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Modern digital environments sprawl with all kinds of data , devices , technologies and digital assets . This complex jumble is incredibly hard to see into and offers attackers a veritable jungle in which to hide . Those environments are growing and getting more complex while enterprises struggle to hire the talent to enable that critical network visibility .

Many of the tools that enterprises acquire in order to help them with that visibility problem make matters worse . According to a recent Reliaquest survey , the average IT security department has over 19 security tools . An overwhelming majority – 85 % – say that they are adding tools faster than can be productively used and 78 % say that the number of tools they ’ re using is actually increasing risk . Although they say this overabundance of security tools actually increases their risk and is growing faster than can be productively used , 87 % said that the number of tools used would increase over the next 12 months . These tools commonly do not integrate with one another , needlessly raise costs and ultimately provide a disjointed vision of an already murky enterprise environment .

It ’ s at this point which many organisations are now finding themselves in . Firstly , they deal with a growing digital environment which is complexifying faster than they can monitor . Secondly , they struggle to acquire the personnel who could adequately enable visibility . Thirdly , their tools in their portfolio are too numerous to allow a coherent view of that enterprise environment and they can ’ t hire the staff that would allow them to integrate and maintain that portfolio .

Enterprises need to find a workaround . A partial answer to this has been provided in the form of Extended Detection and Response ( XDR ), in which enterprises can make better use of their tools and have the option to partially outsource their detection

and response functions to an external security team .

XDR provides visibility across the oftendisparate parts of the enterprise network – email logs , endpoints , servers , cloud data and elsewhere – and illuminates them in one platform . From there it drives insights and responses , allowing security teams to tame even complex corporate environments .

However , not all XDR solutions are created equal . Many XDR platforms require customers to use specific point products or suites . In doing so , they have to tear out much of their pre-existing infrastructure and tools by the root . Open XDR has emerged to overcome that problem . As a non-proprietary solution , Open XDR can integrate with a wide variety of tools , allowing customers to finally use their pre-existing tools effectively and cut down on tool sprawl .

The growth of the digital enterprise is hard to resist and even those that don ’ t feel the need to digitally transform may be forced to in order to stay competitive . However , that expansion comes with a level of complexity that traditional security is often not equipped to adequately handle . Amid the problems of tool sprawl and the ever-widening skills gap – the cost of secure Digital Transformation spirals , as do the potential risks of forgoing a strong security posture . XDR is helping enterprises neutralise those risks and digitally transform in a safe , sustainable manner . �

John Fedoronko , Vice President of Sales – EMEA , ReliaQuest

THIS COMPLEX JUMBLE IS INCREDIBLY HARD TO SEE INTO AND OFFERS ATTACKERS A VERITABLE JUNGLE IN WHICH TO HIDE .