Looking for the right cybersecurity tools can be, to say the least, overwhelming and confusing. There are so many choices between the types of tools and the companies offering them and acronyms abound.
To top it off, popularity, as much as need, drives cybersecurity tool adoption.
"Tool adoption tends to be driven by headlines. Right now people are concerned about software supply chain issues so tools purporting to solve that are in vogue, even if they ultimately become shelfware," said John Bambenek, principal threat hunter at Netenrich.
But there are trends in cybersecurity tool adoption that will benefit most organizations. As 2022 unfolds, here are cybersecurity tool trends to watch.
The adoption of XDR
One of the hottest security tool trends — and the acronym du jour — is XDR, otherwise known as extended detection and response.
Companies want more robust detection mechanisms, such as XDR, to manage overall risk in a simpler way, according to Bambenek.
Emerging security technology, including XDR, consolidates different security tools into one platform, eliminating the need to work with tools across multiple vendors, hoping they all integrate smoothly.
"Companies are seeing tools that offer greater detection and response capabilities focusing on endpoints and cloud workers," said Steven Kent, chief technical officer with onShore Security.
Increased security efficacy
Nine in ten organizations have adopted new security tools over the past year, according to IDG. It's a trend that will continue to rise, as Gartner predicts end-user spending for information security and risk management will exceed $170 billion this year, up nearly 10% from almost $155 billion last year.
Threat prevention has long been a priority for organizations, but these tools aren't doing enough to stop attacks. XDR adds much-needed threat detection capabilities.
Within threat detection, one-third of organizations want to improve advanced threat detection and add automation to remediate tasks without involving IT Ops, ESG found.
Organizations are turning to XDR because the solution takes complex attacks and simplifies them, using analytics to identify what the attack is and create an automated response to then block it while in progress.
So why XDR? Companies are overwhelmed with tools that produce security findings, according to Mark Lambert, VP of Products at ArmorCode.
They don't need another scanner — they need a solution that can keep up with the volume of data produced and the increase of threats against the data, Lambert said. XDR is expected to play a major role in 2022 and beyond in improving threat detection.
The zero trust model
IT and security teams want tools that offer endpoint security. XDR is part of that solution, expanding on the more familiar endpoint detection and response (EDR) to move beyond traditional endpoint security, according to Gartner.
The rise of IoT is also driving the desire for better endpoint security. More organizations want tools and solutions that can detect threats to IoT, according to Bud Broomhead, CEO at Viakoo.
"There are more known vulnerabilities aimed at IoT systems than traditional IT systems, but IT-oriented cyber solutions do not work for IoT," said Broomhead.
Addressing these elusive threats will lead more organizations to adopt a zero trust model in 2022. The automated monitoring to detect potential threats of XDR partners well with the verify then trust principle of zero trust.
Spending on XDR solutions is expected to exceed $2 billion by 2028, complementing the rise of threats to technologies like IoT, according to Grand View Research.
Tools on the way out
For every security tool trending in popularity, there are security tools that have outlived their usefulness. As organizations move more of their business operations to the cloud, there is less interest — or need — for on-premise solutions. Businesses are discarding these solutions in favor of cloud-based security.
But perhaps a more surprising decline is the loss of interest in maintaining or expanding SIEM investment.
"These tools are becoming a digital dumpster and there is awareness that there is not [a] good return on investment," said Bambenek.
As organizations compete on to deliver innovation to the market quickly, and while public awareness of how security breaches and attacks impact everyday life, IT and security teams need to evaluate their options and adopt the right security tools that fit their needs.
Through it all, the biggest security adoption trend for the coming year is doing more with less and finding tools that offer greater areas of coverage and integration with current security systems.
Building in more robust detection mechanisms such as XDR remains a priority.
"Organizations want to get a better handle on managing their risk by developing informed threat models that they can use to optimize their defenses," said Bambenek.
