Establishing a Threat Defense Life Cycle

Cyber threats and the sophistication of cyber-attacks continue to increase.

Yet, today’s cyber defenses may not be adequate to stop tomorrow’s cyber-attack. By now, most enterprises have invested in cyber defenses, deploying a myriad of cybersecurity tools to protect their information assets…but have they really reduced the risk of breach? The problem is that most cybersecurity solutions serve a single purpose, and often don’t communicate well with other cyber defense solutions.

At ClearFocus we take a holist view of cyber defenses, and we will work with your enterprise to develop cybersecurity solutions that work together in what we call the “Threat Defense Life Cycle”. The Threat Defense Life Cycle has 4 steps:

Rationalize Cybersecurity Tools
Enrich Data
Apply Advanced Analytics, and
Orchestrate and Automate Defenses

RATIONALIZING CYBERSECURITY TOOLS

We start by reviewing existing cybersecurity solutions and security sensors to determine if there are any gaps to maximize coverage across the enterprise. Our goal is to simplify the environment and reduce redundancies between security tools. We also look to improve the effectiveness of existing cyber defense solutions, which includes reducing maintenance and operations costs. We strive to ensure maximum coverage of all events, logs and network traffic, since cyber defenses are only as good as the information collected.

ENRICH DATA

Once we have confirmed that we are collecting the right information, we Enrich this raw data to optimize the meaning, and quality, of the information. During the enrichment process we may transform the information by enriching it with cyber intelligence from various open source and private data sources, known Indicators Of Compromise (IOCs), and meta data to give the information more meaning. The goal is to provide context to the security sensor data collected.

APPLY ADVANCED ANALYTICS

Once we have enriched the data, we store the information in a Knowledge Repository where we can apply Machine Learning (ML), Predictive Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine potential cyber threats…and how, and when, to take action. Our goal is to provide advanced analytics that uncovers anomalous activity that could indicate a potential cyber-threat.

ORCHESTRATE AND AUTOMATE DEFENSES

Leveraging the Analytics from the prior stage we then orchestrate and automate cyber defenses. This includes automating redundant or repeatable tasks to drive efficiencies by establishing repeatable workflows. In some cases, we reconfigure cyber defenses in real time based on the information we have collected, enriched and analyzed. The goal is to use the information discovered during the prior Threat Defense Life Cycle stages to improve cyber defenses, discover new indicators of compromise, and to orchestrate and automate responses.

The Threat Defense Life Cycle is a comprehensive and holistic approach to increasing your enterprise’s security posture to reduce cyber threats. If you would like to know more about ClearFocus Technologies’ Threat Defense Life Cycle approach, please contact us at cybersecurity@clearfocustech.com.

Case Studies.

We are innovators. Our consultants have the right mix of talent, creativity, process and technology to ensure every initiative we undertake has successful outcomes and meets mission objectives.

Industrial Control Systems

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that support our nation’s critical infrastructure and manufacturing are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Our nation’s energy grid, chemical plants, water treatment plants, manufacturing plants and other public and private sectors that use cyber physical systems have been the target of cyber-attacks in recent years, and these systems, if compromised, can cause serious harm and even loss of life.

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Cybersecurity Modernization

One of ClearFocus federal clients wanted to modernize their existing cybersecurity program since the organization was not able to address several federally mandated security requirements. Additionally, new standards like the Risk Management Framework (RMF) require new processes, technology and approaches to meet the NIST SP 800-37 requirements.

SOC Operations

A ClearFocus client had recently formed a Security Operations Center (SOC) but was struggling with the roles, responsibilities and procedures to run an effective SOC.