When To Escalate Threat Detection

<p>Threat detection is ongoing and stressful. And, it can sometimes be difficult to know when to ring the alarm on suspicious behavior. Here are some helpful tips to keep you proactive without feeling like the boy (or girl) who cried wolf.</p><h2><strong>1. Be Prepared</strong></h2><p>As an analyst, you must be prepared to respond to a suspected threat. The first step to detection is having effective threat detection protocols in place. In order to know whether a threat is legitimate, you need real-time information and analytics. Of course, <a href="https://www.anomali.com/blog/">threat intelligence</a> is one of the most effective ways to get accurate, timely data. It offers the ability to identify an adversary, a threat actor, a campaign, or a cyber attack. The more credible the data you are collecting, the better you will be able to recognize a legitimate breach or threat.</p><h2><strong>2. Out Of The Norm</strong></h2><p>If you do not have a threat intelligence solution in place, you must rely on other tools. In order to detect something out of the norm, it is important to have a baseline understanding of what is “normal” activity on your network or systems. That way, you can more easily identify inconsistencies without knowing exactly what you are looking for, you just know that it is outside of typical activity patterns.</p><h2><strong>3. When A Threat Occurs</strong></h2><p>First, remain calm. This is what you have trained for. Plus, panic breeds panic. Security experts across the globe have confronted this issue and determined several steps to help you respond.</p><p>Communication and details: Now you need to raise the alarm. First, tell your security team and your executive team. Then, if appropriate, employees and customers. Explain what you know and what you are doing to address the issue. This leads to details. Pinpoint exactly where and how the breach occurred and the specific root cause. The more you understand the better you can communicate.<br/> Contain the situation: Once you detect a threat, be sure to contain what you can. Remember threat detection is just that. Learn what you can do to prevent the threat from becoming a full-fledged security incident. Use this as an opportunity to review vulnerabilities that exist.<br/> Put a plan in place: A detected threat is just another way of saying “not if, but when” a security exploit will occur. Be proactive. Don’t wait for the other shoe to drop. Develop a proper incident response plan. Upgrade your threat detection, by implementing better security tools and protocols.</p><p>Remember, there isn’t just one specific way to respond to threat detection. Your response will be determined by the information you’ve gathered combined with your experience and instinct. To be a rock star analyst, you must blend knowledge and intuition into your threat detection response. Having the proper detection and threat intelligence systems in place will go a long way to providing you with real-time data that you can respond to, protecting sensitive data and minimizing fallout.</p>