Deception technology describes a category of cybersecurity defense products that detect and analyze advanced and zero-day attacks. As a result, these products can identify and defend against attacks in real time. In addition, they help to change the balance of power and reduce false positives.
Deceiving the attacker
While deception is still in its early stages, it’s already becoming a standard security capability, particularly among large customers. These organizations seek ways to detect more advanced threats and lower false favorable rates, and deception technologies have made this possible. However, attacker deception technology is not always as effective as it is made out to be, and it still has several flaws. Conventional intrusion detection systems don’t well capture traditional adversary behavior. These systems are based on susceptible machine learning algorithms and signatures and are not designed to detect attacks in progress. While deception technology can see malicious code, it needs a higher threshold for triggering an event than a traditional intrusion detection system. Moreover, it needs to be scalable across an entire enterprise environment. It needs to manage hundreds, if not thousands, of endpoints.
Changing the balance of power
When used correctly, deception technologies can shift the balance of power between an attacker and a defender. Until recently, the attacker tended to have the upper hand. But with deception technology, the defender can anticipate an attacker’s moves and use this knowledge to devise a more aggressive response. These tools also provide context-related threat intelligence, which can help companies prioritize countermeasures. Deception technology is effective against many attackers because it uses the attacker’s ignorance of the network. A decoy looks like an ordinary asset in the network. It has no technical or functional strength, making it virtually impossible for the attacker to differentiate between a legitimate asset and a decoy.
Closing gaps in detection
A well-designed deception network can minimize risk by detecting attacks early and providing intelligence to defenders. It also reduces the response time to minutes, giving companies a competitive advantage. Organizations can see and prevent attacker movement and activities using next-generation deception technology. Its ease of deployment and machine learning capabilities allow companies to implement the technology in various ways.
Today’s security tools perform well in flagging anomalies but fail to define risk potential. As a result, most security teams are wasting time and resources on false alarms. To avoid such mistakes, deception technology helps security teams focus on real threats and reduce the false alarm rate.
Covering the entire kill chain
A cyber attack involves several processes, including collecting, exfiltration, manipulating, and destroying a target system or data. In addition, these attacks often aim to achieve socio-technical objectives. As a result, organizations need to adopt a layered approach to cybersecurity. Organizations should integrate physical, technical, and administrative controls to achieve the best results. Cyber kill chain analysis can help organizations devise a cybersecurity strategy and prioritize security controls. While traditional security tools can provide high-fidelity alerts and enhanced detection, deception has more sophisticated capabilities and covers the entire kill chain. By applying deception technology to security operations teams, security teams can get a complete picture of an attacker’s intention. Additionally, unlike traditional detection and response techniques, deception technology can provide security teams with clear indicators of compromise without draining their resources.
