As evidenced by unprecedented cybercrime, traditional security defenses have lost their effectiveness. Threats are stealthy, acting over long periods of time, secreted within encrypted traffic or hidden in tunnels. With these increasingly sophisticated threats, security teams need quick threat visibility across their environments.
In the Gartner research report “Applying Network-Centric Approaches for Threat Detection and Response” published March 18, 2019 (ID: G00373460), Augusto Barros, Anton Chuvakin, and Anna Belak introduced the concept of the SOC Visibility Triad.
In this note, Gartner advises:
"The escalating sophistication of threats requires organizations to use multiple sources of data for threat detection and response. Network-based technologies enable technical professionals to obtain quick threat visibility across an entire environment without using agents."
According to the research, “modern security operations tools can also be represented with an analogy to the ‘nuclear triad,’ a key concept of the Cold War. The triad consisted of strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and missile submarines. As shown in the image above, a modern SOC has its own nuclear triad of visibility, specifically:
This three-prong approach gives SOCs increased threat visibility, detection, response, investigation, and remediation powers.
Network metadata is the most authoritative source for finding threats. Only traffic on the wire reveals hidden threats with complete fidelity and independence. Low-resolution sources, such as analyzing logs, only show you what you’ve seen, not the fundamental threat behaviors that attackers simply can’t avoid as they spy, spread and steal.
An NDR solution collects and stores key network metadata and augments it with machine learning and advanced analytics to detect suspicious activities on enterprise networks. NDR builds models that reflect normal behavior, and enriches the models with both real-time and historical metadata.
NDR provides an aerial view of the interactions between all devices on the network. In-progress attacks are detected, prioritized and correlated to compromised host devices.
NDR provides a 360-degree, enterprise-wide view—from public cloud and private data center workloads to user and internet-of-things devices.
> Read more about Vectra AI's Network Detection and Response solution
Endpoint compromises are all too common, whether from malware, unpatched vulnerabilities or inattentive users. Mobile devices can be easily compromised on public networks, and then reconnected to the corporate network, where the infection spreads. Internet-of-things (IoT) devices are notoriously insecure.
An EDR solution offers more sophisticated capabilities than traditional antivirus, with detailed tracking of malicious activities on an endpoint or host device. EDR provides a real-time, ground-level view of the processes running on a host or device and interactions among them.
EDR captures execution, memory activities as well as system changes, activities and modifications. This visilbity helps security analysts spot patterns, behaviors, indicators of compromise or other hidden clues. That data can be mapped against other security intelligence feeds to detect threats that can only be seen from inside the host.
> Vectra AI's integrations with EDRs
For decades, security teams have relied on SIEMs as a dashboard to security activities across their IT environment. SIEMs collect event log information from other systems, provide data analysis, event correlation, aggregation and reporting.
Integrating threat detections from EDR and NDR can make a SIEM an even more powerful tool, enabling security analysts to stop attacks faster. When an incident occurs, analysts can quickly identify the affected host devices. They can more easily investigate to determine the nature of an attack and if it succeeded.
A SIEM also can communicate with other network security controls, such as firewalls or NAC enforcement points, to direct them to block malicious activity. Threat intelligence feeds can enable SIEMs to proactively prevent attacks as well.
> Vectra AI's integrations with SIEMs
Security teams that deploy the triad of NDR, EDR and SIEM are empowered to answer a broader range of questions when responding to an incident or hunting for threats. For example, they can answer:
Together, they lead to fast and well coordinated responses across all resources, enhance the efficiency of security operations and reduce the dwell times that ultimately drive risk for the business.
Nation-states and criminals are taking advantage of a borderless digital world, but by adopting a nuclear triad of visibility, a SOC can protect its organization’s sensitive data and vital operations.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you implement an effective SOC Visibility Triad strategy and strengthen your organization's cyber defense.
The SOC Visibility Triad is a cybersecurity model that combines three critical technologies—NDR, EDR, and SIEM—to provide comprehensive visibility into an organization's network and endpoints, facilitating effective threat detection, investigation, and response.
NDR tools monitor network traffic and behaviors to detect and respond to threats that bypass traditional perimeter defenses. NDR provides real-time analysis of network communications, helping to identify suspicious activities and potential threats.
EDR solutions focus on monitoring endpoint and device behaviors, detecting malicious activities, and providing tools for investigation and response. EDR is crucial for identifying and mitigating threats on user devices, servers, and workstations.
SIEM systems collect, analyze, and correlate data from various sources across the IT environment, including logs from security devices, network hardware, and applications. SIEM provides a centralized platform for security monitoring, alerting, and reporting, enabling SOCs to detect complex threats more efficiently.
Integrating NDR, EDR, and SIEM is vital for achieving a holistic view of the security posture, as it allows for the correlation of data across networks, endpoints, and logs. This integration enhances the ability to detect, investigate, and respond to threats across the entire IT ecosystem.
Effective implementation involves selecting the right tools that seamlessly integrate with each other and the existing IT infrastructure, defining clear processes for threat detection and response, and continuously training SOC analysts on the latest cyber threat landscapes and technologies.
Challenges include the complexity of integrating disparate systems, the potential for information overload due to the high volume of data and alerts, and the need for skilled personnel to manage and interpret the data effectively.
The triad improves threat detection and response times by providing comprehensive visibility into all aspects of the IT environment, enabling quicker identification of anomalies and faster coordination of response efforts across network and endpoint security teams.
Yes, the SOC Visibility Triad can significantly aid in compliance and risk management by providing detailed logging, monitoring, and reporting capabilities that support regulatory requirements and facilitate the identification and mitigation of risks.
Future trends include the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning for automated threat detection and response, the adoption of cloud-based solutions for scalability and flexibility, and the increasing importance of privacy regulations influencing data management practices.