Organisations that make the wise choice of investing in extended detection and response (XDR) empower their cybersecurity team to more quickly and efficiently identify and eliminate threats across their many domains. XDR is essentially a unified detect and response platform capable of gathering threat data from the siloed security tools deployed across a business's technology stack so they can work together and enable simpler and faster investigation, detection, and response to threats.

But despite the advent of XDR, organisations often see that the outcomes of adopting the technology often fall short of their expectations. This generally stems from the belief that XDR is a silver bullet solution that can 'protect it all' when it is not what it was designed for. In today's reality, where the threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly and the number of automated cyber attacks on workspaces, cloud infrastructures, and identities is only increasing, XDR is better viewed as an expansion for a business's detection and response capabilities that leverage the key capabilities of tools like EDR, SOAR, SIEM, and more.

With this in mind, it is important to determine whether XDR can bring real value to your organisation, and you can find the answer to this by asking the following key questions;

1. Can XDR integrate into the tools and security solutions that matter most in your organisation?

There is an abundance of XDR solutions available on the market today with varying degrees of quality. Some only provide analytics and lack prevention and guided response capabilities, while others are haphazardly stitched together to create the bare minimum product. Once you have narrowed down the choices worth investing in, the next step is to evaluate how well they integrate with your existing security tools. In which areas do you need faster detection and improved visibility? Which of your tools already generates effective alerts and will benefit greatly from XDR? Questions like these can help you further zero in on the right XDR solution for your needs.

2. Is your cybersecurity team ready to handle more alerts?

XDR solutions significantly differ from early detection systems in that they are designed to simultaneously reduce alert noise and hone in on malicious threats. It is a considerable upgrade over the latter's outdated interfaces and low-quality alerts that not only makes the triaging process complicated but also leads to faster burnout among security teams and makes it difficult to report the effectiveness of the process.

Many security stacks deployed today can be likened to a tangled mess of tools that makes effective management a Herculean task. For instance, managed detection and response (MDR) providers increasingly cover more data sources and thus have to deal with the mayhem common in the SOAR playbook and tackle EDR/SIEM context switching. This is where XDR steps up to the plate by excelling in context, correlation, guidance, and prioritisation.

3. Are your teams capable of conducting attack emulation testing?

Suppose you plan on conducting attack emulation exercises or have compliance requirements to meet. In that case, this is a prime opportunity to test XDR and evaluate its impact on your environment by measuring how well it prevents malware, identifies suspicious activity, and activates swift response controls. In addition, consider delving into the other managed services provided by your vendor, such as threat intelligence, risk assessment, and incident response, as they can be an invaluable addition to your security operations.

Conclusion

Although XDR provides guided response capabilities, unified visibility, and automated analysis, it is not a replacement for effective point solutions, security information and event management (SIEM), and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) workflows. Therefore, when adopting XDR, it is recommended to focus on its key advantages, like improved ease-of-use and capacity to solve challenges across areas like incident response, MDR, ransomware, and more.

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