Understanding the Basics of Data Detection and Response

Understanding the Basics of Data Detection and Response
Understanding the Basics of Data Detection and Response

Data breaches are arguably the most pervasive threat of the digital age. They play a role in almost every facet of society, from geopolitics to business to education and everything in between; preventing the theft of confidential data is something organizations must prioritize. And yet, nearly 20 years from what is generally considered the first data breach, they are more common than ever.

The problem is threefold:

  • For every new technology, technique, or philosophy defenders dream up, attackers find a new technology, technique, or philosophy in response.
  • Many organizations don’t take cybersecurity seriously enough – one only needs to look to Cisco’s 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index to find that most businesses are woefully unprepared for modern cybersecurity threats.
  • Data security capabilities are siloed across multiple solutions that fail to provide a full picture of the enterprise environment.

However, there are technologies available that consolidate data security capabilities and prevent – or at least reduce the damages of- data breaches. Data Detection and Response (DDR) is one such technology.

In this article, we’ll run through the basics and benefits of DDR so you can decide if it’s the right solution for you.

What is Data Detection and Response?

In short, Data Detection and Response (DDR) is a cybersecurity solution that focuses on identifying and responding to data-related threats and incidents within an organization’s network or infrastructure. It combines elements of multiple data security solutions to provide comprehensive protection and typically serves three essential purposes: data loss prevention, insider risk management, and cloud data security.

How does Data Detection and Response work?

To understand how DDR solutions work, it’s necessary to understand exactly what they do; this can split into three primary functions:

Discovery

DDR solutions log every piece of data an organization owns, as well as how employees interact with it. Every time an employee moves, copies, edits, or shares data, the solution records this. Organizations should seek that not only log data and activity in the internal environment, but on unmanaged cloud apps and devices.

DDR solutions also classify data. It’s important to look for DDR that classifies data by content (what the data is) as well as lineage (where it has come from and what employees have done with it) to understand where and what the most sensitive data is and eradicate false positives.

The discovery function establishes an understanding of an organization’s environment and what normal behavior looks like. This brings us to DDR’s next function.

Anomaly Detection

Now that the DDR solution has logged and classified data and gained an understanding of normal behavior patterns, the solution can detect anomalous behaviors. For example, if someone from HR tried to access sensitive financial data, DDR would flag that to security teams. Similarly, if a threat actor had compromised an organization’s network, this, too, would be flagged to security teams. Security teams using more traditional data security solutions would need to investigate and respond to the incident themselves, and in most cases, the damage would already be done. But this isn’t necessary for those using the most advanced DDR solutions.

Response and Remediation

To ensure total protection, organizations should seek a DDR solution that automatically responds to threats and anomalies. However good they are, by the time a security team responds to an incident, the unauthorized user will likely have already exfiltrated at least some sensitive data. As soon as an employee inputs sensitive data into ChatGPT, attempts to access data they don’t need for their work, or puts an organization’s data at risk in any way, the best DDR solutions will act immediately.

It’s important to recognize here that automatic response and remediation is only possible with a solution that classifies data by both content and lineage. Classifying data by content alone will result in countless false positives; if the system automatically responds to those false positives, employees will struggle to access the information they need, negatively impacting productivity.

Investigation

When an incident does occur, security teams will need to investigate. This is important for many reasons, including:

  • Understanding how a threat actor has accessed an organization’s systems.
  • Checking whether the incident was a false alarm and understanding why it occurred.
  • Understanding user intent and taking appropriate disciplinary action.

The best DDR solutions provide security teams with a comprehensive workflow. This workflow maps out a piece of data’s full history, from creation to exfiltration, so that security teams can understand intent. For example, if an employee has changed the name of a file to hide the fact that they are exfiltrating sensitive data, the workflow will make this clear to security teams.

Now that you understand the basics of DDR, you can decide whether it’s right for your organization. But remember, not all DDR solutions are made equal – be sure to shop around to find the one that best suits your needs.

Josh is a Content writer at Bora. He graduated with a degree in Journalism in 2021 and has a background in cybersecurity PR. He’s written on a wide range of topics, from AI to Zero Trust, and is particularly interested in the impacts of cybersecurity on the wider economy.