It takes an average of 204 days for organisations to discover a breach, and from there an average of 73 days to contain it. With the average cost of a breach at an all time high of $4.45 million (IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023), there’s an undeniable need for teams to ensure they have the right experts and tools on their side to help quickly eradicate threats.

Rapid7’s own research also uncovered that ransomware actors are out in force:

• There have been more than 1,500 known ransomware incidents so far in 2023, some of which have driven significant collateral damage.
• And the market for access on the dark web is booming. Access to security and network edge devices can go for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Brokers are selling access to compromised networks complete with target market research.

More threats, more pressure

The responsibility of safeguarding and protecting sensitive data can create a constant pressure to stay one step ahead. Teams defending environments often face high stress levels and tight deadlines. Unsurprisingly, the demand for skilled security leaders outpaces the supply of personnel. This is where an array of tools and solutions are introduced to support those teams. And while there are many positives to be had, their sheer volume can overrun security teams, creating increased complexity and vulnerabilities in their organisation’s risk posture.

Using different vendors and solutions for various security functions can help keep things fresh, but it can also be time-consuming and cumbersome. And rather than help teams, it may lead to a decrease in performance. With each platform and tool requiring its own resources, the overall efficiency of your infrastructure and processes may suffer. These performance issues can impact critical business operations and hinder productivity.

Trends towards cyber consolidation

A Gartner study found that 75% of organisations pursued security vendor consolidation in 2022, up from 29% in 2020. Security analysts require a streamlined work environment that enables them to understand the root cause of alerts from any source with a single click. They shouldn’t have to waste time switching between multiple different tools to investigate and remediate potential threats. And when belts start tightening, and resources become scarce, managing multiple vendors with different payment cycles can become frustrating.

It pays to find ways to create a security ecosystem, without sacrificing the efficacy of its components. By reducing the number of disparate cyber solutions, security professionals can optimise effectiveness and efficiency, subsequently enhancing security posture and reducing their risk profile.

Addressing these challenges: The benefits of a unified security ecosystem

Widening visibility into your entire IT environment strengthens threat and detection capabilities, allowing security teams to minimise the impact of potential cyberattacks. In fact, 41% of organisations surveyed by Gartner say consolidating security solutions improved their risk posture.

With a rapidly changing threat landscape, consolidation offers the security improvements your organisation needs to give it the balance of power. Simplifying and streamlining your cyber security solutions, begins with gaining visibility into your tech stack and identifying where consolidation can improve your team’s productivity and effectiveness in detecting and mitigating risk.

Sharing knowledge and insights

Attending events like Cybersec Europe provides an opportunity not only to meet with people and organisations dealing with some of these challenges, but to share knowledge, collaborate and innovate. There’s a wealth of educational sessions, workshops, and panel discussions where we can all gain insights into the latest trends, technologies, and best practices – a much needed forum for our industry to aid progress and collaboration.

As always, Rapid7, through our team of experts, will be sharing insights at the event. You can catch us at the following speaking slots as well as at booth number 05.C050:

May 29th at 11am
Title : Balancing act: Cyber insurance and self-insurance strategies for digital resilience
Speaker : Ellis Fincham, Director D&R EMEA Rapid7

May 30th at 11am
Title: Do we really need a human to do that? – Embrace automation and stay ahead of attackers
Speaker : Ellis Fincham, Director D&R EMEA Rapid7