Cybersecurity is a constant test of vigilance. The continuous evolution of cyberthreats and attack vectors requires robust security solutions that are strong enough to withstand existing dangers and agile enough to adapt to emerging risks. As cyberattacks become more potent and frequent, organizations can easily become overwhelmed not just by the sheer number of threats they face, but by the wide range of security solutions available to them.
Microsoft was Named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management report. We believe that Microsoft offers a comprehensive security framework through Sentinel, delivering an agile, effective SIEM solution for organizations across industries and services. As Microsoft’s 2023 Security Partner of the Year, BDO Digital can help organizations implement and rapidly deploy Sentinel so they can begin to take advantage of its powerful capabilities.
A Multilayered Defense
Cybersecurity is about more than creating a single barrier to stop attackers. Effective security requires multiple layers of defense and a response plan to handle various types of threats. While a strong primary barrier is critical and can guard against many cyberattacks, organizations need secondary measures for incidents that breach the first layer. This includes removing those with unauthorized access from systems, understanding how they gained access, patching any holes, and strengthening controls to help prevent a breach from happening again.
It's also crucial to understand the different types of ways an organization can experience a cyber incident. Ransomware attacks, misconfigured access, phishing attacks, social engineering, and other forms of criminal activity can all lead to compromised systems that challenge security teams. In many instances, cybercriminals will employ multiple types of attacks simultaneously to overwhelm targets and gain access to systems.
Sentinel is equipped to quickly triage threats and get information into the hands of response teams through AI-powered recognition, significantly slashing response times when compared to some other SIEM tools. BDO’s team of security professionals complements Sentinel by offering guidance through the response process and filling any skill gaps an organization may face.
Protect and Respond with Extended Detection and Response
Stay Ahead of Threats with XDR Experience rapid detection and response across endpoints, networks, on-prem, and cloud environments. BDO’s Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solution delivers real-time intelligence to detect and neutralize threats that bypass traditional security measures, providing full protection.
Rapid Deployment and Updates
Microsoft Sentinel and BDO provide a comprehensive solution that addresses key areas of cybersecurity, including prevention, response, recovery, and monitoring — but the combination of services goes beyond that. Sentinel’s cloud-based nature allows for a dramatically faster deployment than traditional SIEM platforms. While others can take as long as six to 12 months for full deployment, BDO can get Sentinel fully up and running in as few as two to four weeks. Being housed in the cloud, it also means the platform can be deployed to locations around the world in full without any shortcuts.
After deployment, BDO’s team offers continued support by making adjustments to Sentinel as needed and delivering continuous monitoring of new and emerging threats. As those threats become evident, the team can take advantage of Sentinel’s agility to quickly distribute updates and stay on top of novel risks.
Microsoft Sentinel is a Cloud-Native SIEM Solution that Provides Comprehensive Visibility into an Organization's Entire IT Environment.
By aggregating data from various sources such as users, applications, servers, and devices running on-premises or in any cloud, Sentinel offers a unified view of potential security threats. This holistic visibility is crucial for cybersecurity, as it enables security teams to detect, investigate, and respond to incidents swiftly and effectively. With advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and automation capabilities, Microsoft Sentinel helps in identifying suspicious activities and mitigating risks before they escalate into significant breaches. This proactive approach to security management helps organizations protect their sensitive data, maintain compliance, and safeguard their operations against evolving cyberthreats..
Customizable Control
Sentinel is a highly customizable platform, making it a strong fit for any organization, regardless of their industry or service. It also integrates fully with other Microsoft security tools, such as Defender, creating a security suite that provides coverage to the entire network, including protection for IoT devices, which often lack inherent security of their own. Further, because Sentinel integrates with other Microsoft products, it eliminates the need to take in logs multiple times. Once the log has been uploaded into one Microsoft tool, Sentinel’s structure gives it access.
There is also a noticeable difference in data management between Sentinel and other security platforms. With some SIEM platforms, users don’t own the data that’s been taken into the system, but Sentinel keeps users in control through deployment with delegated permissions, meaning companies maintain data ownership.
Preparing for the Unknown
One of the most challenging aspects of cybersecurity is safeguarding systems against unknown or unprecedented attacks. Cybercriminals often use unpredictability to their advantage by employing methods that organizations and individuals haven’t prepared a response for. At its most effective, attacks of that nature leave organizations scrambling to undo the damage and respond, with criminals taking advantage of the ensuing chaos.
BDO’s Active Assure, combined with Sentinel, takes some of that unpredictability away by simulating attacks and benchmarking a company’s cyber defenses against them. It can even create hypothetical scenarios that may not have been attempted in a real environment yet. After the simulation runs, BDO professionals can assess how an organization’s current cybersecurity stacks up against the attack, and if there are deficiencies, show the same scenario run against Sentinel to draw a comparison.
Strengthen Your Security with Continuous Validation
Visualize and close gaps in your security configuration with real-time testing and assurance. BDO’s solution ensures your cybersecurity measures are effective, giving you peace of mind and protection against evolving threats.
The Positive Side of Security
When thinking about cybersecurity, the primary focus is frequently about proactive mitigation and reactive response. But an effective response plan and strong controls do more than just defend — they lay a foundation to build upon when adopting new technology. Artificial intelligence, for instance, opens the door to a wave of different threats that don’t always apply to more established technology. AI needs data to function properly, and that data requires access to systems that other tools may not need. If a company lacks established security controls and protocols, implementing an AI tool could allow it to siphon information from sensitive sources and expose the data to users and groups that shouldn’t have access.
Organizations that have already built robust security and access controls into their standard operating processes, however, position themselves to more easily implement AI and other new technologies, integrating them into existing frameworks without having to start from a blank slate. With an established practice of regular training, incorporating new modules becomes a natural process.
Making Security Accessible
Microsoft Sentinel and BDO can help put organizational security on the fast track without cutting corners. From BDO’s knowledgeable, experienced professionals to Sentinel’s ease of deployment, companies can receive the full benefit of a security leader in Microsoft and a team that knows the ins and outs of the platform in BDO.
Learn how BDO and its Microsoft partnership can help your company enhance its security now and for the future.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management, By Andrew Davies, Mitchell Schneider, Rustam Malik, Eric Ahlm, 8 May 2024.
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