Page 173 - Cyber Defense eMagazine Annual RSA Edition for 2024

In light of economic pressures and reduced budgets, critical infrastructure operators must smartly allocate
resources to maintain cybersecurity progress, especially with the election approaching. Investing in
consolidated security tools and services is key to sustaining a proactive defense against cyber threats,
even with stretched budgets.

Election protection: Strengthening defenses, pre-and-post election

To counter these threats, government and other critical infrastructure organizations must embrace a risk-
based approach, effectively allocating their stretched resources and concentrating their cybersecurity
efforts on protecting the most critical assets and data.

The requirement is urgent. The Bridewell research found, for example, that fewer than 50% of critical
infrastructure organizations employ critical threat intelligence practises, such as using cyber threat
intelligence to detect and respond to threats. Failing to employ threat intelligence is a significant omission,
leaving organizations unable to develop superior incident response plans that match specific threats. The
convergence of IT and OT is also causing difficulties. The research found almost two-thirds of
respondents said they lacked sufficient end user device visibility.

Focusing on quality: The essential strategy

Organizations need to prize quality over quantity, not only in terms of security tools but also third-party
vendors. There are thousands of tools out there, but investing in even more of them often leads to weak
integration between technologies and a system with poorly protected entry-points. Instead, consolidating
technologies, tools and vendors is vital for enabling a unified view of security across the organization,
streamlining risk analysis and assessment. It also presents opportunities to identify where technology
can relieve operational challenges by using automation to enhance efficiency.

For threat monitoring and response, organizations should adopt more advanced approaches better suited
to the current slew of threats they are almost certain to face in this election year and beyond.

New security approaches for Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) threats

In addressing the cybersecurity challenges posed by reduced budgets, increased ransomware and the
complexity of IT/OT convergence, organizations can adopt an array of strategic approaches to tackle
these pain points effectively.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) stands out as a powerful blend of human expertise, artificial
intelligence (AI) and automation, providing round-the-clock detection, analysis, investigation and active
countermeasures against cyber threats. Offered as a cost-effective, fully outsourced solution or as part
of a hybrid Security Operations Center (SOC), MDR equips businesses with the strong security
infrastructure needed to safeguard their on-site systems, cloud applications and SaaS platforms. It allows

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