As a trusted security advisor, it’s critical to stay attuned to the ever-changing threat landscape and your clients’ expanding attack surfaces. Cybercriminal groups are continually adapting their approaches and taking advantage of sophisticated tools such as AI and machine learning to exploit new vulnerabilities and security gaps. The good news is that the FortiGuard Labs team keeps abreast of evolving threats and can support you in thwarting sophisticated attacks before they happen. Here are three ways they can help you can strengthen your clients’ defenses.
1. Leverage Threat Intelligence to Detect Emerging Attacks
To enhance your defense against cyberattacks, it is crucial to share and utilize threat intelligence. One effective way to do this is by joining threat intelligence communities. This enables you to tap into the collective knowledge of attacks from adversaries and bolster your security measures. For instance, being aware of how ransomware groups target data-rich industries like health care can help you implement specific measures for high-risk clients. Fortinet is a founding member of the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA), an organization created in 2014 to enable threat intelligence sharing among competing cybersecurity vendors. According to Fortinet’s 1H 2023 Global Threat Landscape Report, "The CTA has successfully brought together elite Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) teams from around the world and significantly improved the global outlook on cyber threats.”
2. Understand Attack Flows to Identify Patterns in Compromises Faster
The process of how a cybercriminal gains access to a target system and achieves its objectives is called the attack flow. It involves several stages, such as reconnaissance, initial access, privilege escalation, lateral movement, data exfiltration and persistence. Understanding each stage can help you identify weak points, implement appropriate security measures and respond effectively to cyber threats. Additionally, by mapping out an attack's stages and potential activities, you can create playbooks and response plans customized to each stage, ensuring a quick and efficient response during a cyberattack. By doing so, you can allocate your resources more effectively and better protect your clients’ environments.
Fortinet has participated as a research sponsor in both MITRE Engenuity’s Center for Threat-Informed Defense (CTID) Attack Flow projects, providing insights that allow for a deeper understanding of the unfolding details around an attack.
3. Implement Robust Security Tools and Processes
Consider adding solutions that leverage AI, machine learning, deep learning and advanced analytics to help you and your clients keep pace with evolving threats. These capabilities have become essential for processing the enormous volume of data organizations generate to identify risky or anomalous traffic that could indicate a threat or other risk.
Finally, take time to reevaluate your security teams’ roles and responsibilities, build or update playbooks and conduct tabletop exercises to pressure-test response plans.
Discover the full range of FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services that offer a multitude of effective tools for your organization, such as NGFWs, network analytics, inline sandboxing and more. With these solutions, you can bolster your threat detection and prevention capabilities, enabling you to promptly identify and address security incidents across your client’s entire attack surface.