Security Tools https://www.security-tools.com/ Security Tools Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:43:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://www.security-tools.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-updated-security-tools-logo-v2-32x32.png Security Tools https://www.security-tools.com/ 32 32 Top 6 Host-Based Firewall Management Solutions https://www.security-tools.com/top-host-based-firewall-management-solutions/ Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:09:06 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2774 Table of Contents Definition Importance Benefits Considerations when choosing an HBFW Top 6 Host-Based Firewall Solutions What Is Host-Based Firewall (HBFW) Management? Host-based firewall management is the process of maintaining a firewall that sits within your OS, server or device. Host-based firewalls are configured using policies and rules to allow or disallow traffic based on […]

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What Is Host-Based Firewall (HBFW) Management?

Host-based firewall management is the process of maintaining a firewall that sits within your OS, server or device. Host-based firewalls are configured using policies and rules to allow or disallow traffic based on predefined criteria — such as a packet’s transport protocol or a device’s IP address source and destination. 

Host-based firewall management solutions connect to a device’s management information base (MIB) through the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to track and provide detailed reports on firewall performance in real time. This allows you to detect and curtail suspicious activity almost instantly, as well as gain comprehensive data for firewall policy patching.

Since they are configured very close to hosts, these solutions are particularly effective while other firewall solutions fail to deter potential attacks.

Although firewalls heighten network security and compliance, misconfigurations impede their efficacy. HBFW solutions are at the front line of addressing this challenge by simplifying firewall configuration and monitoring.

But how do you know which one to choose from the pool of available solutions? In this article, we examine six top solutions and their functionalities.

Importance of Proper Firewall Management

Organizations deploy and manage multiple firewalls to protect their network from spyware, worms and trojans, as well as packet sniffing, hijacking, man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks and injection attacks. However, firewalls are incredibly difficult to set up and manage because their policies are written in low-level, platform- or device-specific Syntax. Also, rules must be configured in a way that allows access to the average incoming and outgoing traffic without letting in malicious actors.

This means administrators must configure firewalls to not only consider IP addresses and corresponding details but also assess each IP to determine its legitimacy.

To further add to this complexity, malware, viruses and attack tactics are constantly evolving — if firewall policies are out of date, the firewalls themselves are essentially defenseless against the latest attack techniques. This means you need to regularly patch them as new threats evolve, rules expire or network configurations change.

Essentially, a firewall is only as efficient as its management, making firewall management crucial for the following reasons:

  1. It includes monitoring and logging the firewall’s activity to detect traffic filtering patterns, which can then be used to further strengthen existing firewall rules.
  2. It entails the assessment of firewall rules to eradicate conflicting rules, prevent legitimate traffic from getting blocked, and ultimately facilitate client conversion and business turnover.
  3. It helps guarantee compliance with industry-specific standards for network and data security. When done effectively, firewall management helps safeguard sensitive data and avoid potential regulatory fines and lawsuits.

Organizations can choose self-managed firewalls (e.g., Windows Defender Firewall) or service provider-managed firewalls (e.g., Falcon Firewall Management) to address the firewall management complexities discussed above.

Pros of a Managed HBFW

A managed host-based firewall is a third-party solution that offers proactive HBFW monitoring and administration, providing companies with several key benefits.

Expert and Automated Management

Instead of burdening your security team with the highly technical task of firewall management, you can leverage the expertise of a managed service provider to promptly address all security issues and provide regular feedback on the state of your HBFW. With managed solutions, network monitoring is also automated, allowing for instant threat/anomaly prevention.

Network Location Awareness (NLA)

HBFWs typically have different network location options. With NLA, you can specify any of the three locations for each firewall rule, ensuring different rules will apply when the endpoint is at different “locations.” Some firewalls have three: domain networks (discoverable, applied when the host system is connected to a domain controller), private networks (discoverable, user-assigned) and public networks (a default but changeable setting, undiscoverable to prevent discovery by other devices on the public network). Users can permanently configure their preferred location or change the location intermittently as required. NLA further enhances firewall effectiveness and improves security.

Streamlined Management

Managed HBFWs are easier to set up, implement and monitor. They save on costs related to employing and training staff, and also on time since security/DevSecOps teams do not have to set up and regularly patch multitudes of rules/policies. This is especially the case for large organizations with heterogeneous firewalls on different endpoints.

Data Access Concerns

One potential downside of a managed HBFW is the given service provider has access to sensitive data within your systems. However, this can be minimized by choosing a reputable service provider and implementing identity and role-based access controls.

Choosing a Host-Based Firewall Management Solution

The following are some important criteria to consider when choosing a host-based firewall management solution.

Simplicity

Consider a solution that deploys quickly, without reboots or configurations requiring a lot of time and effort. There should be customizable templates for easy configuration and maintenance of firewall policies across various workloads and environments. The solution should also allow you to easily circulate policy changes and reuse rule groups across environments.

Centralized Management

A solution that offers a unified dashboard where important firewall metrics are displayed must be a priority. These metrics could include:

  • Details of changes to firewall rules
  • CPU and memory usage
  • Number of attempted, blocked and successful connections/requests
  • Number of malware and virus injection attempts detected and prevented

Automation and Scalability

Large organizations can have hundreds of firewalls, all of which must be managed properly. Since manual management is laborious and unnecessarily stressful, the ideal firewall management solution will take the burden off users and automate firewall monitoring, anomaly detection and threat prevention. This will help ensure that regardless of the scale, you can apply specific app and traffic-source rules, as well as vary the rules across diverse firewalls within your larger environment.

Integrability

Choose a solution that seamlessly integrates with apps and app components, endpoints, existing firewalls and other solutions in your organization’s stack. The solution must not spike host CPU usage or negatively affect the performance of your host.

Troubleshooting and Compliance

The right solution should log detailed performance data so if any anomalies are observed, your security team can act fast to install a new rule or remove an old one. These logs can also serve as evidence of compliance when necessary.

6 Best Host-Based Firewall Management Solutions

Having considered the functionalities that an ideal solution should offer, here’s six top firewall management solutions, along with the functionalities they offer.

1. CrowdStrike Falcon® Firewall Management

Austin, TX  | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

Falcon Firewall Management is a unified network security solution that incorporates endpoint security, threat intelligence and hunting, and instant firewall performance visibility into a single tool. 

As a managed solution, CrowdStrike Falcon Firewall Management incorporates role-based access control (RBAC) and Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) to ensure secure firewall management. It is also compatible with multiple environments (including Windows and MacOS).

The solution deploys within minutes, requires no complex manual configurations, and allows you to propagate updates across the required policies.

Falcon Firewall Management comes with a few key capabilities.

Domain Matching/FQDN

Most firewall protocols allow adding only local and remote IP addresses, but this can be problematic when there are multiple servers behind a single domain name. This phenomenon is common with cloud services (e.g., AWS) and usually implies that a single domain can resolve to hundreds — if not thousands — of IP addresses, making allowlisting/blocking nearly impossible for a firewall administrator to manage.

Domain matching enables CrowdStrike customers to enter a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) instead of an IP address when creating firewall rules for allowlisting or blocking, easing policy enforcement and improving firewall effectiveness.

Wildcard FQDN

While an FQDN solves important firewall management problems, a firewall administrator may still encounter challenges using it where IP lists change regularly without warning, making maintaining the addresses a major headache. This is because standard FQDNs use system DNS settings, meaning that should the IP entries for an address change, the configured FQDN rule may be rendered ineffectual.

Falcon Firewall Management offers a workaround where you can allowlist apps, domains and subdomains using wildcard DNS records that are specified with “*” (e.g., *.xyz.us). This allows you to match requests to domain names regardless of IP changes.

Firewall Enhancement Location Awareness

Aside from domain name-based allowlisting, Falcon’s NLA functionality ensures you can configure and enforce firewall policies for IPs regardless of changes to location, ensuring ultra-precise control and improving threat prevention accuracy.

Additional key features include:

  • Single unified dashboard for endpoint and firewall management
  • Lightweight agent that ensures minimal host CPU and memory consumption
  • Powerful rule validation mechanism to prevent the creation of conflicting and faulty rules
  • Detailed logging and auditing for regulatory compliance
  • Safety testing for firewall policies before deployment
  • Granular control for fast troubleshooting

2. Trellix Windows Firewall Management 

Santa Clara, CA | 1987 | www.trellix.com

Trellix Windows Firewall Management is part of a suite of products dominated by Trellix Endpoint Security. The product offers firewall protection and management for Windows, Mac and Linux devices. It has a user interface (Trellix ePO software) and is an efficient traffic filtering and malware detection solution.

Key features of the product:

  • Unified management dashboard for Microsoft Defender Firewall
  • Story graph for monitoring threat detections and firewall performance
  • Protection workspace for tracking unresolved detections and escalated devices
  • Customizable security offerings
  • Regulatory compliance facilitation

3. Palo Alto Host Firewall for Windows

Santa Clara, CA | 2005 | www.paloaltonetworks.com

Palo Alto’s host firewall is a solution that can be found within Cortex XDR 7.1 or later. Palo Alto’s Cortex XDR is a network-based threat detection and remediation tool with extensive firewall performance logging capabilities.

It offers two firewall and endpoint protection services: Cortex XDR Prevent, which enables you to configure host-based firewall rules for traffic filtering, and Cortex XDR Pro,which is similar in function but has add-ons such as behavior indicators and swift anomaly investigation.

Key features of the product:

  • Centralized management
  • Data and alert retention
  • Execution file identification and scanning for malicious code injection prevention

Cortex XDR Pro Suite features

  • Compatibility with various external firewalls
  • USB access control
  • Antivirus and anti-malware capabilities
  • Disk encryption
  • Vulnerability assessment

4. Endpoint Firewall Control by SentinelOne

Mountain View, CA | 2013 | www.sentinelone.com

SentinelOne Endpoint Firewall Control is an anti-malware and anti-exploit solution that allows users to configure endpoint communication controls. It uses a lightweight agent that can receive firewall monitoring updates from SentinelOne servers.

Key features of the product:

  • Inbound and outbound traffic monitoring
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Unauthorized data transmission detection and prevention
  • User-friendly management console
  • Regulatory compliance facilitation
  • Behavioral protection

5. Symantec Endpoint Security Firewall by Broadcom

Mountain View, CA | 1982 | www.broadcom.com

Headquarters: Mountain View, California, United States

Foundation year: 1982

Symantec Endpoint Security Firewall is part of the Symantec Endpoint Protection stack. This firewall enables you to customize rules and settings so that you can re-order the rules for device-aware traffic filtering.

Key features of the product:

  • Intrusion prevention system
  • Rule-based firewall engine for advanced threat detection
  • First- and third-party device protection
  • Antivirus and anti-malware
  • Easy-to-operate console
  • Seamless firewall rule creation, assessment, enforcement and modification

6. Windows Defender Firewall by Microsoft

Redmond, WA | 1975 | www.microsoft.com

Windows Defender Firewall is a built-in host-based solution on all Windows editions. While Microsoft was launched in 1975, its firewall solution was introduced in 2004.

Key features of the product:

  • Self-managed firewall
  • Network and device-sensitive rule creation
  • Two-way traffic filtering
  • Network access control via IPsec
  • Real-time monitoring and reporting
  • Advanced security via IPsec
  • Intelligent threat analytics
  • Antivirus and anti-malware protection

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]]> Best Penetration Testing (Pen Testing) Tools https://www.security-tools.com/best-penetration-testing-tools/ Thu, 07 Dec 2023 19:55:20 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2742 Table of Contents Definition Importance Considerations when getting a Penetrations Testing Tools Best Penetration Testing Tools What is Penetration Testing (Pen Testing)? Penetration testing, also referred to as pen testing or ethical hacking, is a cybersecurity practice that simulates real-world cyberattacks on a computer system, network, or application to identify security vulnerabilities. By mimicking the […]

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What is Penetration Testing (Pen Testing)?

Penetration testing, also referred to as pen testing or ethical hacking, is a cybersecurity practice that simulates real-world cyberattacks on a computer system, network, or application to identify security vulnerabilities. By mimicking the techniques used by hackers, organizations can proactively strengthen their security measures, ensuring robust protection against potential breaches.

Penetration testing serves a dual purpose: it assesses your system vulnerabilities and evaluates your staff and procedures in the face of likely cyberattacks. By understanding the probable attackers and their methods, a penetration tester can replicate their specific tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to gain a realistic idea of how a breach might occur. Penetration testing results provide valuable insights, allowing organizations to assess their susceptibility and identify weaknesses. These findings are crucial for making necessary improvements, ensuring a more robust and secure operational environment.

Importance of Conducting Pen Tests

Regular penetration testing stands as a crucial pillar within an organization’s cybersecurity practices. The significance is underscored by the fact that 85% of organizations are making plans to increase their penetration testing budgets.1 This commitment to allocating time and resources for pen testing is essential for several reasons:

  • Security assurance: Organizations invest in a breadth of security technologies and policies, so it’s important to ensure that these investments are providing the expected level of security. Regular pen tests help validate (or invalidate) the effectiveness of an organization’s existing security measures.
  • Risk management: Penetration testing provides valuable insights into your organization’s security stance. Armed with an understanding of potential risks, you can prioritize efforts and resources to mitigate the most critical security issues.
  • Compliance: Many regulatory standards, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), require that organizations conduct regular penetration tests. Adherence to these standards is imperative for legal and regulatory compliance.
  • Data breach prevention: Regular pen testing enables organizations to stay ahead of attackers by identifying new vulnerabilities that emerge due to changes in technology, processes, or personnel. This empowers organizations to prevent the damages from a successful incident, such as data breaches, financial losses, and diminished brand trust.
  • Continuous improvement: Cybersecurity is not a static field. When the mindset of continuous improvement is part of their cybersecurity vision and culture, it gives organizations the opportunity to enhance agility and achieve cyber resilience. Regular penetration tests are a fundamental part of this ongoing improvement practice, refining incident response plans and ensuring a swift and effective response in the event of a real attack.

Considerations for Selecting a Pen Testing Tool

When choosing a penetration testing tool, there are certain capabilities and requirements that organizations should consider. Here’s a detailed breakdown to guide your decision-making process:

CapabilityRequirement
Vulnerability scanningThe tool should be capable of scanning networks, systems, and applications to identify potential vulnerabilities.
Network mappingThe tool should offer the ability to map out network topology, discovering hosts, open ports, and services running on the network.
Payload generationYour tool should enable you to create various payloads and shellcodes for exploiting vulnerabilities in target systems.
ExploitationThe tool should offer support for various exploitation techniques, including known exploits and zero-day vulnerabilities, enabling testers to simulate advanced cyberattacks and real-world attack scenarios.
Post-exploitationYour tool should support post-exploitation activities, including privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and lateral movement.
AccuracyThe tool’s results and findings must be accurate and reliable, ensuring that identified vulnerabilities are genuine and exploitable in real-world scenarios.
CustomizationYour pen testers should have the ability to customize and configure the tool according to your specific needs and environment, including scripting and plugin support.
SpeedEfficient scanning and testing algorithms are necessary for quick identification of vulnerabilities and timely reporting, especially in large and complex environments.
AnonymityThe tool should give your pen testers the ability to perform tests covertly, avoiding detection by intrusion detection systems and maintaining anonymity to mimic real-world hacker tactics.
ReportingThe tool should provide comprehensive and customizable reporting capabilities, including detailed vulnerability descriptions, risk levels, and recommendations for remediation.
Compliance checksThe tool should empower you to assess your target system’s compliance with various security standards and regulations, supporting your efforts in meeting industry-specific requirements.

Best Pen Test Tools

There are a lot of pen test vendors out there. To simplify your search, here’s an overview of prominent vendors and their pen testing solutions:

PtaaS Platform by Cobalt

San Francisco, CA, U.S. | 2013 | www.cobalt.io

Cobalt infuses manual pen testing with speed, simplicity, and transparency. Cobalt’s platform, Pentest as a Service (PtaaS), empowers organizations to keep pace with modern software development life cycles in an agile world.

Cobalt’s PtaaS platform is paired with a community of testers to deliver the real-time insights for organizations to remediate risk and innovate securely. Pen test services include comprehensive pen testing as well as agile pen testing, which covers a smaller scope focused on a specific asset to be assessed.

Penetration Testing Services by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX, U.S. | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike is a global cybersecurity technology firm pioneering cloud-delivered protection for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprise-sized businesses. CrowdStrike offers a range of cybersecurity technologies and services to help companies protect their critical areas of cyber risk across endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data.

CrowdStrike® Penetration Testing Services simulate real-world attacks on different components of an organization’s IT environment to expose weaknesses in a controlled environment. The comprehensive service tests the detection and response capabilities across the organization’s people, processes and technology and identifies where vulnerabilities exist within the environment.

Pen Testing Services by Intruder

London, England, U.K. | 2015 | www.intruder.io

Intruder is a high-tech company that provides a security monitoring platform for internet-facing systems.

The company offers a cloud-based vulnerability scanner that finds cybersecurity weaknesses in an organization’s digital infrastructure.

The company’s pen testing services, called Intruder Vanguard, help organizations close the gap between automated scanning and point-in-time penetration testing by providing skilled security professionals to identify, analyze, and remediate critical vulnerabilities.

Pen Test Platform by Pentest-Tools.com

Bucharest, Romania | 2013 | www.pentest-tools.com

Since its start, Pentest-Tools.com has evolved into a fully fledged penetration testing and vulnerability assessment platform with nearly two million users per year. With Pentest-Tools.com, organizations get reports that include only relevant security issues along with actionable results, so customers can immediately start improving their security posture.

Pentest-Tools.com offers a cloud-based platform for organizations to perform their own tests and a range of pen test services. Organizations receive a visual summary of the results and details about vulnerabilities found, including description, evidence, risk, and recommendations for fixing them.

Burp Suite by PortSwigger

Knutsford, Cheshire, U.K. | 2008 | www.portswigger.net

PortSwigger is a technology company that creates software tools for security testing of web applications. The company’s software has become an established toolkit utilized by web security professionals worldwide.

The company’s product, Burp Suite,  is an integrated platform for performing security testing for web applications. Its various tools work seamlessly together to support the entire testing process, from initial mapping and analysis of an application’s attack surface to finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities.

Kali Linux by Kali

NY, NY, U.S. | 2013 | www.kali.org

Kali Linux is an open-source project that serves as an advanced penetration testing platform. Kali Linux is maintained and funded by Offensive Security, a provider of information security training and penetration testing services.

Built on Debian, Kali Linux is tailored for advanced penetration testing and security auditing use cases and streamlines the process by offering a range of standard tools, configurations, and automations. This user-friendly approach allows individuals to concentrate on their tasks, eliminating unnecessary distractions. The open-source solution comes in 32-bit, 64-bit, and ARM versions alongside specialized builds for various hardware platforms.

Metasploit by Rapid7

Boston, MA, U.S. | 2000 | www.rapid7.com

Rapid7 helps organizations implement an active approach to cybersecurity. The company’s IT security solutions deliver visibility and insight that help organizations make informed decisions, create credible action plans, and monitor progress.

Rapid7’s pen test solution, Metasploit, enables users to simulate real-world attacks to identify vulnerabilities. Metasploit seamlessly integrates with the open-source Metasploit Framework, providing access to exploitation and reconnaissance modules. Users can employ attacker techniques to evade antivirus software, uncover weak credentials, and pivot throughout the network.

vPenTest by Vonahi Security

Atlanta, GA, U.S. | 2018 | www.vonahi.io

Vonahi Security is a cybersecurity software as a service (SaaS) company that specializes in automated network penetration testing. Their solution is designed for managed service provider (MSP) partners to offer their SMB clients.

Vonahi’s pen test solution, vPenTest, is a full-scale penetration testing platform that incorporates the latest knowledge, methodologies, techniques, and commonly used tools into a single platform. vPenTest is designed to make network penetration testing affordable, accurate, fast, consistent, and not prone to human error. 

Pen Test Services by Vumetric

Montréal, Québec, Canada | 2007 | www.vumetric.com

Vumetric is a global security company offering penetration testing, IT security audits, and specialized cybersecurity services for SMBs and enterprise-sized businesses.

The company offers a range of pen test services, from external and internal pen tests to application security testing. All engagements are performed internally by Vumetric’s team of vetted specialists to ensure the consistency of the quality of their deliverables and the confidentiality of the customer’s information.

Pentera Platform by Pentera

Burlington, MA, U.S. | 2015 | www.pentera.io

Pentera is a global security company that enables organizations to evaluate the integrity of all cybersecurity layers, unfolding true, current security exposures at any moment and at any scale.

The Pentera platform continuously discovers enterprises’ internal and external attack surfaces and safely validates their readiness against the latest advanced threats. The platform shows the potential impact of exploiting each security gap and helps organizations prioritize remediation accordingly.

Prelude Detect by Prelude

San Francisco, CA, U.S. | 2017 | www.preludesecurity.com

Prelude is a technology company that helps organizations proactively ask questions of their security systems to advance their defenses. Built around the notion of visibility, Prelude’s products conduct continuous probing across all environments. This elicits answers to questions that range from basic health checks to vulnerability to the latest threats.

The company’s pen test solution, Prelude Detect, allows organizations to run continuous security tests, at scale, on production machines. Prelude Detect has the ability to test all of an organization’s defenses, including cloud, servers, workstations, and endpoints, looking for vulnerabilities and exploits against them. The test results are provided in reports that help security teams decide what to prioritize.

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]]> Top Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Tools https://www.security-tools.com/top-digital-forensics-and-incident-response-dfir-tools/ Mon, 04 Dec 2023 21:32:08 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2720 Table of Contents Definition Importance Considerations when Choosing DFIR Tools Top DFIR Tools What is Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR)? As a highly specialized branch of cybersecurity, digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) plays a crucial role in determining the impact of a cyberattack and conducting a thorough investigation — all while it is […]

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What is Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR)?

As a highly specialized branch of cybersecurity, digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) plays a crucial role in determining the impact of a cyberattack and conducting a thorough investigation — all while it is happening. It involves a forensic process conducted by seasoned digital security experts and a simultaneous process that handles attack containment and recovery of normal business operations. The insights gained from DFIR investigations often serve as evidence in legal proceedings against the perpetrators.

The Importance of DFIR

Every day, the methods and tactics of cyberattackers grow in sophistication. So do the security tools used for preventing those cyberattacks. Given this relentless arms race, a common consensus among cybersecurity experts is that becoming the victim of a cyberattack is not a matter of if , but when. Even software companies with world-class technical staff on their payroll have suffered serious breaches. The immediate aftermath of a cyberattack presents one of the most challenging periods for a company and its entire workforce. The outcome of the attack directly impacts the future of the company. This is where the techniques of DFIR prove their value. DFIR empowers organizations to respond to and recover from cyber incidents and gather comprehensive digital evidence to deepen their understanding and learn from the attack. By allowing organizations to meticulously investigate breaches, preserve digital evidence, and piece together the puzzle left by cyber criminals, the capabilities of DFIR enable companies to strengthen their defenses while relentlessly working to restore IT systems to their normal state.

Considerations when choosing a DFIR tool

When choosing a DFIR solution, understanding the specific nature of this field is important. Although many DFIR tools are used to prevent attacks proactively, they are also used after a security incident has already occurred — a time when rapid response is crucial for containing the damage. With this in mind, let’s consider the following list of key DFIR features:

Support for a variety of data sources

Confirm that the DFIR tool is compatible with the types of data sources and platforms used in your organization. This includes support for various operating systems, file formats, and devices (including mobile devices). This support allows you to cover a broad range of potential evidence sources.

Support for a wide range of deployment options

Organizations have different requirements for data privacy and regulatory compliance. The flexibility in deployment capabilities allows you to configure a setup that aligns with your specific privacy and compliance needs while seamlessly scaling when required.

Data integrity and legal compliance

Data integrity is crucial. Many industries are subject to data protection laws and regulations, such as GDPR or HIPAA. Ensure the tool or service preserves the integrity of digital evidence and complies with legal and regulatory requirements.

Automated data enrichment and analysis

To comprehensively understand the ongoing situation, security professionals must ensure the collected data is automatically correlated with other relevant information sources. Automated data enrichment and analysis save valuable time and enable security teams to discover hidden clues and patterns about the attack.

Best DFIR Tools

When an organization suffers a security breach, time is of the essence. Contacting a DFIR provider is necessary to guarantee that systems are restored as soon as possible and that the evidence required for attribution of an adversary is securely preserved. To help you prepare, this section explores the best DFIR solutions available now for your organization.

CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR and CrowdStrike Falcon Forensics by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform is an AI-native cybersecurity solution that fuses detection and response (CrowdStrike Falcon® Insight XDR) with historical forensic artifacts (CrowdStrike Falcon® Forensics) to gain the visibility needed to understand the full threat context of malicious actions executed by a threat actor. CrowdStrike offers a variety of DFIR services for expert investigation, response, and recovery using the full power of the Falcon platform to help organizations get back to normal business operations faster.

The key features of Falcon Forensics are:

  • Automated data collection.
  • Enrichment of forensic data for simplified analysis.
  • Advanced query capabilities for Tier III threat hunting.
  • Forensic artifact capture, including MFT, shimcache, shellbags, and others.
  • Large-scale deployment capabilities.

DFIR services for response, recovery, and strategic guidance.

FTK Forensic Toolkit by Exterro

Portland, OR | 2008 | www.exterro.com

Exterro is a software company that focuses on data privacy, compliance, and information governance solutions. Its DFIR tool, FTK Forensic Toolkit, offers the following features:

  • Automatic categorization of digital artifacts.
  • Smart Grid feature that enables users of all skill levels to build complex compound filters to locate valuable evidence faster.
  • Super Timeline View that integrates timestamps, logs, actions, and other artifacts in a single view.

Group-IB Digital Forensics by Group-IB

Singapore | 2003 | www.group-ib.com

Group-IB is a cybersecurity company specializing in threat intelligence, fraud prevention, and incident response. Its Digital Forensics service offers:

  • Detailed forensics reports to serve as evidence in a court of law.
  • Effective recovery of deleted and hidden data.
  • Mobile device forensics, including data extraction and recovery.

DFIR Services by Kroll

New York, NY | 1932 | www.kroll.com 

Kroll is a global risk management company known for its expertise in cyberattack investigation and risk mitigation services. Kroll’s digital forensics solution provides the following services and features:

  • 24/7 incident response to ensure rapid and effective mitigation of cyberattacks.
  • Expert testimony and reporting from Kroll’s cybersecurity team.
  • Complete forensic coverage to ensure no evidence is overlooked or lost.

Magnet AXIOM Cyber by Magnet Forensics

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada | 2011 | www.magnetforensics.com

Magnet Forensics is a software company that provides cybersecurity tools and services to many industries, from military and government to enterprise and small business.

Magnet AXIOM Cyber offers the following capabilities:

  • Powerful analytics features (such as Timeline, Connections, YARA rules, and Magnet.AI) that create actionable intelligence.
  • Deployment possibilities for various public cloud providers.
  • Features designed for time efficiency so DFIR teams can direct their expertise toward tasks demanding their specialized skills.

ProDiscover Pro by ProDiscover Computer Forensics

Hyderabad, India | 2001 | www.prodiscover.com

ProDiscover is a cybersecurity company focused on remote forensic capabilities and cybercrime investigations. ProDiscover Pro is a DFIR solution that offers:

  • A RemoteAgent feature that captures disks from remote locations over a network.
  • Thorough forensic analysis with GUI automation and scripting tools support.
  • Identification of hidden and deleted files and partitions.

Digital Forensics and Incident Response Services by Blackpanda

Singapore, Singapore | 2015 | www.blackpanda.com 

Blackpanda is a technology company that provides cybersecurity services, such as digital forensics compromise assessments and loss adjustments. As part of its DFIR services, Blackpanda offers:

  • Concise briefings tailored for top-level executives, covering all facets of the incident and highlighting essential follow-up actions.
  • Thorough evaluation of the nature and extent of the incident, along with a strategy for limiting its impact.
  • Incident containment to prevent further damage and facilitate data recovery.

Incident Response and Digital Forensics Services by Sygnia

Tel Aviv, Israel | 2015 | www.sygnia.co 

Sygnia is a technology company that provides incident response and consulting services to help organizations strengthen their cyber resilience. Its DFIR platform provides the following services:

  • Immediate support across five key workstreams: investigation, containment, monitoring, recovery, and tactical negotiation.
  • On-call teams with significant expertise in leading-edge cybersecurity and exceptional technological proficiency.
  • Continuous assistance for legal matters to ensure comprehensive resolution with the essential technical evidence and proficiency.

Conclusion

Experiencing a cybersecurity breach is often described as a turning point for a company. How the organization handles the attack and restores business normalcy will determine its future. Choosing the appropriate DFIR tools and services may be one of the most important decisions a company’s leadership must make, but waiting too long to take action — or opting for the wrong solution — can result in catastrophic consequences.

In summary, consider the support, compliance requirements, and automation that your organization needs when shopping around for a DFIR solution. The best DFIR options can prepare your organization well in the event of a cyberattack.

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]]> Top External Attack Surface Management (EASM) Solutions https://www.security-tools.com/top-external-attack-surface-management-easm-solutions/ Mon, 04 Dec 2023 19:32:24 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2697 Table of Contents Definition Importance Considerations when Choosing an EASM Solution Top EASM Solutions What is External Attack Surface Management (EASM)? External attack surface management (EASM) deals with an organization’s externally exposed digital resources and associated security vulnerabilities. These are any resources that can be accessed from outside an organization’s internal network, such as publicly […]

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What is External Attack Surface Management (EASM)?

External attack surface management (EASM) deals with an organization’s externally exposed digital resources and associated security vulnerabilities. These are any resources that can be accessed from outside an organization’s internal network, such as publicly available databases, cloud storage, and web applications. EASM relies on a thorough analysis of all potential entry points of attack to assess possible vulnerabilities and prioritize security measures and responses. EASM tools help organizations understand how secure their internet-facing digital assets are and how to remediate existing vulnerabilities as swiftly as possible to maintain a strong security posture. In this article, we’ll explore why EASM is a crucial security tool and what to consider when choosing an EASM tool. We’ll also highlight some of the best EASM solutions currently available.

The Importance of EASM

Across all industries, companies are expanding their public digital presence. As a result, the  breadth of exploitable attack surfaces available to malicious actors is enormous. Reports show that it takes cybercriminals only 15 minutes after the publication of a new security vulnerability to begin scanning for potentially vulnerable targets. To manage this growing issue for organizations, the recommendation of EASM tools is trending among leading global IT consultancies. Publicly available digital assets are the most common point of attack because they are easier to target than internal resources. These assets serve as convenient gateways into private resources, where the most sensitive customer and employee information can be accessed. Successful attacks on externally facing assets can cause serious business disruptions and irreversible damage to a company’s revenue stream and reputation. In addition, they bring the potential for legal and regulatory complications. For this reason, EASM tools are considered indispensable for any organization with a non-trivial internet presence.

Considerations when choosing an EASM solution

As with any security tool, EASM solutions do not come in a one-size-fits-all form. The best fit for your organization requires careful analysis and consideration of many factors, including your organization’s size, industry, and level of internet exposure. Nevertheless, every modern EASM solution should at least include the following features.

Real-time continuous monitoring and analysis

External attack surfaces are dynamic by nature. Updates to internet-facing applications are continuously deployed, configurations are often modified, and new vulnerabilities are constantly being discovered. Therefore, the EASM tool that you choose must provide continuous monitoring to detect any novel security vulnerability as quickly as possible.

Instant alerting

The fastest way for your security team to respond to a vulnerability detected by an EASM tool is by receiving an instant alert notification. This is why an alert notification feature that integrates with various messaging platforms is mandatory for any EASM software.

Integration with other security and operations tools

Apart from integrations with alerting and messaging tools, a worthy EASM solution should also integrate easily with other crucial platforms, such as: EASM solutions should also expose a set of API endpoints so that other security applications can easily retrieve data and reports from the EASM platform programmatically.

Risk prioritization and remediation suggestions

Though not every vulnerability demands immediate action, distinguishing those that demand swift remediation from those that pose only a minor threat is essential. The EASM solution of your choice should go beyond simply detecting risks; it should prioritize them. When it’s clear to your security team which risk has the potential to bring down your entire system, they are better positioned to make good decisions and carry out effective remediation actions. The best EASM solutions provide actionable suggestions, making an organization’s time to resolution much quicker than solutions that require manual investigation. This also enables technical staff to focus on tasks where their expertise can provide more business value.

Ease of setup and management

Given the highly dynamic nature of modern attack surfaces, it’s essential that any tool selected is easy to set up and manage. Look for solutions that can map out your attack surface while requiring minimal data. Additionally, consider solutions that allow for in-app addition and removal of assets.

Top EASM Solutions

Researching which tool to use requires significant time. To save you from this work, we will highlight what we consider to be the best EASM solutions currently available.

Censys Exposure Management by Censys

Ann Arbor, Michigan | 2017 | www.censys.com

Censys is a cybersecurity startup that focuses on developing comprehensive, massive-scale internet scanning capabilities. The Censys Exposure Management EASM tool offers:

  • Continuous asset discovery with daily updates to your attack surface.
  • Risk prioritization at the per-asset level.
  • A logbook feature that tracks the previous two years of changes to each of your assets.

CrowdStrike® Falcon Surface™ by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike is globally recognized as a leading cybersecurity company specializing in threat intelligence and cyberattack response strategies and services. As CrowdStrike’s EASM solution, Falcon Surface offers the following features:

  • Risk prioritization with AI-powered insights.
  • Exceedingly fast vulnerability remediation with guided, actionable steps.
  • Continuous monitoring of potential security gaps, such as RCE vulnerabilities, access control issues, and service misconfigurations.

CyCognito EASM Platform by CyCognito

Palo Alto, California | 2017 | www.cycognito.com 

CyCognito is a technology startup that focuses on cybersecurity and risk management. Its main offering is an EASM platform that provides the following features:

  • Advanced security testing with diagnostic sweeps across your entire attack surface.
  • Dynamic, configurable dashboards with advanced filtering options.
  • Discovery of unknown and unmanaged assets through the use of its comprehensive global botnet.

Detectify EASM Platform by Detectify

Boston, MA | 2013 | www.detectify.com

Detectify is a software as a service (SaaS) cybersecurity company based in Sweden with a U.S. base in Boston. It uses a “network of elite ethical hackers” to source data for its security research. Detectify’s EASM platform is a cloud-based offering with the following key features:

  • Attack surface custom policies, which are customizable rules designed to refine surface monitoring and notify on policy breaches.
  • An API for programmatically customizing alerts or aggregating security information.
  • Payload-based testing from a research team of ethical hackers to determine the validity of detected vulnerabilities in your system.

Attack Surface Discovery by IONIX

Tel Aviv, Israel | 2017 | www.ionix.io

IONIX (formerly Cyberpion) is a cybersecurity company that focuses on mapping organizations’ networks of dependencies and digital supply chains. Its Attack Surface Discovery EASM product offers the following:

  • A discovery engine that leverages machine learning (ML) and connection intelligence to create a comprehensive inventory of an organization’s digital assets from an attacker’s point of view.
  • Visualization of attack surfaces through a continuously updated, graph-based data model.
  • Progressive validation through heuristics and ML to reduce false positives.

Mandiant Advantage Attack Surface Management
by Google Mandiant

Alexandria, Virginia | 2004 | www.mandiant.com

Mandiant is a cybersecurity company that was acquired by Google in 2022. Its main areas of expertise are incident response and security consulting. Mandiant Advantage Attack Surface Management is an EASM tool that offers:

  • Real-time infrastructure monitoring that detects changes and potential exposures.
  • Over 250 prebuilt third-party integrations.
  • Visibility across the entire internet, including the deep and dark web.

Proof of Source Authenticity by Memcyco

Tel Aviv, Israel | 2021 | www.memcyco.com

Memcyco is a quickly growing cybersecurity startup specializing in protection against website impersonation. Its EASM tool offers:

  • Defense against brand impersonation via a digital brand watermark that allows users to verify that they are on an authentic website.
  • Real-time visibility and instant alerting of attempted brand fraud attacks.
  • Detailed impact reports for remediation and compliance purposes.

Microsoft Defender EASM by Microsoft

Redmond, Washington | 1975 | www.microsoft.com

As one of the largest software companies in the world, Microsoft has a proven track record in cloud, operating system (OS), and developer tools. Its EASM solution, Microsoft Defender, offers the following features:

  • Tailored solutions for enterprise, cloud, and individual use cases.
  • An automated self-healing feature that expedites threat remediation.
  • Incident prioritization in a user-friendly dashboard to reduce confusion, clutter, and alert fatigue.

Cortex Xpanse by Palo Alto Networks

Santa Clara, California | 2005 | www.paloaltonetworks.com

Palo Alto Networks is a well-known cybersecurity company recognized for its next-generation firewall security solutions as well as its endpoint protection and malware detection tools. Its EASM solution, Cortex Xpanse, provides the following features:

  • Real-time record updating of all internet-connected assets to help identify all exposure risks.
  • An attacker’s view of your attack surface with the Expander feature.
  • Continuous mapping of your attack surface and prioritization of remediation efforts with supervised machine learning models.

Randori Platform by IBM

Boston, MA | 2018 | www.ibm.com

Randori, which was acquired by IBM in 2022, bills itself as a “trusted adversary” to its customers by delivering an “unrivaled attack experience at scale.” Its platform for attack surface management offers the following key features:

  • Digital asset discovery to help unearth shadow IT and other resources that compose an organization’s external attack surface.
  • Risk-level determination, providing a unified view of an organization’s top targets from the point of view of an attacker.
  • An integration marketplace to connect EASM data with systems such as Jira, Splunk, and ServiceNow.

Conclusion

Cybercriminals find it easy to attack organizations through their publicly available digital assets. Enterprises need awareness of vulnerabilities the moment they arise and the ability to resolve them quickly to provide the best possible shield against malicious activity. 

In this article, we reviewed some of the best solutions available in the EASM market. Investing in a robust EASM solution is a critical imperative to safeguard your organization’s digital assets. Take proactive steps to fortify your cyber defenses and protect your business from potential harm.

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]]> Best Infrastructure Monitoring Tools https://www.security-tools.com/best-infrastructure-monitoring-tools/ Tue, 28 Nov 2023 21:24:17 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2667 Table of Contents Definition Importance Considerations when Choosing Tools Pros and Cons Best Infrastructure Monitoring Tools What is Infrastructure Monitoring? Today more than ever, consumers rely on technology for their communication, work, and entertainment. This means any downtime for these services imposes a high cost for software companies. In 2021, Meta lost nearly $100 million […]

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What is Infrastructure Monitoring?

Today more than ever, consumers rely on technology for their communication, work, and entertainment. This means any downtime for these services imposes a high cost for software companies. In 2021, Meta lost nearly $100 million in revenue during a disastrous six-hour outage, and it also lost numerous users who left for X (formerly Twitter), Discord, and other social media alternatives. 

Infrastructure monitoring tools allow businesses to maintain an exceptional and stable customer experience. These tools can diagnose, fix, and optimize all components of your infrastructure, including containers, physical servers, internet of things (IoT) devices, network devices, databases, and storage.

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of infrastructure monitoring tools for your organization and what to look for in these tools. Then, we’ll introduce one of the best infrastructure monitoring tools on the market.

The Importance of Infrastructure Monitoring

Infrastructure monitoring is crucial to the performance of your infrastructure, as it ensures the availability, optimization, and security of your assets as you meet customer demand.

With the average cost of downtime reaching hundreds of thousands (on the low end) to millions of dollars, security teams can’t afford to stay in the dark about the overall health of their infrastructure. Infrastructure monitoring tools perform the following key tasks:

  • Alert teams of potential issues, minimizing downtime and the risk of critical failures
  • Provide historical analysis, helping organizations make informed decisions about resource allocation, energy consumption, and hardware usage
  • Identify unusual or suspicious activities within the infrastructure, aiding in the early detection of security threats and vulnerabilities

Infrastructure monitoring also offers a bird’s-eye view of your infrastructure, helping teams troubleshoot issues quickly and improve mean time to repair (MTTR).

Considerations when Choosing an Infrastructure Monitoring Tool

Selecting the best infrastructure monitoring tool requires thoroughly assessing various crucial factors. Consider the following when choosing an infrastructure monitoring tool for your business:

Scalability and compatibility

  • Ensure the tool can adapt to the growing needs of your organization.
  • Check if the tool supports your entire infrastructure or tech stack, whether it’s hosted in the cloud, on-premises, or in a hybrid environment.

Ease of use and cost efficiency

  • Choose a user-friendly platform with an intuitive interface that is easy to set up and configure.
  • Evaluate total cost of ownership, maintenance costs, and return on investment (ROI).

Alerting, reporting, and customization

  • Prioritize robust alerts and customizable graphical reports.
  • Check if you can tailor the infrastructure monitoring tool to your needs.

The Pros and Cons of Infrastructure Monitoring Tools

Although infrastructure monitoring tools help teams ascertain overall system health, pinpoint errors, and improve systems, these tools have pros and cons. Examining the merits and shortcomings of infrastructure monitoring tools will help you select one that suits your business’s needs.

Pros

  • Optimizes infrastructure performance based on real-time data.
  • Analyzes historical data for trends and performance improvements.
  • Creates valuable resources for troubleshooting and technical documentation.

Cons

  • Setting up and managing infrastructure monitoring tools can be complex, expensive, and time-consuming.
  • Infrastructure monitoring tools can consume resources because a lot of planning is needed to successfully deploy them.
  • Poorly configured alerts may lead to false positives, alert fatigue, and missed issues.

Best Infrastructure Monitoring Tools

Below are some of the top infrastructure monitoring tools available.

AppDynamics by Cisco

San Jose, CA | 1984 | www.cisco.com

AppDynamics, now part of Cisco, provides application performance monitoring solutions. Its platform offers end-to-end visibility into application and infrastructure performance.

Features to highlight

  • Real-time monitoring and AI-powered insights.
  • Root cause detection and swift troubleshooting.
  • Comprehensive monitoring dashboards for visualization.

Key differentiators

  • Automatic system optimization and auto-remediation.
  • Visibility into your entire infrastructure and the ability to show dependencies.

CrowdStrike® Falcon LogScale™ by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike is known for its cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. Its infrastructure monitoring tool, Falcon LogScale, specializes in log analysis and security event monitoring.

Features to highlight

  • Real-time issue detection, search, and alerting.
  • Lightning-fast monitoring at affordable pricing.
  • Customizable dashboards for visualizing data.

Key differentiators

  • Real-time observability, log management, and threat detection capabilities.
  • Allows data ingestion of over 1PB per day without any negative impact on performance.

Datadog Platform by Datadog

New York | 2010 | www.datadoghq.com

Datadog is a renowned name in the world of infrastructure monitoring. Its platform offers comprehensive monitoring, analytics, and alerting for cloud-scale applications.

Features to highlight

  • User-friendly interface to enable easy adoption across teams.
  • Ease of deployment and integration with over 500 technologies.
  • Real-time infrastructure monitoring and one-click troubleshooting.

Key differentiators

  • Custom metric (such as customer behavior) tracking with the API or DogStatsD.
  • Machine learning that separates real issues from false alarms.

Dynatrace Log Management and Analytics Solution by Dynatrace

Massachusetts | 2005 | www.dynatrace.com

Dynatrace is a leader in the application performance monitoring space. Its platform provides full-stack monitoring and AIOps capabilities.

Features to highlight

  • Full-stack visibility and customizable dashboards.
  • Automatic analysis of logs and traces in real time.
  • Integrations for Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Docker monitoring.

Key differentiators

  • Insights into the business implications of events.
  • OneAgent SDK that offers custom monitoring capabilities.

Sematext Monitoring by Sematext

Brooklyn, NY | 2010 | www.sematext.com

Sematext provides monitoring and logging solutions for IT operations and application performance management. Its infrastructure monitoring tool, Sematext Monitoring, is a versatile solution that helps organizations gain insights into their infrastructure’s performance and reliability.

Features to highlight

  • Swift and seamless onboarding process.
  • Log management and analysis that provide insights into infrastructure health.
  • Regular process monitoring to uncover anomalies and improve performance.

Key differentiators

  • Integrates into many widely used application stacks, such as MySQL and MongoDB.
  • Scans servers for obsolete packages, discrepancies, and deviations.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor by SolarWinds

Austin, TX | 1999 | www.solarwinds.com

SolarWinds is a well-established provider of IT management solutions. Its Server & Application Monitor tool focuses on monitoring the health of servers and applications.

Features to highlight

  • Comprehensive server and application performance monitoring.
  • Root cause analysis and forecasts that facilitate capacity planning.
  • Customizable dashboards that aid data visualization.

Key differentiators

  • Carries out infrastructure dependency assessments.
  • Offers performance monitoring for Docker containers.

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring by Splunk

San Francisco, CA | 2003 | www.splunk.com

Splunk is well known for its data analytics and monitoring solutions. Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring provides visibility and insights into infrastructure performance.

Features to highlight

  • Real-time analytics from one integrated dashboard.
  • A blend of real-time data with historical data to provide context.
  • Network outage troubleshooting in Kubernetes to reduce downtime.

Key differentiators

  • Automatic Kubernetes monitoring with customizable charts.
  • Affordable comprehensive visibility while you scale your applications.

Zabbix 6.4 by Zabbix

Latvia | 2005 | www.zabbix.com

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring solution. The Zabbix platform provides robust infrastructure monitoring capabilities focusing on flexibility and customization. 

Features to highlight

  • Network and server monitoring in an open-source framework.
  • Entire infrastructure stack monitoring from one central platform.
  • Alerting and reporting with configurable dashboards.

Key differentiators

  • Offers multi-platform support and integrates easily with other apps via its Zabbix API.
  • Provides an external vault to secure sensitive information.

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]]> Best Threat Hunting Solutions https://www.security-tools.com/best-threat-hunting-solutions/ Fri, 20 Oct 2023 21:09:33 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2618 Table of Contents Definition Importance Aiding Threat Hunting Capabilities Best Threat Hunting Solutions What Is Threat Hunting? Cyber threat hunting tools are specialized software programs and systems that actively seek, detect, and address cybersecurity threats. Cyber threat hunting tools collect and analyze data from network traffic, logs, and endpoint behaviors to create a comprehensive cybersecurity […]

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What Is Threat Hunting?

Cyber threat hunting tools are specialized software programs and systems that actively seek, detect, and address cybersecurity threats. Cyber threat hunting tools collect and analyze data from network traffic, logs, and endpoint behaviors to create a comprehensive cybersecurity landscape. By continuously monitoring the network, these tools discover unknown threat indicators and provide real-time alerts and response mechanisms, empowering security teams to make informed decisions and take prompt action.

In this article, you’ll learn why threat hunting is vital for improving your infrastructure’s security and how threat hunting tools can offer unique advantages compared to other cybersecurity solutions. You’ll also find a guide to top threat hunting solutions in the market.

Why Is Threat Hunting Important?

For many modern organizations, threat hunting serves as a critical front-line defense strategy. Businesses can use tools like security information and event management (SIEM) solutions, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and log management to seek and neutralize malicious activities. This proactive stance bolsters their defenses, shields sensitive data, and ensures a resilient digital environment with a strong security posture.

The CrowdStrike 2023 Threat Hunting Report revealed that the average eCrime breakout time has decreased to 79 minutes, which is down five minutes from 2022. Moreover, some attackers can breach systems in as few as seven minutes. Such statistics highlight the critical need for swift response and proactive threat hunting measures.

Once attackers have breached a system, they can establish a foothold that allows them to return and renew their attack. Organizations must root out persistent intruders who lurk within the system, prevent data compromise, and minimize damage. An inadequate response to cybersecurity breaches can cause organizations to suffer catastrophic data loss, damaged or unavailable systems, and noncompliance with regulations (such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, or the GDPR). This can then lead to financial penalties or losses, the erosion of customer trust, and a damaged business reputation.

How Do SIEM, EDR, and Log Management Tools Augment Your Threat Hunting Capabilities?

SIEM, EDR, and log management tools offer distinct functionalities in the evolving threat landscape. When combined, they create a formidable defense that bolsters threat hunting capabilities.

SIEM systems

  • Act as an organization’s security infrastructure central nervous system
  • Correlate data from multiple sources, providing security teams with a unified view of potential threats across the network
  • Identify abnormal patterns and activities to provide comprehensive visibility, early detection, and response to emerging threats

EDR solutions

  • Offer granular visibility into endpoints, identifying anomalous behaviors, malicious processes, and vulnerabilities
  • Swiftly detect threats in distributed work environments to ensure individual device protection
  • Enable rapid response and containment, minimizing the risk of breaches spreading within the network

Log management tools

  • Ensure the efficient collection, storage, and analysis of log data, fostering a seamless synergy
  • Facilitate incident investigations, compliance adherence, and a deep understanding of the scope of security incidents
  • Provide crucial information for piecing together the sequence of events during an attack, comprehending threat actor tactics, and mitigating future risks

These tools address the specific threat hunting needs in a complex digital landscape. Organizations gain the ability to detect and respond to sophisticated threats by combining network-wide context from SIEM, endpoint-focused visibility from EDR, and detailed event-based data from log management. This integrated approach detects threats more effectively and enables proactive threat hunting, reducing detection and response times. With this collective approach, organizations can catch critical indicators of compromise, preventing their exposure to potential breaches.

Best Tools to Augment Your Cyber Threat Hunting Capabilities

In this section, we’ll cover top-notch cyber threat hunting solutions currently available and explore their unique offerings.

Falcon Insight XDR by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike is a global cybersecurity leader, providing a cloud-native platform that has redefined modern security. With real-time threat intelligence, automated protection, and rapid deployment, CrowdStrike Falcon® Insight XDR safeguards enterprise endpoints, cloud workloads, and data. CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR offers:

  • Comprehensive visibility into endpoints, empowering rapid threat investigation and informed decision-making
  • AI-powered detection and alert prioritization, curated by top security experts
  • Swift response actions, including on-the-fly remote access and integrated CrowdStrike Falcon® Fusion security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) for enhanced efficiency

Falcon LogScale by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike® Falcon LogScale™ is a next-gen SIEM solution and is another core threat hunting product from CrowdStrike. It offers:

  • Security logging at petabyte scale for threat hunting, incident response, and compliance
  • An extensible query language and custom dashboards for in-depth analysis and real-time threat monitoring
  • Fine-grained, role-based access control (RBAC), easy deployment, and a user-friendly interface, ensuring rapid time-to-value and enhanced cybersecurity
  • The ability to search across hundreds of gigabytes of data in one second to empower threat hunting teams

Elastic Security by Elastic

Mountain View, CA | 2012 | www.elastic.co

Elastic is a prominent software company known for its Elasticsearch engine, which facilitates rapid real-time data storage and analysis. Elastic Security offers:

  • SIEM and security analytics to identify and counter threats in the cloud, regardless of scale
  • Endpoint security, which uses a single agent to streamline threat prevention, collection, detection, and response
  • Cloud security for organizations to evaluate cloud setup and safeguard their cloud-based workloads

Exabeam Fusion by Exabeam

Foster City, CA | 2013 | www.exabeam.com

Exabeam is a leading cybersecurity company that provides advanced threat detection, investigation, and response solutions. Exabeam Fusion offers:

  • Cutting-edge cloud-native SIEM, which combines rapid data ingestion, powerful analytics, and fast query performance
  • Unified product capabilities, including cloud-native data storage, behavioral analytics, and automation for streamlined workflows
  • Enhanced analyst efficiency through end-to-end workflow automation and improved threat detection, investigation, and response

QRadar by IBM Security

Cambridge, MA | 2015 | www.ibm.com

IBM Security is a renowned leader in the cybersecurity domain, offering a comprehensive range of solutions and services that safeguard organizations against evolving threats. IBM Security QRadar offers:

  • Network security visibility that provides a comprehensive network view with event log sources and AWS integrations
  • Detection, investigation, and analysis of behaviors and threats, all integrated with threat intelligence
  • High-fidelity alerts with magnitude scoring and machine learning analytics to identify anomalous user behavior

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Santa Clara, CA | 2005 | www.paloaltonetworks.com

Palo Alto Networks is a leading cybersecurity company that provides a comprehensive security platform. Cortex XDR offers:

  • Comprehensive endpoint protection, defending against advanced threats with a robust security stack, AI-driven analysis, and threat-blocking capabilities
  • Accurate threat detection, pinpointing evasive threats with patented behavioral analytics and cutting-edge machine learning
  • Fast investigation and response to incidents through an intuitive incident management system and root cause analysis

Singularity by SentinelOne

Mountain View, CA | 2013 | www.sentinelone.com

SentinelOne is a pioneering cybersecurity platform that defends organizations against evolving threats. The SentinelOne Singularity platform offers:

  • Comprehensive endpoint protection for prevention, detection, response, and hunting capabilities
  • Streamlined security for containers and virtual machines across diverse locations, ensuring agility, compliance, and protection
  • Elevated threat detection and response for identity-based surfaces

Splunk Enterprise Security by Splunk

San Francisco, CA | 2003 | www.splunk.com

Splunk is a leading data analytics platform, transforming raw data into actionable insights. With powerful analytics and machine learning capabilities, Splunk helps businesses gain valuable perspectives on operations, security, and customer interactions. Splunk Enterprise Security offers:

  • Advanced threat detection with 1,400+ out-of-the-box detection frameworks and an open, extensible data monitoring platform
  • Risk-based alerting architecture and integrated intelligence enrichment
  • Rapid and responsive security updates and flexible deployment options

XDR by Trend Micro

Shibuya City, Tokyo | 2005 | www.trendmicro.com

Trend Micro is a prominent cybersecurity company that provides comprehensive solutions to safeguard businesses and individuals against evolving digital threats. Trend Micro XDR offers:

  • Early, precise threat detection by integrating data for improved speed and accuracy, reducing false positives
  • Rapid threat investigation and response, with interactive graphs, MITRE ATT&CK® mapping, and centralized actions
  • Advanced threat correlation, connecting comprehensive activity data across security vectors and enhancing analytics and detection models.

Carbon Black by VMware

Palo Alto, CA | 1998 | www.vmware.com

VMware is a notable company specializing in virtualization and cloud computing solutions. VMware Carbon Black offers:

  • Modernized endpoint protection that enhances detection and prevention capabilities for comprehensive endpoint security
  • A simplified security stack that unifies endpoint and container security via a single agent and console, reducing downtime and optimizing resource usage
  • Enhanced environment confidence that provides a clear understanding of your environment and empowers confident decision-making in complex modern setups
  • Increased container visibility, enabling faster and more effective remediation by providing improved context into container processes

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]]> Best Cloud Workload Protection Solutions (CWP) https://www.security-tools.com/best-cloud-workload-protection-solutions-cwp/ Wed, 18 Oct 2023 21:33:29 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2568 Table of Contents What is Cloud Workload Protection? Considerations when selecting the best CWP tool Top 10 CWP Solutions What are Cloud Workload Protection Solutions? A cloud workload protection (CWP) solution secures and protects workloads hosted in the cloud — including virtual machines, containers, Kubernetes, and serverless applications — by monitoring and removing threats during […]

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What are Cloud Workload Protection Solutions?

A cloud workload protection (CWP) solution secures and protects workloads hosted in the cloud — including virtual machines, containers, Kubernetes, and serverless applications — by monitoring and removing threats during application development and runtime. As organizations increasingly adopt cloud technology, they become exposed to broader attack surfaces. For this reason, the importance of CWP in mitigating risks and improving security visibility cannot be understated. In this article, we will discuss the importance of CWP, what to look for when considering CWP solutions, and the top ten CWP solutions currently available on the market.

Considerations when selecting the best tool

When choosing a CWP tool, an organization should primarily consider how the CWP solution reduces complexity, brings consistency across cloud workloads, and promotes portability. Let’s explore each of these in more detail.

Reduced complexity

The role of a CWP solution should be to simplify — rather than further complicate — workload security management. Choose a CWP solution that has an intuitive and user-friendly UI, is easy to navigate, and requires minimal training. Most security tools come with an alert and notification feature. However, a good CWP solution helps prevent alert fatigue by prioritizing alerts so that you are not overloaded with non-actionable notifications.

Consistency across workloads

A CWP solution should ensure security policy templates are applied uniformly across workloads. It should make sure nothing is missed, so you can rest assured that comprehensive protection is applied across the board. A strong CWP tool should also inform you if it was unable to implement a security policy on a particular workload. This situation would result in alerting the security team about a workload that is not covered.

Portability

A CWP solution should provide multi-cloud support, protecting your organization from vendor lock-in should you choose to migrate your workloads to another cloud provider. This portability also ensures that your organization can use a single CWP solution even if workloads are spread out across various cloud providers. Now that we’ve looked at the key considerations for choosing a CWP solution, let’s look at the top ten CWP solutions available today.

Top 10 Cloud Workload Protection Solutions

CloudGuard (Check Point)

Ramat Gan, Israel | 1993 | www.checkpoint.com CloudGuard secures app development through runtime, ensuring that apps, APIs, containers, and serverless functions remain secured. It offers continuous integration (CI) tools for container image scanning, aiding with the detection of security issues early in the software life cycle. It secures workloads in multi-cloud environments and has a robust CWP solution for Google Cloud. CheckPoint CloudGuard also offers cloud network, web app, code scanning, and serverless security.

CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security (CrowdStrike)

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform is the only platform in the market that offers complete and comprehensive security across clouds, endpoints, and workloads in a single platform. The Falcon platform has one interface and one console, and it integrates well with other platforms. Falcon Cloud Security leverages CrowdStrike’s broad threat intelligence (tracking over 200 adversaries) and machine learning (ML) to deliver fast threat detection and response, incident response, cloud threat hunting, container security, and workload protection. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security includes features such as infrastructure as code (IaC) and attack path visualization to stop lateral movement and supply chain attacks, and it is well regarded in the DevOps and security communities for securing the app life cycle without disrupting or delaying app delivery.

Orca Security Platform (Orca Security)

Los Angeles, CA | 2019 | orca.security Orca Security offers simplified cloud security solutions to help organizations confidently host and secure their workloads in the cloud. The Orca Platform offers agentless security scanning and advanced AI to help prioritize security alerts. The unified security platform makes it easy to investigate and mitigate cloud security risks for your organization.

Prisma Cloud (Palo Alto Networks)

Santa Clara, CA | 2005 | www.paloaltonetworks.com Palo Alto Networks is a leading cybersecurity company that provides advanced firewall and cloud security solutions to safeguard organizations against evolving cyber threats. Prisma Cloud provides comprehensive security coverage for workloads across multiple cloud environments. The only downsides are the cost and the fact that you have to manage two or three interfaces. Prisma Cloud offers solid CI/continuous delivery (CD) pipeline security and integrates well with Jira, Slack, and PagerDuty.

Singularity Cloud (SentinelOne)

Mountain View, CA | 2013 | www.sentinelone.com SentinelOne is a cybersecurity company that provides a platform to protect against advanced threats across endpoints, containers, cloud workloads, and internet of things (IoT) devices. Singularity Cloud offers an advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution for your cloud workloads, the ability to visualize attack paths and map them to the MITRE ATT&CK® framework, support through IaC for provisioning, and auto-deployment of agents in the workloads.

Sysdig Secure (Sysdig)

San Francisco, CA | 2013 | sysdig.com Sysdig is a cybersecurity company that provides cloud-native threat detection and response solutions. It is the creator of Falco, an open-source tool used for threat detection. Sysdig Secure is a security platform with cloud and container security coverage, from code to detection and response. Sysdig Secure also offers a suite of integrations with the most popular tools.

Trellix Cloud Security (Trellix)

Milpitas, CA | 2022 | www.trellix.com Trellix is a cybersecurity company that delivers detection and response solutions along with advanced cyber threat intelligence. Trellix Cloud Security provides a suite of products aimed at securing your cloud workloads. It assists in automating and visualizing workload security across multiple cloud environments and monitoring to reduce infrastructure strain. It also provides detection and response capabilities, ensuring that you are always alerted to potentially suspicious activity within your environment.

Trend Cloud One (Trend Micro)

Tokyo, Japan | 1988 | www.trendmicro.com Trend Micro provides cybersecurity solutions — such as extended detection and response (XDR) solutions, threat assessment, and cyber expert services — across the globe. Trend Cloud One uses a lightweight agent and provides automated discovery of your workloads. It also provides a global threat intelligence feed constantly updated by their security researchers, which you can use to stay updated about the latest attacks.

Carbon Black Workload (VMware)

Palo Alto, CA | 1998 | www.vmware.com VMware specializes in virtualization and cloud computing technologies and enables organizations to optimize their IT infrastructure and enhance operational efficiency. VMware Carbon Black Workload is a data center security product that protects your workloads running in a virtualized environment. Carbon Black Workload ensures that security is intrinsic to the virtualization environment by providing a built-in protection for virtual machines.

Wiz CWPP (Wiz)

New York, NY | 2020 | www.wiz.io Wiz is a cybersecurity company specializing in creating secure cloud environments to help with risk identification and mitigation. Although the platform is designed for agentless security, Wiz has been adding some container CWP features to secure cloud-native applications. Their interface is clean and appealing. The cloud workload protection platform (CWPP) from Wiz provides agentless full-stack visibility into your cloud environment, scanning for vulnerabilities, secrets, malware, and misconfigurations. It scans virtual machines, containers, and serverless functions. It recently added the Wiz Runtime Sensor to provide some CWPP support, like collecting workload runtime signals in real time as part of its Cloud Detection and Response service.

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]]> Best Tools to Augment or Replace Your SIEM Solution https://www.security-tools.com/best-siem-augmentation-or-replacement-tools/ Tue, 17 Oct 2023 18:15:01 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2550 Table of Contents Why you might augment or replace your SIEM What to look for in a SIEM augmentation or replacement Top solutions to augment or replace your SIEM A security information and event management (SIEM) solution is a cybersecurity and threat detection technology that collects, aggregates, and analyzes events — from servers, cloud infrastructure, […]

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A security information and event management (SIEM) solution is a cybersecurity and threat detection technology that collects, aggregates, and analyzes events — from servers, cloud infrastructure, and firewalls — to detect suspicious activity. It is an essential tool for security analysts, enabling proactive threat detection and response measures to counter data breaches and cyberattacks. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates the cost of cybercrime will hit $8 trillion in 2023 and grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025. As a result of escalating breaches, the SIEM market is growing. However, the traditional methods for threat detection must evolve to provide adequate protection against the volume and strength of modern attacks. As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated, legacy SIEM solutions can no longer provide sufficient protection. In this post, we’ll consider why enterprises need more than SIEM for robust cybersecurity and discuss what they should look for when choosing a SIEM solution. Then, we’ll provide an overview of the best tools for augmenting or replacing your SIEM solution.

Why you might augment or replace your SIEM solution

Differentiating real, time-sensitive threats from noise and potential diversions can be an arduous task. That’s the hope of bad actors; after all, cyber assailants often use misdirection tactics to confuse security analysts. SIEM augmentation can leverage technologies — such as machine learning and advanced data analytics — to provide the following benefits:
  • Threat detection, enabling faster response times and threat mitigation through active activity monitoring and analysis
  • Threat intelligence, providing insights to understand attackers’ motives, targets, and behaviors
  • Task automation, reducing the burden on security analysts and allowing them to focus less on repetitive work units and more on strategic decisions
  • Discovery of elusive correlations between security events, equipping security analysts with a deeper understanding of ongoing breaches

What to look for in a SIEM augmentation or replacement

SIEM augmentation solutions provide various capabilities and features. When evaluating potential tools, consider your organization’s specific requirements. Common capabilities among solutions include:

Scalability and performance

  • Analyzes vast amounts of various data with minimal latency
  • Provides specific recommendations for ongoing threats
  • Scales while retaining accurate performance

Support for various data sources

  • Seamless data ingestion and normalization
  • Support for a wide variety of data formats coming from various third-party software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers
  • Continuous updates and upgrades to data parsers, supporting multi-cloud and on-premises infrastructures
  • Ability for organizations to “log everything” to eliminate blind spots while maintaining affordability

Comprehensive real-time visibility

  • Customizable dashboards that cut through the noise, enabling analysts to quickly and confidently decide which actions require immediate attention
  • Real-time data with minimal latency, facilitating instant threat detection
  • Configurable alerting that integrates seamlessly with third-party tools, yielding immediate notification and response

Cost-effectiveness

  • Provides high business value and strong customer support
  • Includes tiers for different use cases and organization sizes
  • Offers a pay-as-you-go model with no long-term commitments
  • Eliminates hidden costs by offering predictable licensing with minimal maintenance costs

Leverages user behavior analytics

  • Integrates with systems that use AI/machine learning (ML) to analyze activity for anomalous usage patterns
  • Uncovers hidden insights that contribute to more accurate predictions and diagnoses
  • Reduces reliance on human analysis and the probability of error
  • Works in conjunction with identity threat detection and response (ITDR) tools to uncover identity-based threats and potential insider attacks

Top solutions to augment or replace your SIEM

Today’s market offers a multitude of solutions for augmenting or replacing your SIEM. These options are designed for various use cases and organization sizes. Let’s examine the top-rated tools currently available.

CrowdStrike Falcon LogScale (CrowdStrike)

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike is a global leader in the cybersecurity space, providing cutting-edge solutions that cover all areas of cybersecurity, such as next-generation antivirus (NGAV), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and threat hunting. CrowdStrike offers an enterprise-level next-gen SIEM tool called CrowdStrike® Falcon LogScale™, which is notable for:

  • Enormous scaling possibilities, benchmarked to support ingestion of over one petabyte of data per day
  • Exceptionally fast search capabilities, which allow for scanning up to three billion records per second
  • An intuitive user interface with real-time, customizable, and easy-to-interpret dashboards for security monitoring and compliance

ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (CyberRes)

Santa Clara, CA | 1976 | www.microfocus.com/en-us/cyberres

CyberRes is a technology company owned by OpenText that focuses on cyber resilience. As part of its broad portfolio of tools, CyberRes provides a SIEM solution called ArcSight, which offers:

  • Seamless integration with existing security operations center (SOC) and security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) tools
  • Real-time correlation of data points, which enables constant updates of potential security threats
  • Instant alerting capabilities

Elastic Security (Elastic)

Mountain View, CA | 2012 | www.elastic.co

Elastic is a widely known software company that focuses on observability and monitoring tools. It is most famous for its ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), which serves as the primary tool for log ingestion and analysis for many organizations. Elastic Security is a SIEM tool that provides:

  • Security analytics that help uncover hidden risks
  • Data normalization with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS)
  • Deployment options for various cloud and on-premises environments

Exabeam Fusion (Exabeam)

Foster City, CA | 2013 | www.exabeam.com

Exabeam is a rapidly growing cybersecurity startup that focuses on advancing security operations. Exabeam Fusion is a cloud-native SIEM solution that offers the following:

  • Advanced threat detection and response with Exabeam Smart Timelines
  • Rapid log ingestion and processing (over one million events per second)
  • An easy-to-use search feature that provides instant results

QRadar (IBM Security)

Cambridge, MA | 2015 | https://www.ibm.com/security

IBM is one of the oldest and most successful technology companies, known across the globe for its wide range of hardware and software solutions. It has been an active leader in cybersecurity for several decades. In recent years, IBM has successfully expanded into the cloud computing space. IBM Security QRadar is a security intelligence tool that offers:

  • 700+ supported integrations and partner extensions
  • AI-powered threat detection
  • Managed services for cloud migration support

LogRhythm SIEM (LogRhythm)

Boulder, CO | 2003 | logrhythm.com

LogRhythm is a technology company that specializes in security intelligence, log management, and the reduction of cyber and operational risk. LogRhythm SIEM provides the following features:

  • Built-in incident management tools that enable faster resolution times
  • A unified platform with prebuilt dashboards, alerts, and reports
  • Machine Data Intelligence (MDI) Fabric that enables advanced log parsing and analysis

Microsoft Sentinel (Microsoft)

Redmond, WA | 1975 | www.microsoft.com

Microsoft has been a household name in the tech industry for many decades. It produces various sorts of software, from operating systems to team collaboration platforms. Its SIEM tool, Microsoft Sentinel, offers:

  • Security data aggregation from various sources with data connectors
  • Dedicated playbooks to help automate and orchestrate threat responses
  • Out-of-the-box integration with other Microsoft tools, such as Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Defender

Unified Defense SIEM (Securonix)

Addison, TX | 2007 | www.securonix.com

Securonix is a cybersecurity company that provides innovative solutions for SIEM and user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA). Unified Defense SIEM is a Securonix software that offers:

  • The Bring Your Own Snowflake feature, which allows organizations to integrate their existing Snowflake Data Cloud Platform with Securonix analytics
  • Autonomous Threat Sweeper (ATS) that automatically and retroactively hunts for new and emerging threats
  • Cloud-native solution with flexible deployment options

Splunk Enterprise Security (Splunk)

San Francisco, CA | 2003 | www.splunk.com

Splunk is a software company that specializes in providing observability, data analysis, and cybersecurity services. At the time of this writing, Cisco is in the process of acquiring Splunk. Splunk Enterprise Security offers:

  • Risk-based alerting that enables analysts to define risk thresholds for alerts to avoid false positives and alert fatigue
  • Over 1,400 built-in threat detections for frameworks, such as MITRE ATT&CK®, NIST, CIS 20, and Kill Chain
  • Regular security content updates from the Splunk Threat Research Team

Cloud SIEM (Sumo Logic)

Redwood City, CA | 2010 | www.sumologic.com

Sumo Logic specializes in cloud observability, security, and analytics. It labels itself as a pioneer of continuous intelligence, enabling companies to address challenges and opportunities presented by digital transformation. Its security tool, Cloud SIEM, offers:

  • 24/7 enterprise customer support
  • Numerous API integrations that pull telemetry from sources such as Okta, Amazon GuardDuty, and Microsoft Office 365
  • Advanced correlation and detection of threats across hybrid, multi-cloud, and on-premises environments

Conclusion

Organizations everywhere have experienced a substantial uptick in the frequency, sophistication, and cost of cybersecurity attacks. SIEM tools are a necessity in the battle against cyberattacks. In this article, we reviewed the best modern SIEM solutions or tools to augment an enterprise’s current SIEM.

Choosing the right solution depends on the size and industry of your organization. Regardless of your use case, make sure to look for solutions that support your business needs — particularly in the areas of scalability, performance, machine learning capabilities, and cost-effectiveness.

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]]> Top 10 CSPM Solutions https://www.security-tools.com/top-cspm-solutions/ Mon, 16 Oct 2023 00:52:12 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2499 Table of Contents CSPM Definition Importance of CSPM Considerations Top 10 CSPM Solutions What Is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)? Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is a process that aids organizations in proactively enhancing their security and cloud environment compliance. Comprehensive CSPM tools perform automated scans, meticulously scrutinizing cloud configurations, network settings, access controls, and […]

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What Is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)?

Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is a process that aids organizations in proactively enhancing their security and cloud environment compliance. Comprehensive CSPM tools perform automated scans, meticulously scrutinizing cloud configurations, network settings, access controls, and data storage practices to detect potential security vulnerabilities and areas of noncompliance. By continuously monitoring and assessing the cloud infrastructure against industry best practices and regulatory standards, CSPM solutions ensure that businesses can swiftly identify and address emerging security risks before they lead to data breaches or a cyberattack. With detailed reports and actionable recommendations, CSPM solutions empower security teams to implement effective remediation strategies, maintain a robust security posture, and optimize cloud resource utilization for better cost management. In this post, we’ll look at why CSPM solutions are important, followed by key considerations when choosing a solution. Then, we’ll explore some of the best CSPM solutions currently available.

The Importance of CSPM

Let’s discuss why CSPM solutions are important.

Enhanced cloud security

CSPM solutions improve cloud security by continuously scanning and monitoring cloud configurations, network settings, access controls, and data storage practices. This proactive approach identifies and addresses potential security vulnerabilities and risks, mitigating data breaches, unauthorized access, and cyber threats. With CSPM, businesses can uphold a robust security posture for their cloud infrastructure, safeguarding sensitive data and applications more effectively.

Compliance and regulatory adherence

CSPM solutions help organizations achieve compliance by evaluating their cloud infrastructure against security benchmarks and offering actionable remediation recommendations. This alignment with industry best practices and compliance frameworks mitigates potential penalties and legal challenges and fosters trust among customers and stakeholders, showcasing a dedicated effort to maintain a secure and compliant cloud ecosystem.

Considerations When Looking for a CSPM Solution

There is a broad spectrum of CSPM solutions available on the market. Some offer comprehensive cloud coverage for multiple platforms and services, and others specialize in automated continuous monitoring. The following key considerations will guide you in choosing a CSPM solution that aligns with your organization’s needs and enhances your cloud security posture.

Comprehensive cloud coverage

Prioritize solutions with extensive coverage across diverse cloud platforms and services. You should:
  • Ensure the CSPM tool is compatible with major cloud environments
  • Check whether the compatibility guarantees all aspects of your cloud infrastructure receive monitoring to reduce vulnerabilities and maintain uniform security across the board

Automated continuous monitoring

Adopt a CSPM solution with automated and continuous monitoring capabilities to:
  • Enable real-time scanning and assessment of your cloud environment
  • Identify emerging security risks and compliance issues, ensuring swift detection and response to potential threats
  • Minimize the risk of a data breach or unauthorized access

Integration and scalability

Consider integration with your current security tools and cloud infrastructure. When looking for a CSPM solution, you should:
  • Ensure it enhances security operations by leveraging existing resources and workflows
  • Verify the scalability of the CSPM tool to accommodate your organization’s growth and evolving cloud requirements

Top 10 CSPM Solutions

In this section, we will analyze various CSPM solutions and explore their unique value propositions. We’ll examine each provider’s offerings, expertise, and key differentiators, highlighting their strengths and competitive advantages.

CloudGuard CSPM by Check Point

Tel Aviv, Israel | 1993 | www.checkpoint.com

Check Point is a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions. It provides a suite of products and services that focus on network security, cloud security, mobile security, endpoint security, and threat intelligence.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Automated continuous monitoring
  • Automated scans to detect potential security weaknesses and compliance challenges in cloud environments
  • Seamless integration with current security tools and cloud infrastructures
  • Optimization of security operations and resource efficiency

CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike is an internationally recognized cybersecurity organization that offers leading endpoint protection and threat intelligence.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • An innovative solution that safeguards cloud environments against diverse cyber threats
  • Proactive threat detection, real-time visibility, and machine learning-driven behavioral analysis that enables swift identification and response to emerging threats
  • Easy integration with other cloud security tools

Microsoft Defender for Cloud by Microsoft

Redmond, WA | 1975 | www.microsoft.com

Microsoft, one of the largest global software companies, produces a range of technology services, computer software, consumer electronics, and personal computers. 

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Advanced threat protection
  • Security analytics for cloud workloads, enabling real-time threat identification and response
  • Easy integration with Microsoft’s cloud platforms, providing centralized security management and offering comprehensive visibility and control over cloud resources, bolstering overall protection measures

Lacework CSPM by Lacework

Mountain View, CA | 2015 | www.lacework.com

Lacework is an extensive cloud security solution that delivers automated threat detection, behavioral anomaly analysis, and compliance monitoring to organizations operating in cloud environments.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Real-time visibility into cloud workloads and infrastructure
  • Proactive identification and response for security threats
  • Incorporation of advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies
  • Precise identification of potential security risks
  • Custom support for organizations that desire a robust security posture in the cloud

The Orca Platform by Orca Security

Portland, OR | 2019 | www.orca.security

Orca Security is a leading company providing agentless cloud security.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Agentless and comprehensive security
  • Compliance services for cloud environments
  • Deep and continuous visibility into cloud assets, detecting risks and vulnerabilities without agents
  • Innovative SideScanning technology, allowing Orca to access cloud assets’ risk statuses without disrupting operations

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Santa Clara, CA | 2005 | www.paloaltonetworks.com

Palo Alto Networks provides network security solutions, catering to diverse industries through machine learning and automation.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Immediate visibility into systems
  • Compliance monitoring across services
  • Threat detection in cloud environments
  • Seamless integration with diverse cloud platforms

Sophos Cloud Optix by Sophos

Abingdon, United Kingdom | 1985 | www.sophos.com

Sophos is a cybersecurity firm offering different solutions — including endpoint protection, network security, cloud security, encryption, and mobile security — to safeguard businesses and individuals against cyber threats.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Real-time visibility for infrastructure
  • Continuous monitoring for cloud environments
  • A centralized view of cloud resources across various platforms, streamlining security operations and ensuring consistent protection against cloud-related threats

Tenable Cloud Security by Tenable

Columbia, MD | 2002 | www.tenable.com

Tenable provides cybersecurity for vulnerability management solutions and services to assist organizations in identifying and resolving security risks and vulnerabilities across their networks and assets.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Automated continuous visibility and vulnerability management infrastructure
  • Compliance monitoring for cloud environments
  • Real-time insights and proactive identification of cloud security risks
  • Comprehensive coverage across multiple cloud platforms

Trend Cloud One by Trend Micro

Tokyo, Japan | 1988 | www.trendmicro.com

Trend Micro provides cybersecurity solutions and services to safeguard businesses and individuals against diverse cyber threats and to secure digital environments.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • Extensive protection and threat defense for cloud environments
  • Real-time visibility, automated security, and compliance monitoring
  • An integrated approach that brings together security tools and policies across various cloud platforms
  • Efficient management and security of cloud infrastructure

Wiz CSPM by Wiz 

New York City, NY | 2020 | www.wiz.io

Wiz is a cybersecurity company specializing in cloud security solutions.

Value propositions and key differentiators

  • A cloud-native platform that utilizes automation and machine learning to provide real-time insights and recommendations for improving cloud security posture
  • Threat detection to proactively protect cloud assets from cyber threats
  • Continuous monitoring and real-time visibility that enable organizations to detect and remediate potential security issues

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]]> Best CNAPP Tools https://www.security-tools.com/best-cnapp-tools/ Wed, 11 Oct 2023 18:15:38 +0000 https://www.security-tools.com/?p=2524 Table of Contents Definition Importance Considerations Best CNAPP Tools What Is a CNAPP? The advent of distributed, cloud-native applications has expanded the software landscape and provided numerous user benefits. However, it has also increased the attack vectors available to hackers and scammers, increasing the security threats companies must safeguard against. Historically, companies have used multiple […]

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What Is a CNAPP?

The advent of distributed, cloud-native applications has expanded the software landscape and provided numerous user benefits. However, it has also increased the attack vectors available to hackers and scammers, increasing the security threats companies must safeguard against.

Historically, companies have used multiple vendors and tools for coverage against different vulnerabilities. Currently, security vendors have been consolidating solutions into a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that secures cloud workloads and containers and enforces secure posture and compliance. A CNAPP combines threat detection and response, security monitoring, alerting, and actions to help ensure your organization is secure and meets  compliance requirements.

The Importance of a CNAPP

Without a CNAPP, your enterprise may miss critical software package upgrades or overlook a system misconfiguration in your application’s critical path. As a result, your organization could lose certifications or suffer a security breach. CNAPPs bring significant benefits:

  • Unified cloud security that includes cloud workload protection (CWP), cloud security posture management (CSPM), cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM), and infrastructure as code (IaC)
  • Single pane of glass to visualize security threats/alerts and respond quickly
  • A standardized security monitoring tool that can be applied to bespoke deployment strategies (such as serverless, Kubernetes, or multi-cloud)
  • A centralized source of truth for team compliance that helps organizations move toward a more robust security posture

Considerations When Choosing a CNAPP Tool

When evaluating CNAPP solutions, consider your organization’s needs. Because the market for full-fledged CNAPP products is extensive, your decision-making process should include the use of a rubric for the following aspects.

A Unified Platform

The ability to view threats and security vulnerabilities across an organization’s cloud landscape is essential for any CNAPP offering. A CNAPP that lets you see cloud-based, on-premises, and hybrid environments — all in one platform — ensures you’ll be alerted to any issues. A unified platform typically combines:

  • Cloud Security Posture Management: Monitoring and responding to threats and maintaining compliance across the cloud
  • Container Security: Security and monitoring of containerized applications, including IaC, image scanning, container and code scanning, and pre-runtime protection
  • Cloud Workload Protection: Securing machines and serverless systems
  • Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management: Controlling and mapping out permissions models in multi-cloud environments

Different Agent Options

How a CNAPP solution gathers the information from your cloud components — whether it’s through installed agents or by agentless means — will also impact its effectiveness. A good CNAPP solution:

  • Runs on individual machines or within distributed environments to monitor threats and security vulnerabilities in real time
  • Provides an alternative agentless option for systems where an agent can’t easily be installed

Threat Intelligence

A CNAPP solution should let you know the who, what, and why of cyberattacks. Threat intelligence helps you decide how to mitigate an incident or prevent one from happening in the first place.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

MDR provides action in response to discovered vulnerabilities. A CNAPP with strong MDR capabilities will help your enterprise develop incident response plans.

Threat Hunting

A good CNAPP solution includes threat hunting, acting as a watchdog that searches for malicious threats present within your company’s network.

Best CNAPP Tools

In this section, we’ll highlight the CNAPP offerings from the top cybersecurity software companies and discuss what sets them apart.

CloudGuard Native Application Protection by Check Point

Te,l Aviv, Israel | 1993 | www.checkpoint.com

Check Point focuses on providing valuable context across a customer’s application life cycle through its CloudGuard CNAPP solution and is heavily focused on cloud network security. 

  • Focuses on the small percentage of security-related alerts that are responsible for a company’s biggest risks
  • Offers the standard set of protection capabilities with the addition of web application and API protection (WAAP)
  • Offers WAAP that runs off of contextual AI, providing an automated defense to attacks against web applications

Lightspin CNAPP (Lightspin, Part of Cisco Outshift)

Tel Aviv, Israel | 2020 | www.lightspin.io

Lightspin seeks to address the challenges of dealing with a dynamic and complicated cloud environment by contextualizing cloud risks and giving true context to ensure faster remediation.

  • Provides a graphical representation of IT assets in an organization
  • Offers cloud security controls via CSPM and Kubernetes security posture management (KSPM)
  • Offers free external attack surface management for five domains
  • Provides root cause analysis and a remediation hub to improve your company’s security posture

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security by CrowdStrike

Austin, TX | 2011 | www.crowdstrike.com

CrowdStrike provides a comprehensive range of cybersecurity options. CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security is a complete and unified CNAPP solution in a single and unified platform.

  • Comprehensive threat detection and response across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments
  • Robust security that includes workload protection, container security, IaC, software composition analysis (SCA), and cloud identity protection
  • Threat intelligence monitoring for over 280 adversary organizations across the globe
  • Industry-first MDR solution for cloud, including cloud threat hunting
  • A combination of agent-based and agentless security

Cyscale CNAPP by Cyscale

London, U.K. | 2019 | www.cyscale.com

Cyscale offers a cloud-native CSPM solution aimed at maximum cloud protection for your entire stack and across any cloud environment.

  • Compliance checks, with an emphasis on U.S.- and European-based regulations and standards
  • Platform centered on a trademarked Security Knowledge Graph, a data model mapping of networks of cloud entities
  • Built-in compliance templates
  • Support for large compliance frameworks and benchmarks (such as PCI DSS and the CIS Benchmarks)

Lacework CNAPP by Lacework

Mountain View, CA | 2014 | www.lacework.com

A data-driven security firm, Lacework provides a CNAPP solution that aims to inform developers of costly errors before they make it to production, helping you correlate data to secure your build and increase productivity.

  • Utilizes behavior-based threat detection unique to each environment to reduce time to investigate incidents
  • Creates alerts and events around anomalous activity learned from data-driven insights
  • Learns about your infrastructure, from continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to workloads
  • Identifies risks based on the unique makeup of your cloud environment

Microsoft Defender for Cloud by Microsoft

Redmond, WA | 1975 | www.microsoft.com

Microsoft is a global provider of software products, applications, and associated security products. Microsoft Defender for Cloud aims to protect customers from cyber threats and safeguard their cloud workloads.

  • Multi-cloud offering supporting GCP and AWS in addition to Microsoft Azure
  • Combination of CSPM and CWP with DevSecOps
  • Streamlined integration of add-ons with other Microsoft products
  • Seamless integration with GitHub and Azure Pipelines

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Santa Clara, CA | 2005 | www.paloaltonetworks.com

Palo Alto Networks started with network security tools like firewalls and DNS security. Now, their Prisma Cloud CNAPP offers a fast, integrated, prevention-first approach.

  • Bundles together components including CSPM, CWP, and CIEM; however, these are not integrated in a single platform
  • Includes additional tools specific to network security, such as network anomaly detection
  • Offers deployable WAAP to protect on-premises and cloud networks

Sysdig CNAPP by Sysdig

San Francisco, CA | 2013 | www.sysdig.com

Sysdig, a major open-source contributor, aims to reduce costs and target gaps in cloud security.

  • Tighter feedback loops between developers and security teams
  • Tuned alerting by intersecting the parts of your system that are actually in use and at risk
  • Falco, the open-source foundational product, serves as the base of the CNAPP
  • Falco is built in the open and available for scrutiny/improvement by the public

Uptycs CNAPP by Uptycs

Waltham, MA | 2016 | www.uptycs.com

As a cybersecurity startup, Uptycs is built around its CNAPP and extended detection and response (XDR) products.

  • Aligns with the DevSecOps phases
  • Includes cloud detection and response (CDR), which rolls up different security findings to give anomaly detection across cloud offerings
  • Incorporates XDR, which brings together monitoring for employee workstations and source code repositories

Wiz CNAPP by Wiz

New York, NY | 2020 | www.wiz.io

Wiz is a rapidly growing cybersecurity firm focused on cloud-native solutions. Wiz CNAPP simplifies cloud security and secures practices across the workload.

  • Offers a comprehensive agentless approach to extend its agentless capabilities; however, it lacks runtime protection
  • Helps ensure robust compliance with a variety of industry regulations
  • Uses a graph-based tool to provide a view of your entire IT infrastructure at a glance, showing how the different aspects of your system are connected
  • Lets you view vulnerable combinations of unsecured components in your infrastructure

Zscaler Posture Control by Zscaler

San Jose, CA | 2007 | www.zscaler.com

A Silicon Valley cybersecurity startup turned publicly traded company, Zscaler provides a 100% agentless CNAPP solution.

  • Is designed for use by all members of your IT organization, from CIO/CISO down to developers
  • Provides a comprehensive cloud access security broker (CASB) solution
  • Offers agentless deployment that takes little setup time
  • Includes development integration tools, such as CLI scanners for workstations
  • Provides a tool set to monitor database security via configuration management database (CMBD) integration
  • Integrates a Zero Trust connectivity component to ensure employees are securely connecting to their company’s infrastructure

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