Trend Micro Cloud-Powered XDR Drives Monumental Business Value

Trend Micro Incorporated, the leader in cloud security, today shared the significant business value driven by cloud-powered XDR and Managed XDR offerings, which optimize threat detection and response across all critical vectors. In a recent survey commissioned by Trend Micro and conducted by ESG, organizations surveyed experience faster detection and less alert fatigue as a result of intelligently using data from all their security controls (including those covering endpoints, email, servers, cloud workloads and networks). 

According to the recent findings from ESG*, previewed here with a white paper to publish in August, 85% of organizations claim that threat detection and response is getting harder due to an exponentially more sophisticated threat landscape and a lack of highly skilled security experts over the last two years. 

Trend Micro's XDR solution is both a SaaS-based offering as well as a managed service with the "X" referring to the most extensive sets of data from more protection points, which is critical to find hidden threats. It was recently named by Forrester as a Leader in enterprise detection and response and achieved the highest initial detection in the MITRE ATT&CK® Framework. 

City of Tyler, Texas CIO and Trend Micro customer, Benny Yazdanpanahi said, "Our citizens and employees have a right to expect that their data and public services are secured from cyber-threats, but our small IT workforce can't do everything, so we turned to Managed XDR. Finding a strong, committed partner with knowledge and expertise we don't have was a game-changer for us. Our city motto is 'We are called to serve,' but the same could equally be said of Trend Micro. They care about their customers." 

Today's organizations are faced with sophisticated threats that may bypass even advanced protection. However, most current detection and response approaches are siloed, incomplete and overwhelm limited security teams with disconnected alerts that lack actionable information. Security practitioners currently report being able to find critical alerts but not necessarily having the clarity to resolve the issue due to lack of additional details.  

In fact, ESG found that only 30% of organizations are confident that their threat detection and response functions can perform at the speed needed to keep up with threats over the next 12-24 months. Additionally, on average, organizations and overtaxed IT teams ignore 32% of security alerts. 

Trend Micro XDR was the first solution to launch that offers correlated detection beyond the endpoint: collecting and analyzing data from email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and networks to more effectively hunt, detect and contain threats. It amounts to greater context, greater understanding and faster, more accurate incident response. ESG found that organizations that employ automated data aggregation techniques, like those enabled by Trend Micro XDR, enjoy improved security outcomes. For example, they are generally able to restore in hours vs. days by a ratio of 83% vs. 66%. 

The solution is also available as a managed service (MDR), to further take the pressure off constrained in-house teams with 24/7 full-threat analysis, threat hunting, response plans and remediation recommendations. 

"There's no such thing as 100% prevention anymore, which puts the focus on effective threat detection and response. With XDR, we've broken the mould with correlated detection across traditional siloes to help stretched IT teams optimize their response to stealthy threats," said Steve Quane, executive vice president at Trend Micro. "I'm proud of the fantastic value our solution offers businesses and of once again delivering on our commitment to secure the connected world. It's a privilege to remain a trusted cybersecurity advisor for our global customers." 

*ESG Research Insights Report, Validating Trend Micro's Approach and Enhancing GTM Intelligence, 2020, to be published August 2020. 

Does Barack Obama plan to take over the internet?

The new version of a US Senate bill allows President Barack Obama to seize temporary control of private sector networks during a cybersecurity emergency. The bill allows the President to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" related to the "non-governmental" computer networks for dealing with cyber threat. The bill is introduced by senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, who has spent months preparing the draft.

"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness. It is unclear what authority senator Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill." said Larry Clinton, President, Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board.

Large internet and telecommunications company representatives have expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's aides. As a source familiar to the bill informed that the primary concern was the electrical grid regarding the consequences of an attack from a broadband connection.

Rockefeller's proposal provides an ease to a broader concern in Washington about the government's role in cybersecurity. President Obama has already acknowledged that the government is "not as prepared" and announced that a new cybersecurity coordinator position would be created inside the White House staff.

After three months, the post remains empty, one top cybersecurity aide has quit, and people are wondering that a government which has failed on the point of cybersecurity, how can they be trusted when they instruct the private sector.

The revised legislation of Rockefeller's proposal seeks to reshuffle the way the federal government addresses the topic. It seeks a cybersecurity workforce plan from every federal agency, a dashboard pilot project, measurements of hiring effectiveness, and the implementation of a "comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy" in six months, even though its mandatory legal review will take one year to complete.

The issue lies in section 201, which permits the President to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to do a "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government.

"The language has changed but it doesn't contain any real additional limits. It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous versions. The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process. There's no provision for any administrative process or review. That's where the problems seem to start. And then you have the amorphous powers that go along with it," said Lee Tien, Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

So if any company is stated under the term "critical," a new set of regulations start like involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.

Agencies

India next to US in anti-dumping measures, says World Bank

With protectionism emerging as a major threat to the global trade flow, data compiled by World Bank shows that India is next only to the US in terms of new anti-dumping measures imposed by their respective governments.

Besides, the number of such measures increased substantially in the second half of 2008 in both countries, World Bank has said in its background paper for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting later this week in the UK.

The US imposed over 20 new anti-dumping measures during the July-December period in 2008, followed by 15 such measures by the Indian authorities.

As per the data compiled by the multilateral lending agency, India took more than 10 fresh anti-dumping measures in the first half of 2008 -- higher than any other country during that period -- while the US imposed less than five such measures.

Other countries where new anti-dumping measures are on the rise include Brazil and Canada, while European Union, South Korea and Egypt saw the number of such initiatives declining in the second half of 2008.

Agencies

Is US new threat to India in BPO sector?

A downturn in worldwide economy, Satyam's fraud case and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and supply chain and shipping cost issues in China are causing US technology companies to pull back from the two traditional outsourcing locations.

Citing these three global factors, an annual survey by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of America's leading accounting and consulting organizations, suggested several technology firms would choose US as future outsourcing location over India and China.

"While last year may have produced an outsourcing bubble, 2009 will see companies retrench to survive in the face of reduced demand. The US has become a far more viable option for them," said Douglas Sirotta, a Partner in BDO Seidman's Technology Practice.

"This year we are seeing three global factors that are causing US technology companies to pull back from traditional outsourcing locations, led by the recent boom and bust of the worldwide economy.

"Satyam's fraud case and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai are causing a lot of companies to reconsider operating in India. And supply chain and shipping cost issues in China are negatively impacting the attractiveness of outsourcing technology operations to the Far East."

Currently nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of chief financial officers (CFOs) at leading US technology businesses say that their companies outsource services or manufacturing, it said.

However, the survey results point to a likely decline in international outsourcing in 2009: 22 percent say the United States is the outsourcing destination they are most likely to consider in 2009, compared to 16 per cent for China and 13 per cent for India. Another 19 per cent report no interest in additional outsourcing.

The survey conducted in January 2009 examines the opinions of 100 chief financial officers at leading technology companies located throughout the US. Other major findings:

Less than half (42 per cent) of the CFOs indicate that they have operations outside the US, compared to nearly double that amount (79 per cent) last year.

Nearly a third (29 per cent) of respondents say their primary concern regarding international growth is an uncertain business or political climate.

About a quarter (26 per cent), cite international business and tax regulations, with 21 per cent citing currency risk, 14 per cent intellectual property risk and exploitation, and 10 per cent training of international employees as their primary concern.

Currently the most common non-US locations for outsourcing are India (50 per cent), Southeast Asia, including the Philippines (31 per cent, down from 50 per cent in 2008), China (19 per cent, down from 46 per cent in 2008), and Western Europe (19 per cent).

For future outsourcing, the CFOs most frequently cite the United States (22 per cent), followed by China (16 per cent), India (13 per cent), Southeast Asia, including the Philippines (7 per cent), Latin America (7 per cent), Western Europe (6 per cent), Canada (5 per cent) and Eastern Europe (3 per cent).

Of those outsourcing, the most common functions being off-shored currently are: manufacturing (54 percent), IT services and programming (46 percent), research and development (35 percent), distribution (35 percent) and call centres (35 percent).

Agencies

Obama urged to appoint a cyber security czar

Report indicates that cyber security a major threat to US and has urged president-elect Barack Obama to appoint a cyber security czar.

Cyber security will pose a major threat to the US during the next administration, a new report has said, urging.

The report, Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency, issued by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, also urged president-elect Barack Obama to appoint a cyber security czar.

"Cyber security is now a major security problem for the US. Only a comprehensive national security strategy that embraces both the domestic and international aspects of cyber security will make us more secure," said the report.

Criticizing President George W. Bush for relying on the free market to secure the nation's networks, the report accused the Department of Homeland Security of being unable to protect the government from cyber attacks.

"In no other area of national security do we depend on private, voluntary efforts. We believe that cyberspace cannot be secured without regulation," it said.

The report recommended the creation of a White House office - Assistant to the President for Cyberspace - to coordinate responses to cyber threats across domestic, intelligence, military and economic elements of the government. It called for increased funding for research into cyber security.

Is Google a threat to telcos?

Google's influence and market power with key telecommunications industry stakeholders is having a significant impact on the industry, says research firm Gartner.

According to Alex Winogradoff, research vice president, Gartner, Google will continue to be a market disruptor and disintermediator, especially in the communications market. "Carriers should selectively partner with Google rather than trying to compete, especially in areas where they don't have differentiated and core assets," he said. "However, carriers should also find common ground with Google (for example, on network neutrality) and, if necessary, look for creative ways to oppose Google on issues critical to their survival."

Gartner said that coming late to the operating-system and mobile markets has not been a problem for Google and that its Android and Open Handset Alliance (OHA) activities have already had a profound effect on the mobile industry. In addition to disrupting the traditional telecom ecosystem, Google's actions are diluting the market potential and the service providers' ability to profitably monetise their investments in new markets (such as entertainment and software as a service (SaaS) applications).

The research firm highlighted six critical actions by Google that have already had, or will have, the greatest impact on the telecom industry. Google pressured the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set aside the "C" Block (22MHz to 11MHz in the uplink and 11MHz in the downlink within the US 700MHz spectrum auctions) as an open-access spectrum. All winning "C" Block bidders would be required to provide open access to applications (which cannot be blocked) and devices (which cannot be locked).

Google's primary motivation was to encourage the development of open broadband network platforms to ensure they will be able to deliver bandwidth-intense over-the-air services and applications.

On November 5 2007, several technology and wireless companies jointly announced the formation of the OHA and the development of Android, a new software platform for mobile devices that includes an operating system (OS), middleware and key applications based on the Linux OS and open-source principles.

This was quickly followed on November 12 2007, with a preliminary release of the Android SDK, as part of Google's $10 million developer challenge. This will help ensure that application and access openness is maintained on the mobile Internet as effectively as on the wired network to enable Google's ad model to spread as successfully as it has on the wired Internet; to open up the "closed" mobile industry ecosystem to Google's applications; and to enable Google to exert a strong influence over the development of the next-generation mobile OS.

Since the US regulator (FCC) adopted four network neutrality principles designed "to encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet," Google and other Web-centric companies have been lobbying the US Congress to codify these rules in favour of something called non-discrimination in network design between the public and private Internet.

In short, Google wants regulation to ensure that the public Internet remains free from potential discrimination and content blocking but also wants equality between the public and private Internet at no cost to customers or Web companies (in essence, no quality of service).
Google has been investing heavily to develop the world's most complete storehouse of geographic and mapping data supported by innovative applications that can detect mobile devices.

Google wants to be "the most-trusted source" and the best at matching up unique geographic location-based data so it can take advantage of just-in-time advertising opportunities derived from location-aware applications and bypass device manufacturers and carriers as the gatekeepers of location data.

Known as "white space" in the US and "interleaved spectrum" in the UK, this is the underutilised 800MHz spectrum that can be used to broadcast TV through the airwaves but also has highly favourable propagation characteristics for wireless broadband.

A powerful industry lobby backed by Google, Microsoft, Philips, Dell, HP, Skype and others (known as the Wireless Innovation Alliance) has been urging the FCC to develop rules to unlock the potential of TV white spaces.

Google's interest in white spaces is another effort to ensure that there are viable broadband options available for their services. The spectrum, which will likely be released as an open spectrum in 2010, would become another means for bypassing the carrier access network. Google is looking to engage enterprises by getting them hooked on using its applications and cloud computing infrastructure. Making it easy for users to download Google applications and giving them free space on Google's cloud infrastructure.

This will give Google great marketing insight to help it develop a presence within the SMB market. With eventual migration to larger enterprises where enterprises will come to Google for all their back-office SaaS needs.

The impact on carriers looking to generate revenue from the SaaS business model within the SMB market will require carriers to clearly differentiate their applications from Google or partner with it.

Source: Indiatimes