Why your credit union needs managed detection and response services

Cybercriminals evolve their tactics and techniques daily, requiring compliance regulations, security solutions, and technologies to evolve constantly. New demands, trends, advancements, and technologies wait for no one, and we all must adapt accordingly. Within the financial industry, there is currently a popular demand for security and risk management solutions to help your organization consistently monitor your network.

Assistance from an extended security team is invaluable for credit unions to consider, specifically Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Services paired with a Security Operations Platform. Credit unions gain expertise in what is happening within their IT environment without the cost of building or extending their security team internally.

What are Managed Detection and Response Services?

According to Gartner, Managed Detection and Response services provide customers with “remotely delivered modern security operations center (MSOC) functions. These functions allow organizations to rapidly detect, analyze, investigate and actively respond through threat mitigation and containment. Managed Detection and Response service providers offer a turnkey experience, using a predefined technology stack (covering areas such as endpoint, network, and cloud services) to collect relevant logs, data and contextual information.”

Managed Detection and Response teams consistently look for anomalous activity that could indicate a potential breach, security incident, or malicious activity in your network. In addition to detecting harmful attempts that could compromise your network.

What are the Benefits for Credit Unions?

The main goal of Managed Detection and Response services is to ease capacity concerns and any other security concerns within credit unions’ IT departments. The service can be beneficial in many ways, from providing credit unions with an extra layer of protection to staying current on federal compliance.

It can be hard to catch every potential threat on your network and monitor it every minute of the day. Managed Detection and Response services do the work for you and will shift the burden from your IT team to a service built specifically for that purpose.

What to Look for in a Managed Detection and Response Provider

Looking for ideal Managed Detection and Response services can seem daunting to many. Often, the search can be delayed due to time and the prioritization of key features needed. It is best for credit unions to look for services paired with a Security Operations Platform to provide a more cost-effective route, so they don’t have to invest in multiple products while enhancing their current team’s capabilities.

Keeping that in mind, below are a few features credit unions should require from any Managed Detection and Response provider:

• 24×7 Monitoring and Platform Access: The service should continuously monitor your network traffic and detect potential intrusions. You should also receive 24×7 alerts for any anomalous or malicious activity. Specifically, the service should offer 24×7 access to the same platform Security Operation Center (SOC) analysts use, offering complete visibility into your environment.
• Detect Anomalous Behavior: Including behavior analytics uses machine learning to identify, detect, and prioritize anomalous behavior. This informs your team immediately when something is out of the norm, indicating a potential threat and allowing teams to find areas that need further analysis.
• Darknet Exposure Monitoring: Darknet Exposure Monitoring helps limit the damage from a data breach by proactively monitoring confidential data and the dark web. In addition, it alerts security teams if data and employee credentials are up for sale, leaving their brand exposed.
• Compliance Reporting: One-Touch Compliance Reporting feature should include PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry), NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), and HIPAA. The FFIEC’s Cyber Assessment Tool (CAT) and NCUA’s Automated Cybersecurity Examination Tool (ACET) should also be included.
• Continuous Vulnerability Management (CVM): Continuous Vulnerability Management is an add-on service that identifies critical vulnerabilities and misconfigurations on the industry’s widest range of applications, operating systems, and devices. After prioritization of vulnerabilities, Continuous Vulnerability Management rapidly remediates targeted vulnerabilities by deploying patches.
• Full Access to Tools and Data: Find a Managed Detection and Response service that allows you to stay in control and have full visibility into your network. You should be able to access the same reports, data, and tools as the analyst. Having this access allows credit unions to see their cyber posture, pull reports when needed, and visualize access for every account and system on its network.

Prioritize the Safety of your Network

Managed Detection and Response services paired with a Security Operations platform are vital for credit unions as it combats potential data breaches while improving their ability to respond to and detect threats. With the new demands for these platforms continuously arising in the industry due to increased cyberattacks, staying a step ahead of cybercriminals is critical. Managed Detection and Response services paired with a Security Operations Platform can easily expand your credit union’s cybersecurity capabilities without breaking your annual budgets.

Are your Security Defenses Ready?

Contact Adlumin’s cybersecurity experts to learn how to strengthen your security or get started with a demo.