Summertime often means vacation time and a chance to rest, relax and catch up on some reading. But for those of us in cybersecurity it can be hard to truly disconnect. The threat landscape is continuously evolving, so it’s important to keep up with the latest news and developments. That’s why we’ve made it easier for you to include a few “must-read” cybersecurity blogs in your summer reading list.

Below you’ll find our top three blogs for the first half of 2022 and a brief summary of each. Click on the links that grab your attention and catch up on information you may have missed that can help you strengthen defenses and mitigate risk.

1. The Role of Threat Intelligence Platforms in Implementing Extended Detection and Response

Research reveals that security budgets are rising, and analysts predict triple digit growth in the extended detection and response (XDR) market. If you’re considering investing in XDR, it’s worth exploring what we mean by XDR, how it fits with existing tools and how threat intelligence platforms can help you bridge the gap between the solutions you have now and an ideal future state of effective XDR. In this blog, you’ll learn:

• How to approach XDR in a way that best suits your heterogenous suite of protection technologies and tactics.
• Where threat intelligence platforms can power XDR, including providing seamless integrations with existing tools, contextualizing data for prioritization and reducing false positives.
• How to leverage historical investments in teams and tools with a threat intelligence platform so you can transition more effectively to comprehensive XDR.

2. XDR Best of Breed, and How an Open Architecture Will Get You There

Ready for a deeper dive into XDR? There are many pieces to the XDR puzzle. In fact, a recent survey finds that 60% of executives polled use two to four vendors as part of their XDR approach. In this blog, we take a closer look at how a best of breed XDR architecture enables you to continue to evolve your current capabilities in threat detection and response. The ThreatQ Platform and product suite were built to meet an organization’s XDR needs and empower teams to work more collaboratively and efficiently. Through sample use cases, learn how the ThreatQ Datalinq Engine is designed to deliver an effective XDR outcome while working with the existing security products your teams know and work with today. The blog includes a link to a technical white paper that explains the five key stages the DataLinq Engine works through to enable you to make sense of existing data and operationalize it where required for faster, better outcomes and ongoing learning and improvement.

3. Taking a Data-Driven Approach to SOC Operations 

Ransomware is expected to attack a business, consumer or device every two seconds by 2031, up from every 11 seconds in 2021. This puts SOC teams under significant pressure to detect security events and rapidly respond, but this is hard to do when they are drowning in data. A lack of resources and skilled, experienced analysts capable of understanding how to detect and respond to security incidents compounds the challenge. The ThreatQ Platform provides a more unified and centralized approach to XDR. With deep roots in threat intelligence management, the platform allows you to take a data-driven approach to security operations which includes: 

• Aggregating and normalizing data between disparate security technologies 
• Adding context for relevance and prioritization
• Enabling collaboration to accelerate investigation and threat hunting
• Facilitating intelligence sharing
• Automating response to neutralize threats rapidly

This blog includes a link to the SANS Institute white paper, “The SOC of the Future is Data-Driven,” which provides an independent review of the ThreatQ Platform.

We hope you find this a useful resource to help you catch up quickly on important updates and information you may have missed earlier this year. WE hope you’re enjoying the summer and happy reading!