What Are the Benefits of Network Detection and Response?

Cyber threats in today’s world have moved beyond the normal phishing attacks, as cybercriminals are fully invested in the business of creating new methods of attacks. Furthermore, organizations (both small and large) have become the soft targets of these cybercriminals, who are willing to go to any length to carry out a successful attack. 

Hence, one of the security tools organizations are now employing to fight back is Network Detection and Response (NDR) solutions. Without wasting much time, we will be diving into the benefits of using an NDR platform in this article. Let’s go! 

What is Network Detection and Response (NDR)? 

It is very important to know the fundamentals, such as NDR security meaning, before moving to the benefits or disadvantages of this security solution. The first thing to note about an NDR platform is that it first monitors the raw traffic coming into an organization’s network. The purpose of this monitoring is so that it can analyze and generate a baseline for normal network behavior. In other words, it is basically analyzing to know when a network traffic is normal or not. When it has gotten the baseline for a normal network traffic activity, it can easily alert the security team of an organization whenever the network activity goes abnormal or looks malicious. 

Many organizations are steadily expanding their database across the internet, and more users request data from these databases daily through their network. Since cybercriminals can use these as an avenue, there’s a need for a security solution like an NDR. The functions of an NDR platform don’t only end at monitoring and analyzing to detect normal or malicious network activity. Another function of an NDR platform is that it helps in forensic web security investigations to know how an attack happened. Yes, there are many benefits of using this type of technology, and it will be discussed more below. 

Benefits Of NDR Platforms 

• Provides Protection Against IoT Devices 

IoT simply means the Internet of Things, and it is very much overlooked in the discussions of how cybercriminals can use network traffic to perpetrate crimes. For more understanding, IoT devices are those devices that are not in the same category as conventional devices such as laptops, smartphones, and PCs. So these IoT devices are devices like smart home systems, printers, smart bulbs, and even thermostats. 

Yes, organizations don’t usually understand or remember the vulnerabilities that come with having these IoT devices in their network. Cyber attackers can easily come under the shadow of these IoT devices to carry out crimes. This is where NDR solutions like those of Stellar Cyber play an important role, as they help in the detection of malicious activity of an IoT device. To do this, the NDR platform first detects the presence of IoT devices in an organization’s network and then detects any abnormal behavior or network activity. 

• There Will Be No Security Gaps In a Network 

An organization that prioritizes their web security are more likely to have solutions like firewalls and anti-virus software installed in their systems. However, there are often security gaps between these security solutions, making it possible for attackers to look for loopholes to launch security threats. 

This is where NDR platforms perform an important task as they act as the eyes of the whole activity going on within the network of an organization. These NDR solutions catch up with those security threats that the firewalls and anti-virus software might overlook. This helps to close the security gaps and ensure that there’s a consistent and effective security framework within an organization’s network. 

• Helps in Threat Investigation and Prevention 

As said before in the definition, one of the major characteristics of NDR platforms isn’t only about detecting malicious network activity. It is also about helping to prevent them. After a security incident, an NDR solution can help an organization to find out the origin of such an incident. Even more, it can help in analyzing security procedures, which can help prevent such threats from happening again. 

• Uncover Deep-Rooted Security Threats 

Cybercriminals and attackers are a very crafty set of people, and they can hide under the guise of encrypted traffic to gain access to a network. Normally, web security solutions like a firewall can detect this encrypted traffic. However, the issue with them is they take too many computational resources for the detection process. 

But in the case of NDR solutions, they have the benefit of uncovering even the most encrypted network traffic and analyzing if they are malicious or not. The reason NDR platforms don’t use too much computational resources for this detection is that they use out-of-band decryption. This ensures that there’s no depreciation in performance while uncovering this type of encrypted network traffic. 

• Consistent Threat Detection Process 

Other web security solutions, such as firewalls and anti-virus software, are very important, but cyber attackers can find their way around them. For instance, in the case of a firewall, they can easily use a proxy server or spoof the IP address to find their way around it. However, the benefit of having an NDR solution like Stellar Cyber is that it offers continuous and consistent threat detection to an organization. The reason is that even if cyber attackers find their way around a firewall, their malicious network activity will still be detected by an NDR solution. 

Downsides of NDR Solutions 

For all the benefits of Network Detection and Response solutions, they also have their downside, which can be frustrating for many. They include:

• False Normal and Malicious Network Activity Flagging 

While NDR technology is still a form of a computer program, they are liable to make mistakes. One of the downsides is that it can flag normal network activity as abnormal and flag the malicious ones as normal. 

• Limitations with Monitoring Endpoints 

While NDR solutions are great for monitoring the network traffic of an organization, some of them aren’t really great at monitoring endpoints and devices. This provides a loophole for cybercriminals, who can easily use endpoints for their crimes. 

Conclusion 

There are many benefits an organization can get from using a network detection and response (NDR) platform, with the primary being monitoring and detecting abnormal network activity. However, the monitoring and protection this type of technology provides doesn’t end at network traffic, as it also aids the monitoring of IoT devices. Nevertheless, there are still some downsides to using this technology, although the benefits supersede the cons. 

Interesting Related Article: “Cybercrime Is Set To Cost The Global Economy Over $10 Trillion By 2025“