What Is Cyber Risk Monitoring?

Cyber risk or process monitoring is a crucial component of cyber risk management. This methodology focuses on observing and analyzing networks and IT systems to prevent cyber attacks.

The key objective of security monitoring is to quickly identify signs of threats and vulnerabilities and respond to them promptly. Effective cyber risk monitoring tools provide event collection and correlation, along with analytics. They also offer autonomous threat detection and prevention, helping mitigate cyber risks in real time.

By continuously monitoring potential cyber threats, organizations can meet regulatory compliance, as many frameworks require reporting and monitoring to ensure the prevention of cybersecurity risks.

How Cyber Risk Monitoring Works

Cyber ​​risk monitoring is an ongoing process that ensures the detection, analysis, and response to cybersecurity threats in real or near real-time. Key components of continuous monitoring include:

SIEM or Security Information and Event Management

SIEM systems are used by security teams to collect, manage, correlate, and analyze data received from network infrastructure via different devices or endpoints that act as data sources. With a SIEM system, the data aggregation process provides a centralized dashboard through which teams gain a complete view of the IT environment. This allows security teams to see what's happening and ensure that cybersecurity systems are operating as intended.

By implementing SIEM solutions, organizations can:

  • Collect logs from multiple sources across the infrastructure to ensure data ingestion from diverse systems & applications.

  • Normalize data from different formats into a unified structure to enable consistent analysis regardless of the log format.

  • Correlate events across various endpoints and timeframes to identify complex attack patterns.

  • Visualize security posture through centralized dashboards and generate real-time alerts for suspicious activities/policy violations.

  • Retain data to meet regulatory compliance for log storage and audit trails.

  • Integrate with security tools such as threat intelligence feeds, ticketing systems, and automated response platforms to enhance detection & incident response.

Furthermore, organizations can combine different tools. For example, if a SIEM focuses on collection and correlation, integration with other solutions can strengthen protection. Tools such as EDR/XDR (endpoint detection), IDS/IPS (network monitoring), UEBA (behavior monitoring), and SOAR (runbook automation) are among the most effective.

Log Management

Log management often serves as a subsystem within SIEM solutions. Its primary focus is on collection, storage, and search capabilities to provide the data layer that powers security analytics.

This is an important aspect of cyber risk management, as networks comprise multiple devices that generate logs for every activity. These sources can be host-centric or network-centric, collecting a variety of data, including VPN connections, SSH connections, registry deletions, website visits, resource access, and other activities, events, and security incidents.

By collecting logs from various sources and storing them in a central repository (either local or cloud-based log storage), security analysts can then use this data to gain actionable insights into risks, anomalies, trends, and other cybersecurity threats. A valuable component of cyber risk management, log data contains crucial information regarding an organization's security infrastructure.

Retention periods are another essential aspect. However, it's crucial to ensure that these periods comply with security policies. They typically range from 90 days to a few years, considering the data type and industry requirements.

In addition, security teams must ensure log integrity through immutable storage mechanisms to prevent tampering or deletion, as well as maintain the evidentiary value of logs that may be needed for audits.

IDS or Intrusion Detection Systems

IDS systems are essential in the monitoring and cyber risk management process. By applying these solutions, security teams can quickly respond to potential attacks through automated network traffic analysis and detection of malicious activity and policy violations. Once unusual patterns are noticed, IDS systems send alerts to the team.

Two main types of IDS systems can be applied: network-based & host-based.

  • A NIDS, or network-based IDS, is deployed within the network behind firewalls. It monitors both inbound and outbound traffic, as well as flags threats.

  • A HIDS, or host-based IDS, is deployed on devices with access to the network and monitors only network traffic on a specific endpoint.

IDS systems can use different threat intelligence methods to detect threats. The most common are signature-based and anomaly-based. Organizations often combine these methods to increase the scope, which is also a valuable approach in cybersecurity risk assessments.

IPS or Intrusion Prevention Systems

Both IPS and IDS are typically combined, as intrusion detection systems do not take action against threats, but only detect them and alert the security team.

By monitoring network traffic, intrusion prevention systems can automatically block or remove malware, as well as strengthen security policies and trigger security measures. The value of IPS systems is that they can perform tasks automatically based on specified parameters, allowing security teams to focus on more complex threats that require cybersecurity experts' attention.

Intrusion prevention systems rely on signature-based and anomaly-based threat detection, as well as policy-based methods, to detect and block any actions that violate security policy.

IPS and IDS are most often integrated into SIEM systems to enhance cybersecurity monitoring and detect false positives.

​Beyond essential components, there are several types of monitoring that cover different aspects of the security infrastructure. Organizations often combine different types to ensure a comprehensive security posture. These include:

Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is helpful in risk mitigation against internal and external security threats. It analyzes traffic in order to identify network vulnerabilities, detect any suspicious patterns, and prevent unauthorized access. Organizations can apply tools such as intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems, VPNs, network access control, and firewalls to ensure cybersecurity.

Endpoint Monitoring

Endpoint monitoring focuses on devices connected to the network (computers, mobile devices, routers, and IoT devices), and it is often an important part of organizations' security and risk management strategies. When an attacker attempts to gain access to a network by exploiting a vulnerability, endpoint monitoring helps detect and prevent threats and provides alerts to the security team.

Application Monitoring

Application monitoring is a continuous process that helps track performance, availability, and security in real time.

This includes different features, such as collecting telemetry data, monitoring application health metrics, and implementing Real User Monitoring (RUM). The core value of application monitoring is that it helps prevent unauthorized access  by identifying potential vulnerabilities and discovering security gaps in the application's code or design at runtime.

Cloud Monitoring

Cloud monitoring focuses mainly on user behavior, workflows, and applications within the cloud environment, as well as the interaction of third-party applications with the organization's cloud assets. Cloud security monitoring helps companies prevent data breaches and delays, reduce downtime, and ensure smooth business operations.

Third-party cyber risk monitoring focuses on both physical and virtual servers in cloud environments. Best practices for cloud monitoring include identity and access management solutions, SIEM systems, CSPM integrations, and regular security tests and audits.​

Identify rPotential Vulnerabilities And Threats Before They Harm Your Business. Enable Proactive Monitoring And Response To Attacks With Jappware

Benefits of Cyber Risk Monitoring for Businesses

Cybersecurity monitoring provides businesses with several valuable benefits:

Regulatory Compliance

Organizations must follow data privacy and security regulations. Implementing continuous threat monitoring and risk assessments is among the best ways for companies to accomplish these tasks.

Preventing Financial Losses

By leveraging cybersecurity monitoring tools and practices, organizations can reduce the risk of sensitive data breaches. In addition to the downtime resulting from an attack, organizations also face fines from regulatory bodies for non-compliance. Therefore, proactively preventing attacks is the best way to avoid financial losses.

Enhanced Security Posture

Organizations can enjoy full visibility into their security system with ongoing monitoring. This allows for strengthening security and risk posture, thereby preventing future attacks.

Early Threat Detection

By continuously monitoring systems and networks, security teams can quickly respond to threats before they cause damage, as monitoring systems detect these events and provide alerts.

Business Stability

Continuous monitoring prevents downtime and ensures your organization can quickly respond to and resolve issues. This way, you can enjoy smooth operations and keep key business functions stable.

Maintaining Reputation

The primary goal of security investments is to avoid security-related issues and resolve them quickly before significant damage occurs. Beyond financial losses, reputation is a critical aspect for any business. By implementing continuous monitoring, businesses can maintain their reputation and customer trust by effectively mitigating risks, as well as promptly detecting and addressing potential data breaches.

Proactive vs. Reactive Security Approaches

Security can be achieved in a variety of ways. Proactive and reactive methods are the two main approaches.

Blog What Is Cyber Risk Monitoring and How It Protects Your Business 2

What is Proactive Cyber ​​Risk Monitoring?

Implementing continuous monitoring is a proactive approach to security. It focuses on identifying and mitigating threats and vulnerabilities before they cause damage to the organization. In other words, proactive means taking targeted actions to prevent something from occurring.

Continuous monitoring and risk assessment include ongoing scanning of the organization's infrastructure, vulnerability analysis, tracking of abnormal network and user behavior, as well as monitoring for external threats. By implementing monitoring tools, including those based on AI and ML, monitoring systems can predict potential attacks considering behavior patterns. This allows security teams to act proactively, addressing security weaknesses before they are exploited by attackers and minimizing potential damage.

What is a Reactive Security Approach?

A reactive approach is part of the traditional incident response model, which focuses on post-incident response. In this scenario, security teams take measures after an attack or breach has occurred. Thus, the reactive method means that we start resolving the issue once something has happened.

The primary focus of a reactive approach is on consequence mitigation, system restoration, and incident analysis. The advantages of this approach include incident response plans and data backups. However, a reactive strategy means that attackers have the first move advantage. This often leads to significant financial losses, reputational damage, and operational downtime, as the organization is forced to deal with a threat that has already occurred.

Why Cyber Risk Monitoring Enables Proactive Defense

Cyber ​​risk monitoring provides complete visibility into an organization's security posture. Through methods such as continuous assessment of network traffic, user behavior, and system events, it enables the detection of signs of breaches in the early stages of an attack.

Continuous monitoring also helps identify vulnerabilities in real time. Additionally, you can monitor compliance with security policies and adapt to the evolving threat landscape.

Implementing Cyber Risk Monitoring: Best Practices

Implementing cybersecurity monitoring involves a few key steps:

  • Risk assessment to identify and analyze potential risks in the organization's infrastructure and prioritize resources to address risk exposures.

  • Defining objectives and the scope of monitoring to ensure the cybersecurity strategy aligns with business goals.

  • Identifying event sources to feed the monitoring system, including syslog, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) platforms, cloud audit logs, Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), and API gateways. The integration of these sources provides enhanced visibility across the entire infrastructure.

  • Choosing tools to match your objectives and requirements. These can be cloud-based or on-premises security solutions.

  • Developing security policies to define how data is stored, secured, and retained.

  • Establishing data retention policies to align security needs, compliance requirements, and storage costs. Plus, security teams should define how long each type of data should be retained.

  • Training employees to ensure they are aware of the importance of cybersecurity monitoring.

  • Regularly reviewing the security strategy to update tools, meet requirements, and improve threat detection.

Beyond the implementation steps, here are some best practices in cybersecurity:

  • Continuous monitoring of network activity and systems to detect and identify potential threats and attacks in real time before they cause damage.

  • Regular audits and risk assessments to discover vulnerabilities in the infrastructure, meet regulatory standards, and remain protected against modern cyber attacks and new threats.

  • Automation tools, such as SIEM solutions, IDPS, and endpoint detection, ensure immediate threat detection and improve the organization's security ratings. Consider leveraging AI/ML capabilities for anomaly detection and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to identify unusual patterns.

  • Alert tuning & fatigue management to reduce false positives so that security teams can focus on genuine threats. Regularly review and adjust alert thresholds to maintain an effective signal-to-noise ratio.

  • Develop a comprehensive incident response plan that outlines the steps and procedures followed during an attack. Create detailed IR playbooks for common scenarios and conduct regular tests to ensure the effectiveness of your incident response plan and minimize damage from attacks and breaches.

Reasons to Choose Our Team for Cyber Risk Monitoring

Jappware offers custom cybersecurity monitoring solutions. After thoroughly examining your infrastructure, operations, and objectives, our security experts can recommend the solutions that best suit your organization.

With comprehensive tools and automated monitoring capabilities,  systems can track and detect any threats and suspicious activity on your networks and endpoints.

By partnering with Jappware, you gain a partner who covers a wide range of cybersecurity needs, from determining the scope of monitoring to technical implementation, creating plans, and maintaining systems up-to-date. Start a project with us and enjoy:​

  • A fully-fledged team of cybersecurity professionals

  • Ongoing monitoring and real-time threat detection

  • Smooth integrations with SIEM/SOAR tools

  • Log pipelines to collect, process, and route logs for analysis

  • Efficient IR playbooks, alert tuning, and on-call training

  • Compliance with regulatory standards (PCI-DSS, GDPR, and other)

Summary

Continuous monitoring is an effective cybersecurity strategy for tracking, analyzing, and assessing potential threats and risks within an organization's IT infrastructure. The key value of cyber risk monitoring is a proactive approach and early detection of anomalies. This way, organizations can minimize potential damage.

Furthermore, this approach covers various aspects, such as endpoints, networks, applications, and clouds, providing security teams with enhanced visibility. Implementing SIEM, log management, IDS, and IPS solutions, organizations gain centralized security control, quick incident response, and regulatory compliance, making cyber risk monitoring an indispensable tool for business protection.