Of course, in the midst of any large-scale attack that was either thwarted entirely or largely prevented, the c-suite is going to show significant appreciation for the hard work of their IT teams as well as their discerning ability to deploy the proper tools that prevented such an attack. After all, it seems like their cybersecurity tools did what they were supposed to do – they alerted on and stopped data loss or theft. That’s great – and it’s the simplest of ways to illustrate the success of cybersecurity investments. But with the identity-related threats, the benefits and ROI go far deeper – and in many ways.
Gartner describes identity threat detection and response (ITDR) as an enterprise’s collection of tools and best practices to defend identity infrastructure. That’s solid label for sure. But in doing just that, organizations and their IT security personnel become privy to so much more money-saving information and patterns of helpful internal intel that can reduce waste and create previously missed opportunities for efficiency.
Let’s look at some of the most common, yet often over-looked ways that a comprehensive ITDR platform can save money. And it adds up quickly:
-
Focus – First, ITDR is uniquely positioned to serve as one of the best cybersecurity solutions to help focus spending on security in the correct place. By seeing who, where, when and the associated patterns of access throughout the organization, IT management and security experts can make smarter decisions as to where to invest their focus and security budget and at the same time be alerted to stuff that’ either simply not needed or plays no regular role in actual protection, regardless of what that security vendor claims.
-
Application Usage – Secondly, by monitoring access to licenses to applications that are not used or used so rarely that any logical person would question why it exists, let alone why an enterprise is paying for it, that company can find wasteful spending that’s easily discontinued. Also, when it’s discovered that employees are expensing the price of unsanctioned third-party tools, the organization can insist that other more secure services are used instead – these are many tools the company already has and therefore there’s no additional cost and the security posture is enhanced. An example would be moving users from Box to SharePoint.
-
Optimization – Through the comprehensive access monitoring, ITDR clearly illustrates when there are spikes in certain activities that translate into added costs related to the increased or sudden usage. This knowledge can be used to avoid those potentially costly spikes that are often not required for the core of business operations.
-
Automation – Obviously, ITDR is not the only cybersecurity or identity-related platform that gets things done without human (security/IT personnel) involvement or interaction in some way. However, the sheer number of tasks as well as the automatic remediation process with the standard employee, can dramatically outplace most security solutions. By automating the alerting and remediation of the nearly unending access motions that employees take, that cost savings can be tremendous. Just ask the typical help desk.
In summary, the combination of savings can be dramatic with the elimination of unused apps and services, software licenses and unknown SaaS apps. Additionally, the removal of shadow identities access to unauthorized or unneeded assets as well as the removal of dormant or forgotten accounts can make a big impact for most organizations. It’s literally enabling cybersecurity to also become a cost cutter.
To set up a time to discuss the many ways ITDR can be a protection powerhouse as well as a tool your accounting department will sing praises for, contact AuthMind today.
