Showing return on investment (ROI) in a specific technology is a huge challenge for every security Showing return on investment (ROI) in a specific technology is a huge challenge for every security professional. How do you justify the money you are spending? You know what I’m talking about; EDR, XDR, MDR, SIEM, firewalls; Lots of tools that create lots of alerts – and those alerts are mostly false positives!
What is Cyber Deception?
Cyber deception involves creating a network of deception elements that seamlessly integrate with your existing IT environment. The combination of fake information and fake systems work to detect attackers and direct them towards isolated decoys. The beauty of this approach lies in its proactive nature; Cyber deception baits attackers into revealing themselves.
Deception as a Service (DaaS)
DaaS is, first and foremost, a managed cyber deception service staffed with cyber deception experts ready to safely engage in real-time with bad actors. DaaS starts with design and implementation services that help you identity the specific use cases and assets that most impact your internal risk assessment. These identification activities help to deploy the right mix of deceptions throughout your organization. Deception architects will thoughtfully specify the type and amount of fake information to place on your real devices. From there, they create a web of decoys designed to alert and track attacker activity.
Return on Investment (ROI) and Security
With all the focus on cybersecurity it’s no surprise there is a new nomenclature for security investment: return on security investment (ROSI). ROSI equals the monetary risk mitigation minus the cost of control. Therefore, a security investment is judged to be a good investment if the risk mitigation effect is greater than the expected costs.
Given the very nature of how DaaS works – there are no false positives – each alert represents a breach in policy and/or protocol. By some estimates, a security operation center (SOC) can receive up to 1,000 security alerts per day with 80% of the alerts resulting in false positives! So, given that each DaaS alert is NOT a false positive, you can easily see a DaaS-caused reduction in false positives that results in a significant increase in ROSI.
ROSI benefits of DaaS to consider:
- Cloud Based Subscription Model: Implementing a new tool is costly and time consuming. Through DaaS, you can receive all the benefits of cyber deception without having to install software, train your team or manage the platform. One monthly subscription price delivers high fidelity alerts right to your team.
- Reducing False Alarms: As we have stated, a key benefit of DaaS is its substantial reduction in false alarms. With DaaS, every alert received is a high-fidelity indicator of compromise. This is because all interactions with the decoys are unauthorized—no legitimate user needs to engage with these fake assets. Consequently, your security team can prioritize response to these alerts without being sidetracked by numerous false alarms.
- Integrating Active Defense with Passive Cyber Defenses: Traditionally, cybersecurity has leaned heavily on passive defense mechanisms, such as firewalls and antivirus programs. While essential, these measures are not enough in the face of sophisticated, evolving threats. DaaS adds an active defense layer, allowing you to engage attackers directly. This shift not only hampers their efforts but also gathers intelligence on their tactics, techniques, and procedures, which enhances your overall security strategy.
- Enhanced Detection Capabilities: When cyber deception is pervasively deployed in your network, you can plan on seeing detection times substantially decrease. Test this yourself with a red team exercise following deployment. By reducing detection time, you minimize the potential damage an attacker can inflict and gain valuable time for response and mitigation efforts.
- Real-Time Engagement with Adversaries: Perhaps one of the most revolutionary aspects of DaaS is the ability to engage with adversaries in real-time. This not only allows you to divert them from actual targets but it also allows you to mislead them into actions that reveal their capabilities, objectives, and identity. Such interactions provide critical intelligence to be used for defensive strategy and help shape an effective response to ongoing and future attacks.
Conclusion
The deployment of DaaS within your security infrastructure will not only fortify your defenses but it will also deliver a tangible, significant ROSI. By turning the network into a minefield for attackers—where every step they take could be their last—cyber deception will transform your cybersecurity approach from purely defensive to dynamically proactive.
As cyber threats continue to evolve, investing in such forward-thinking technologies is not just beneficial; it is imperative for the survival and resilience of your digital infrastructure. Cyber deception isn’t just about tricking attackers—it’s about regaining the upper hand in cyber warfare.
