The reason we remain so ineffective in countering cyber attacks, even against attackers who are by many estimations amateurs, is that our posture consistently has a bias towards a forensic approach to attack activities. This approach is the equivalent of trying to counter an Ebola outbreak after it has already burned through a community with lethal results. The forensic approach – which is the dominant paradigm today – is not a viable method of defense and must be changed. It’s merely a method of recording the damage, not preventing it; it just counts the dead.
It seems cliché, since it’s been said so many times: Data can be transformed into information, which can be turned into knowledge. But now there is a twist. Cyber, done correctly with the proper algorithms and computing power, can turn knowledge into actionable intelligence. That said, today’s cyber technology delivers just the analytics, often in historical or forensic point of view. The technology alone cannot determine how to use the knowledge created. Moreover, the data is so massive, and the analysis so complicated, that machines are needed to do the risk appraisal and countermeasure determination. This will free humans to do what humans do best, which is use their intuition and analysis to thwart or help prevent attacks.
Today, data and information are commonplace. There is even too much of it. The emerging frontier – and where the action is for cyber right now – is the speed and accuracy with which analytics can help you arrive at knowledge that leads to actionable intelligence, in advance of an attack, or when the attack is still hitting “patient zero.” The creation of a response is still very much in the realm of humans, not machines. The key here is that we can see it coming; we are not detecting it when it is underway or completed. We can no longer be relegated to being reactionary and cleaning up the mess after an attack. A careful balance of offense and defense is needed to thwart cyber attacks before it can have an impact.
Learn more about ViON’s approach in our eBook, ebooK: Driving Decision-Making, Security & Insight with Big Data or visit us February 1-4 in booth #68 at the Rocky Mountain Cyber Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.