How Can EDR Tools Help CISOs Increase Security Budgets

Companies provide detailed reports on previous and identified cyberattacks to their managers or board of directors every eight months on average, according to a recent survey of 1,050 chief information security officers in the US and Europe. 

Danes must send detailed reports on breaches or attempted breaches to their C-level suite the least frequently on average (12 months), whereas Italians provide them the most frequently (six months). Those in the UK and the US need to deliver these assessments every nine months, while the Germans and the French every eight months.

Most CISOs surveyed trust next generation security, including endpoint detection and response capabilities, as the best security approach against advanced attacks. Security audits, and traditional security - endpoint protection platforms - come second and third, mentioned by more than a third of respondents.

Just days before the EU General Data Protection Regulation takes effect globally, many organizations still find themselves struggling to comply. The new requirements include that data be protected adequately, and when breaches do occur, organizations need notification capabilities that align with GDPR standards.

Being GDPR non-compliant after May 2018 means not only negative publicity and damage to the companies’ reputation, but also penalties of up to 4% of a company’s global annual revenue. Mainly, companies need to identify data that falls under the regulations’ control – “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person” – document how this data is secured, and create incident response plans. In this respect, 78% of respondents in the US and Europe stated that they will need in-depth security incident reports provided by EDR solution for future cyberattacks to be GDPR compliant. EDR reports should not be regarded as merely a tool for improving incident response plans and building new security defense strategies, but also as an effective means for CISOs to bring security-driven decisions to the board room.

By presenting actionable intelligence reports to board members, CISOs can ultimately argue for increased security budgets for new technologies and headcount by showing relevant stats, figures, the effectiveness of the current security stack, and how larger budgets can help drive business and value. With board members mostly focused on financials, detailed EDR-related intelligence that can directly impact business revenue is the leverage CISOs need to make security vital in the long-term business strategy of the organization. “With board members becoming increasingly involved in security aspects, detailed reports that remove security blind spots help drive intelligent resource and budget planning in line with the company’s objectives, allowing for scalability, performance and security to drive company business,” Bitdefender's Global Cybersecurity Analyst Liviu Arsene says.

Download the full report here.