The advancement of security technology and cyber threat intelligence has significantly improved our ability to detect and respond to threats. In the past, attackers could remain undetected for months at a time, but now the average dwell time for threat actors has decreased to just 20 days. This shift is due to the efforts of security teams who are constantly working to raise the cost of crime for cybercriminals.
The key to this progress lies in the combination of threat intelligence and data, along with the power of artificial intelligence (AI). By harnessing the enormous amount of data that is generated, captured, and consumed every day, security teams are able to amplify their impact and defend against threats more effectively and efficiently.
The cost of storing and analyzing data has decreased significantly in recent years, thanks to competition among cloud providers. This has allowed companies to invest in higher resolution sensors and deploy them across their digital infrastructure to capture more threat signals. Additionally, advanced security tools like extended detection and response (XDR) and security information and event management (SIEM) solutions help unify these threat signals across different endpoints, apps, identities, and cloud platforms.
Despite these advancements, the challenge remains in analyzing the massive volumes of data in a timely manner. This is where AI comes into play. By feeding threat intelligence into AI models, security teams can train AI to predict and detect potential attacks. Furthermore, successful cyber defenses can be digitally modeled against other security signals, creating a deeper understanding of adversarial behavior and informing future defense strategies.
The real benefit of AI is its ability to scale defenses at the rate of attacks. AI processes threat signals and connects various data points much faster than human investigators. This not only lightens the workload for security teams but also ensures that threat intelligence is acted upon in a timely manner. As a result, we have entered a new era of AI-enabled security.
In the past, AI was primarily embedded deep within technology and served task-specific functions, such as phishing attack detection or password spraying. However, we are now witnessing the emergence of generative AI that aims to upskill defenders everywhere. By combining AI with threat intelligence and data at scale, cyber defenders are empowered to work smarter and faster than ever before.
This combination of advanced technologies and an increased understanding of threats is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape. With shorter dwell times and the ability to detect and respond to threats more quickly, organizations are better equipped to minimize the damage caused by cybercriminals. As technology continues to evolve, the future of cybersecurity looks promising as we continue to strengthen our defenses against evolving threats.