In the traditional sport of fox hunting, participants on horseback and hounds work in concert to track and pursue the elusive fox. It is a practice that combines keen observation, strategy, and an intimate knowledge of the landscape. Similarly, cyber threat hunting involves the proactive search for malicious actors lurking within a network, who like a fox are elusive, cunning, and persistent.  

Without the proper visibility, advanced toolsets, and analytical capabilities, hunting down unauthorized threat actors can seem as futile as searching for a needle in a haystack. This underscores the importance of equipping yourself with a sophisticated blend of tools, strategic thinking, and deep system knowledge. Such a combination is essential to effectively detect and isolate threats before they can cause damage. 

What is Threat Hunting? 

Threat hunting is a proactive cybersecurity practice aimed at identifying and mitigating potential threats before they can exploit vulnerabilities within an organization’s network. Threat hunting delves deeper than conventional investigative methods to identify elusive malicious actors who have circumvented an organization’s defensive measures. Unlike automated security measures that passively wait to trigger alerts based on recognized patterns, threat hunting involves actively searching through networks, systems, and datasets to discover anomalies that may indicate the presence of hidden threats.  

Hunting requires a skill to hunt down the target. In this case, skilled security professionals, known as threat hunters, use their knowledge of the latest tactics, techniques, and procedures used by attackers.  They work with cutting-edge security tools to unearth suspicious activities that traditional tools might miss. As well as an advanced toolset to get the latest most up-to-date information from all areas of the network. The objective is to detect and isolate threats before they have time to come to fruition. 

Not all Threats are Immediate 

A threat doesn’t necessarily equate to an immediate attack. Many threats lie dormant within a network, waiting for the opportune moment to strike or silently gather valuable data over extended periods. The sinister nature of patient threat actors underscores the critical importance of proactive threat hunting. This approach is vital for identifying and neutralizing hidden threats before they activate and inflict damage. By engaging in threat hunting, organizations can preemptively address potential breaches, thereby enhancing their cybersecurity defenses against these insidious attacks. This systematic approach not only helps to mitigate the risk of significant damage but also preserves business continuity by strengthening an organization’s overall security posture by preemptively resolving vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the future. 

The Vital Role of an MDR 

Theat hunting depends on threat intelligence. You need to know all the clues that are out there, each one contributing to the confirmation of a threat and what it is. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions operate around the clock to continuously monitor all your network traffic, logs, and endpoints for unusual activity that could indicate the presence of a threat. This persistent surveillance allows for the rapid detection of anomalies that traditional security tools might overlook. An MDR searches for indicators of compromise that have not yet been triggered, allowing MDR analysts to uncover stealthy, low, and slow attacks before they become obvious by their disruption to your business services. MDR is not a single template solution but instead provides customized threat intelligence gathering and analysis that is tailored to the environment at hand.  

The Impact of AI on Modern Threat Management 

Having vast amounts of information doesn’t necessarily equate to effective threat hunting. In fact, alert overloads and false positives can actually contribute to the evasiveness of a threat actor as too much time gets lost sorting through the clutter. This is where an advanced Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solution becomes invaluable. By incorporating AI and ML into the data ingestion process, these technologies greatly enhance detection precision and streamline the integration of data, all within a fraction of the time. AL and ML based threat detection is truly transforming SMB security operations, helping them achieve new levels of focus and efficiency. With an MDR provider, even small and medium-sized businesses can access advanced security capabilities like threat hunting, even without the need for an in-house SIEM or dedicated cybersecurity team.  

Future Proof the Threat Hunt 

It isn’t just the attacks today you have to worry about. It is the attacks of tomorrow as well. That’s why you need an MDR solution that is designed for the future. One such example is from CYREBRO, whose proprietary, ML-powered infrastructure MDR is helping to take threat hunting to the next level. CYREBRO has built one of the largest multitenant MDR solutions to date that can efficiently correlate an extensive array of log sources from numerous data gateways into a unified security data lake in collaboration with and hosted on Google Cloud. This capability allows CYREBRO to ingest, normalize, and correlate more data and security events than any other MDR provider. Moreover, it prioritizes and refines detection accuracy, offering detailed attack narratives and clear, actionable remediation steps alongside risk assessments, ensuring comprehensive security preparedness. In addition, CYREBRO conducts much of its threat research based on tests in their own lab environment that characterize current adversary behavior thanks to their team of experienced threat hunters.  

Conclusion 

Cyberthreats don’t adhere to a designated hunting season; they are a constant risk, necessitating round-the-clock monitoring and detection throughout the year. This continuous vigilance is crucial for any business reliant on network operations, as it faces ongoing threats that must be proactively hunted and mitigated. Utilizing advanced Managed Detection and Response (MDR) technology ensures that these threats are identified and addressed before they can disrupt business operations. Such relentless security oversight is essential to protect critical assets and maintain operational continuity.