obsolete approach, but it markedly helps to have a way to proactively detect security faults and attacks to stop them before they inflict serious damage.
- Efficient investigation – With NDR data accessible under the centralized cybersecurity dashboard of Open XDR, it becomes easier to review all security events and conduct investigations. Security teams can quickly reference or compare other security alerts or event logs to better understand threats and decide on the appropriate course of action to take.
Maximizing NDR protection
Open XDR ensures the seamless integration of data from various security solutions. It is a multifaceted cybersecurity approach that takes advantage of excellent solutions an organization is already using. This means that Open XDR’s network-level defense depends on the capabilities of the NDR being integrated.
If an organization employs an inferior NDR, the threat detection and prevention results will be similarly below expectations. As such, the NDR to use should be closely evaluated. It should have advanced physical and virtual sensors that use Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), malware sandboxing, Machine Learning Intrusion Detection System (ML-IDS), and other similar technologies to support maximum detection accuracy and efficiency.
It is also important to have a robust multi-source threat intelligence system capable of automatically normalizing and enriching data. Additionally, it is advisable to use an NDR solution that harnesses modern tech such as AI and data lakes to facilitate comprehensive data correlation, contextualization, and comparison.
All of these features are in Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR platform along with the extensive ability to integrate with a long list of other security solutions. Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR works with hundreds of security products from numerous cybersecurity providers including Akamai, AWS, BitDefender, Cisco, Google, Imperva, Microsoft, Sophos, Unix, and Zscaler.
However, it bears emphasizing that NDR’s benefits to organizations (under Open XDR) are generally interconnected with the benefits provided by other cybersecurity solutions. No matter how good an NDR solution is, it is practically ineffectual if it cannot be integrated with other solutions. Siloed solutions are not just passé; they are largely ineffective and will likely contribute to weakening an organization’s security posture.
Going back to the Gartner research mentioned above, it can be gleaned that specific solutions for specific security domains are vital, but they should work in concert to maximize security. “In many Gartner inquiries on XDR, clients mention EDR and email security products as initial sensor types. From this, we can see that XDR provides integrated incident response for a specific security domain (i.e., workspace security) while reporting to a primary SIEM for other security domains (i.e., IoT, application security),” the research writes.
Correlation, contextualization, integration
Stellar Cyber has a noteworthy Open XDR platform that smoothly integrates different security solutions, NDR in particular, to optimize cyber protection in view of the growing sophistication and aggressiveness of threats. This integration is a must for a holistic cybersecurity approach that leverages data from various security controls to maximize the effectiveness of multiple disjointed solutions.
Network defense has become quite difficult to manage over the years for a number of reasons. For one, the volume of traffic nowadays has grown exponentially. There’s also the challenge of the widespread use of encryption, the diversity of traffic, connection latency and performance issues, and the increasing complexity of network architecture. NDR is important because of its ability to correlate and contextualize data, thereby supporting more efficient threat detection and prevention. It has to be consolidated with other cybersecurity solutions, though, to maximize the benefits.
