Understanding the Services of Vigilant
The Bad News
Currently, there are 3 million known cyber threats. That is more than every listed disease on the CDC’s website. No business has the capabilities to monitor all of these threats, only powerful government entities have the technology to do so. Of all these threats, if just one were able to get into a business’s network the results could be devastating. For example, 60% of small to medium-sized businesses will go out of business several months after a cyber-attack. Even 10 to 100 million-dollar companies are not safe because a cyber-attack is capable of wrecking even the stoutest business’s reputation.
The Good News
As we discussed in previous blogs, there are proper ways to combat cyber threats. One such business deploying the most effective strategies is Vigilant. To understand Vigilant’s approach to security is to understand that their approach is unlike any other in the industry. In fact, when it comes to differentiating themselves, it is more of a matter of reeducating prospects to understand what the “industry” is promoting and doing along with the why and how attacks are able to circumvent their defenses.
There is no company that does what Vigilant does. Vigilant’s means of differentiating themselves is not for novelty sake but for necessity. In this post, we will discuss the many areas of security that set Vigilant apart and make them unique from the rest of the industry.
How Normal Security Works
There are many companies and providers that offer cybersecurity. One such method is the cloud firewall. Cloud firewalls do their job, but they can only do their job. Let me explain, a cloud firewall can only see attacks from WAN, not LAN. If an employee of some company got an attack on their laptop outside of work, traveling, a conference, or working remotely then connected back to the network at work, the cloud firewall would be unable to detect this threat. The scenario I just described is actually a common way that threats are able to enter an environment, through an endpoint on the network or a similar point of entry.
Separating Prevention from Detection
Consider this analogy: When you travel by plane you have to go through TSA. You have to first prove that you purchased a ticket and then you have to prove that you are who you say you are. Next, you have to go through a full-body scan while your luggage is also completely scanned. Only after all of these procedures can you be emitted onto your plane.
What is important to take away from this analogy is that TSA only looks for what they know is a treat. Chemicals or weapons inside your bags, a stolen or false ID, your name coming up on the no-fly list, etc. What TSA cannot prevent, however; is an unknown threat they have never witnessed before. The same is true for cybersecurity. All security systems can only prevent what they have been programmed to prevent. By the time a machine has learned a new threat, that threat has already bypassed them.
Managed Endpoint and Cyber DNA
Vigilant separates prevention and detection with their services Managed Endpoint Protection (MEP) and CyberDNA. The two services work together, sharing data between one another. CyberDNA is Vigilant’s patented service used to detect threats while MEP prevents attacks by monitoring endpoint deceives.
The conservative average dwell time is 99 days, but Vigilant can cut down that time significantly, to between two minutes to an hour. To put that drastic difference into preceptive, the standard dwell time is 142,560 minutes compared to Vigilant’s reduced dwell time of two to 60 minutes. Vigilant’s patented CyberDNA solution lets them be invisible inside an organization’s network, allowing Vigilant to see the hackers without the hackers seeing them. The strategy is not merely stopping every threat (that would be impossible) but recognizing them once they are inside a network.
Zero False Positive Guarantees for Alerts
Though the title sounds wordy, it is pretty self-explanatory. Consider another analogy if you will. In the first Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry’s Aunt and Uncle’s house is bombarded by mail. The mail is shooting through every opening in the house and is even spilling down the chimney. Organizations have many cybersecurity systems that will “alert” them to “potential” issues causing a flood of alerts just like in the movie. Vigilant only investigates all the alerts prior to notifying its clients. When they do reach out there is context and meaning provided with actionable intelligence, RCA’s (Recommended course of Action).
Hunt / Analyst Teams
So, what about the unknown threats? Though there are over 3 million known threats, that is still only the threats we actually know about. Machines can only prevent and stop the known threats they have been designed to recognize. A threat will have to manifest itself multiple times before an AI is able to learn to stop it. What then can we do against the unknown threats? This is where Vigilant’s Hunt Team or Analyst Team comes in. They are not just looking for what is known but for what is unknown.
Conclusion
Vigilant offers a suite of solutions that break the industry norms of cybersecurity. Understanding the battlefield of cyber threats will, in turn, allow one to understand the uniqueness and intuitiveness of the many services and solutions offered by Vigilant.