Extended detection and response (XDR) is an increasingly popular option for security teams looking to boost their org’s maturity. Unfortunately, most XDR security providers only work with the set of tools they bring to the table, requiring teams with existing tools outside that list to rip and replace. It might seem like a mandatory trade-off: either improve your security operations OR keep your existing toolset—but there’s another option.

With ransomware on the rise and a host of new solutions on the market, it’s easy to get caught up in buying the latest and greatest. However, once all is said and done, multiple new solutions (without a way to pull them all together) may not be the answer. Open XDR security allows you to keep your existing tool stack, maximize and orchestrate its various capabilities, and manage it all from a centralized view.

The Rise of Ransomware and the Need for New Solutions

RansomOps are sophisticated new operations, taking ransomware to a new level and making attacks more long-term, dangerous, and difficult to detect than ever. These days, they’re more akin to advanced persistent threats (APTs). Using options such as ransomware as a service (RaaS), ransomware gangs are churning out more complex attacks faster. Known as “script kiddies,” these low-skill (or low-effort) baddies purchase RaaS exploits for easy implementation and mass distribution of nefarious attack campaigns. Plus, the payouts are getting higher. Last year, one capped $50 million. If you’ve heard of the Colonial Pipeline attack, you’ve heard of a RaaS-based RansomOps attack.

In response to these threats, which are now more dangerous and frequent, companies have turned to new solutions. In addition to the usual antivirus software, you have next-generation antivirus (NGAV), endpoint protection platforms (EPP), cloud protection platforms (CPP), encryption solutions, network mapping, and SIEM and SOAR tools, just to name a few. So, more tools mean more protection, right? Maybe not.

The Tool Sprawl Dilemma

Security vendors typically don’t go “all in” on one security solution, as Jason Pfeiffer, ReliaQuest Chief Strategy Officer, puts it. Says Jason, “You might use a cloud control product or endpoint software from the same firewall vendor, but what about identity management? What about external-facing applications and the web application firewalls used to protect them? Or your Secure Edge provider? Or your DNS infrastructure?” Good points. And when you do end up with the cornucopia of tools necessary to defend your enterprise against attack, the issue of managing them all is almost enough to put you under.

Plus, consider the time (and manpower) it would take to run them all to complete efficiency, really getting your money’s worth out of them. For that reason, 85% of organizations report adopting security solutions faster than they can use them, and 71% say the amount of time they spend trying to learn their tools inhibits them from defending against threats. In addition to draining time and resources, tool sprawl is overtly counterproductive. So, what’s the solution?

How to Maximize Your Security Stack Investment

Unlike native XDR, the Open XDR architecture allows security teams to bring the technology they’ve already worked so hard to implement into an integrated architecture, wasting nothing. You can see how Open XDR actually improves upon the capabilities of existing tools. It enables your organization to keep the tools you already have while exponentially growing your detection and response capabilities beyond the endpoint.

As Jason sums up, “In your day-to-day life, would you buy anything that is not compatible with the other technologies you have already invested your hard-earned money in? Would you use a Gmail account if your iPhone did not support it? You might buy Sonos because of what it offers, but you want it to work with Amazon Alexa if that is what you standardized on. Surely, you will not buy everything that is made only by Amazon, but you want a standard platform to support anything you buy.”

Open XDR uses a vendor-agnostic, integrated platform to provide full visibility of the attack chain, aggregate telemetry across all existing technologies, and provide the best, most comprehensive approach to enterprise security.

ReliaQuest GreyMatter Drives Business Results

The ReliaQuest security operations platform, GreyMatter, is built on an Open XDR architecture. It provides exponentially greater situational awareness and efficiencies within security operations. This results in better visibility, which, paired with the right context, allows security professionals to get the full picture much faster: some customers manage to cut their mean time to resolve (MTTR) in half.

GreyMatter helps teams do more with less. By leading with technology and automation, GreyMatter can significantly reduce high-time, low-brain activities, leading to a more efficient security team. Plus, in addition to collecting telemetry from your tools, we can help you ensure you’re getting the value you expect from each of them. We’ll also constantly keep them optimized, patched, and up to date.