Security Tool Integration Isn’t Enough Anymore

On May 1, 2023

By Manoj Arora, Founder & CEO, Difenda

Organizations today are overwhelmed with options when it comes to security tools and technologies. In the past, best-of-breed security technology meant having the best tool for each use case or threat vector. Due to the increasing complexity of modern IT environments and speed at which the threat landscape evolves, high degrees of integration and automation have become mandatory for effective cybersecurity management.

With the rise of cloud computing and SaaS applications, organizations are now using multiple security solutions from different vendors, each with its own data format, APIs, and integration models. In 2019, the average business had 75 security tools in its environment. This makes it difficult for security teams to gain a comprehensive view of their security posture, as they have to manually aggregate data from different sources and attempt to integrate them a operationally sustainable fashion.

Cybersecurity technology integration has been an essential tactic of building an effective security system over the past few years, many organizations struggle to develop and maintain these integrations. As the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations need to rethink the integration model; at the end of the day, these integrations are meant to increase operational efficiencies, not add development and maintenance overhead.

But that’s not all, as organizations have attempted to adopt more comprehensive cybersecurity integrations, many challenges have arisen.

Top challenges with developing and maintaining effective cybersecurity technology integrations include:

No standard integration methodology or frameworks: Currently, APIs lack standardization in integration standards. Different solutions support varying levels of API maturity (or none at all), which can be difficult (or not even possible) to implement.
Middleware is broken and unsecure: Middleware is software that sits between technologies to facilitate integration. Unfortunately, middleware is often broken or unsecure, creating more vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals and requiring additional maintenance overhead.
Increased resource requirements: Proper integration design, deployment and support requires increased headcount, particularly when it comes to managing, monitoring, and security integration infrastructure. This can place a significant burden on the organization, particularly if it lacks the resources and expertise to effectively manage complex system integrations.
The financial burden: Complex integrations can be costly to develop, manage, and secure. Depending on the model used, additional infrastructure, code, and security controls required to need to be maintained, just like other IT systems and components. Organizations need to carefully evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of adopting custom-developed integrations when compared to a more platform-based approach.

To address these challenges, organizations need to adopt a more holistic and integrated approach to their cybersecurity model that consolidates and simplifies the overall strategy and removes the need for complex cybersecurity tool integrations.

Cybersecurity consolidation is the process of consolidating different security tools and systems into a single, integrated platform that provides comprehensive security coverage across the entire organization. This approach helps to eliminate security silos and reduce complexity, enabling organizations to establish good cyber hygiene and create a sustainable security management program.

Simplification, on the other hand, refers to the process of simplifying the overall security infrastructure by reducing the number of security tools and systems and standardizing a smaller set of well implemented and integrated security solutions. This approach not only helps reduce operational overhead required to maintain platforms, but can support increase automation and allow internal teams to focus on actually securing an organization’s environment and information.

By adopting a consolidation and simplification approach to cybersecurity with a platform like Difenda Shield, powered by the Microsoft Security product portfolio, organizations can improve productivity, boost ROI, maintain compliance, and ultimately secure systems and data.

One of the main concerns for businesses and the board of directors when discussing cybersecurity is return on investment (ROI). Consolidation and simplification is one of the best ways to do more with less and increase ROI for modern security systems. Improved ROI is achieved by reducing the cost of managing and maintaining the security infrastructure. By standardizing a smaller set of security solutions, organizations can reduce licensing costs, maintenance costs, and training costs, resulting in a more cost-effective security approach.

A simplified security program also streamlines security operations by reducing the number of security tools that need to be managed. This reduces the time and resources needed to maintain the security infrastructure, freeing up personnel to focus on other critical tasks.

Additionally, with a simplified security program, organizations can more easily demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements, such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR. Plus, with certain platform security technology such as Microsoft Security maintaining compliance comes out of the box. Keeping technology within one environment ensures that the security infrastructure is interconnected and entirely aligned with industry regulations and standards.

Most importantly, consolidation and simplification can also help to improve the overall security posture of the organization. By ensuring the proper design and implementation of harmonized security technologies, organizations can more effectively manage and respond to security threats, reducing the risk of data breaches and other security incidents.

Conclusion

To build an effective and layered cybersecurity program, organizations need to adopt a comprehensive and intelligence-driven approach to security that encompasses people, processes, and technology to stay ahead of the evolving cyber threat landscape. The traditional approach of throwing multiple security tool at a program and fighting with ongoing integration and operational challenges is not effective.

Consolidation and simplification are essential strategies for organizations looking to effectively manage and secure their complex IT environments in a rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape. By adopting these strategies, organizations can improve productivity, boost ROI, maintain compliance, and enhance their overall security posture, positioning themselves for long-term success in the digital age.

To learn more about Consolidation and Simplification: The Future of Cybersecurity Management and get real data insights, download the white paper.

About the Author

Manoj Arora is the Founder & CEO of Difenda. He is a Managed security services expert who has always been ahead of the curve in Technology and Cyber Security. Manoj was instrumental in designing cyber security infrastructure and controls for some of the largest institutions around the world. The depth of his expertise and passion to serve customers at the highest level of competence and integrity lead to Difenda. Founded in 2008, Difenda is a rapidly growing cybersecurity firm in North America. Currently, Manoj drives the strategic vision to protect our customers and enable our team members to deliver our services in line with core values- competence, integrity, and innovation.