What’s Required to Start Threat Hunting?

A top threat hunting service takes a three-pronged approach to attack detection. Along with skilled security professionals, it includes two other components necessary for successful hunting: vast data and powerful analytics.

1. Human Capital

Every new generation of security technology is able to detect a greater number of advanced threats — but the most effective detection engine is still the human brain. Automated detection techniques are inherently predictable, and today’s attackers are very aware of this and develop techniques to bypass, evade or hide from automated security tools. Human threat hunters are an absolutely critical component in an effective threat hunting service.

Since proactive hunting depends on human interaction and intervention, success depends on who is hunting through the data. Intrusion analysts must have the expertise to identify sophisticated targeted attacks, and they also must have the necessary security resources to respond to any discovery of unusual behavior.

2. A Wealth of Data

The service must also have the ability to gather and store granular system events data in order to provide absolute visibility into all endpoints and network assets. With the use of a scalable cloud infrastructure, a good security service then aggregates and perform real-time analysis on these large data sets.

3. Threat Intelligence

Lastly, a threat hunting solution should be able to cross-references internal organizational data with the latest threat intelligence about external trends and deploys sophisticated tools to effectively analyze and correlate malicious actions.

All of this takes time, resources and dedication — and most organizations aren’t adequately staffed and equipped to mount a continuous 24/7 threat hunting operation. Fortunately, there are managed security solutions that have the right resources — the necessary people, data and analytical tools — to effectively hunt for unusual network activity and hidden threats.