Understanding Open Extended detection and response (XDR)
Open XDR is a vendor-agnostic XDR solution that interacts effortlessly with an organization’s existing security infrastructure. It is intended to collect, correlate, and analyze data from many security tools and platforms, resulting in a unified view of the security landscape. Unlike traditional XDR systems, Open XDR allows enterprises to select the finest security products for their individual needs without being restricted to a single vendor’s ecosystem.
Open XDR vs Native XDR
Forrester defines open/hybrid XDR as:
An XDR platform that relies on integrations with third parties for the collection of other forms of telemetry and execution of response actions related to that telemetry.
Forrester defines native XDR as:
An XDR suite that integrates with other security tools from their portfolio for the collection of other forms of telemetry and execution of response actions related to that telemetry.
So let’s put it this way:
Open XDR integrates tools from various vendors, avoiding vendor lock-in and easily fitting into your existing security stack. However, Native XDR ties you to a single vendor, which may reduce flexibility. Open XDR collects security data from multiple sources, whereas Native XDR limits data collection within its own ecosystem, restricting extensibility. Furthermore, Open XDR offers customizable and automated responses across diverse solutions, while Native XDR relies on pre-configured responses. Also, Open XDR enhances threat hunting by combining intelligence from different sources, but Native XDR is confined to built-in intelligence. One more thing, Open XDR supports scalable cloud-native environments, whereas Native XDR is more tightly coupled with the vendor’s infrastructure, limiting flexibility in hybrid setups.
Open XDR Use Case: Solving Today’s Security Operations Challenges
Key Challenges in Security Operations
Non-User-Friendly Nature of Products
- Products are challenging to configure effectively.
- Manual processes are often required for upkeep.
- Many tools are tailored for expert users only.
- Even with correct implementation, tools operate independently.
Talent Gap
- Difficulty in finding skilled security analysts.
- Key team members are often overextended.
- Team members frequently tackle unfamiliar tasks.
- Many roles involve redundant manual work.
Alert Overload
- Security tools generate overwhelming volumes of data.
- Overlapping capabilities lead to unnecessary alerts.
- Analysts may work on the same incidents unknowingly.
- Critical attacks can be missed in the data flood.
Response Lag
- Too many notifications hinder timely investigations.
- Manual workflows slow down response times.
- Attackers gain more time to execute their plans.
- Current technologies fail to improve response efficiency.
How does Open XDR work: A Solution to Modern Challenges
- Open XDR integrates all your security tools into a single, unified system. This helps reduce the intricacies of managing multiple products that are difficult to use as well as minimizing manual configuration and maintenance amounts.
- It collects data from multiple sources and then correlates those in such a manner that repetitive alerts are eliminated and mixed visibility is made clearer. It erases alert overload by giving clear, focused views on real threats.
- In addition to automation, Open XDR streamlines the management of an incident by eliminating lots of useless manual efforts. It will enable small teams to manage threats even more efficiently and speed up the skills gap, reducing reliance on very specialized skills.
- Open XDR entails the automation of key processes speeding up the detection and response times of threats. This minimizes manual interventions and guarantees fast and efficient response times that solve the problem of slow responses.
6 Benefits of an Open XDR Platform
Open XDR offers the possibility for a best-of-breed security operations experience wherein SecOps teams are free to choose the tools they want to integrate. It offers improved efficiency with reduced investment and better visibility than any other solution available.
Open, Extensible Architecture
Detects every threat, thereby giving you enhanced visibility over your entire attack surface through integrated threat intelligence with the security solutions you currently have and will have in the future. This open approach ensures flexibility and adaptability to dynamic security environments.
Cloud Native
Modernized security delivered on prem and in cloud scale with better visibility, detection of threats that is more accurate and simplified operations of the security. Lower TCO-this kind of cloud-native architecture ensures seamless integration across your security stack.
Unified Detection
Unify security tools, vendors, and telemetry types in one single XDR platform. All security data will be centralized, corralled, and analyzed, ensuring that you have a unified view across your extended detection and response.
Automatic Response
Velocity improvements are brought through integrations to speed up the investigation and incident response as actions are automated based on playbooks and response capabilities. This causes minimal amounts of time spent on responses and offers a better, non-compromised attack at critical incidents.
Low Overhead
Reduce total licensing cost and shrink tool sprawl, saving a security team time and money to do more impactful projects and critical incidents. It also reduces the operational burden and removes lock-ins with vendors.
Continuous Optimization
Make better tool choices by optimizing and using telemetry across your entire attack surface for efficiency and better security outcomes. This ensures that your XDR solution evolves in support of the dynamic needs of your organization, providing ongoing value.
Learn more about Fidelis Elevate® XDR, a robust and purpose-built Open and Active extended Detection and Response (XDR) platform new that helps with:
- Network, Cloud, and Endpoint Security
- 9x Faster Detection and Response
- Full Control of Your Attack Surface
Future of Open XDR
Considering the nature of complexity in cyber threats and the huge demand for advanced security solutions, the future of Open XDR seems very promising. The future of Open XDR might be defined by several leading trends and developments including but not limited to:
1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play an enormous role in Open XDR. These will assist in improving the detection accuracy of threats, automatically automate routine jobs, and offer deeper insights into the threat landscape.
2. Cloud Integration
As organizations increasingly migrate more into cloud environments, the open XDR solutions will have to mature in delivering end-to-end protection across hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. Such an integration will allow security teams to gain full visibility into all areas of their IT infrastructure.
3. Advanced Threat Hunting
Threat hunting capabilities will become smarter. Security teams will proactively look for and mitigate threats before they are able to really cause damage. Open XDR platforms will bring cutting-edge threat hunting tools and techniques to keep themselves off the emerging threats.
4. Collaboration and Information Sharing
Open XDR will be sustained and improved by the open-source community with increased collaboration and information-sharing across organizations as well as among security professionals for innovation and effectiveness overall of the platform.
5. Regulatory Compliance
From this perspective, Open XDR solutions will also start integrating features that ensure such compliance as data privacy becomes stricter. This will involve data protection and also incorporate auditing and reporting capabilities.
Frequently Ask Questions
Is XDR open source?
While some open-source XDR projects are found, most of the XDR platforms are not. Open XDR architecture is also said to be the flexibility of integration with many third-party tools, offering automated responses and advanced threat intelligence, although they are mostly proprietary software, not free for anyone to access and manipulate. Open XDR vendors typically offer more commercial and custom solutions.
What's the difference between Open XDR and SIEM?
Open XDR employs a range of technologies to enhance detection and response. It facilitates the integration of diverse detection instruments and supports automated reactions.
It delivers sophisticated analytics by merging data from endpoints, networks, and the cloud. SIEM primarily gathers and retains security data for logging and compliance purposes. It provides rudimentary alerting but falls short on advanced response capabilities, which are offered by XDR.
Open XDR boosts threat detection and response by unifying disparate tools. Conversely, SIEM is more concentrated on data gathering and examination.
What is open xdr architecture?
Open XDR architecture represents a unified security framework that links all kinds of security tools and data sources together into one single platform. It then enhances visibility, improves threat detection, and streamlines incident response by breaking down silos and automating workflows, thus ensuring more efficient threat management.