Understanding XDR Security: Complete Guide

What is XDR ?

XDR (Extended Detection and Response) serves as an cybersecurity solution that unifies threat data gathering from an array of previously isolated security tools within an organization’s comprehensive technology stack. This unification facilitates more efficient and rapid threat investigation, hunting, and response. As a robust technology, XDR not only collates data but does so across various security layers including email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and network. It employs sophisticated analytics to weave this information into a coherent narrative of an attack, providing a unified view of threats even when multiple attack vectors are involved. This holistic approach heightens cyber defense capabilities, providing a more efficient response to multi-faceted threats.

XDR is considered a more advanced version of endpoint detection and response (EDR). EDR focuses on endpoints, while XDR focuses on multiple security control points. It is a software as a service (SaaS) offering that provides holistic, optimized security by consolidating tooling.

XDR is an increasingly popular solution that addresses the complexity of today’s cybersecurity landscape. Traditional security approaches limited to a specific layer of the security environment tend to generate greater volumes of alerts, require more time to investigate and respond to events, and require more maintenance and management.

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is an advanced, unified security solution that amalgamates data from disparate security tools across an organization’s IT infrastructure. By breaking down traditional silos, XDR enhances the detection, investigation, and response to potential security threats. It’s designed with a sophisticated capability to uncover highly complex or concealed threats and monitor these threats across multiple system components. This proactive and integrated approach not only simplifies and accelerates threat detection and management but also fortifies an organization’s overall security posture. In essence, XDR marks a significant evolution in cybersecurity, enabling security teams to respond more effectively and promptly to emerging threats.

XDR is designed to help security teams:

• Identify threats that are highly sophisticated or hidden

• Track threats across multiple system components

• Improve detection and response speed

• Investigate threats more effectively and efficiently

This is part of an extensive series of guides about cybersecurity.

Why Do You Need XDR? 5 Security Benefits

An XDR platform can provide the following benefits:

• Improved prevention capabilities—inclusion of threat intelligence and adaptive machine learning can help ensure that solutions are able to implement protections against the greatest variety of attacks. Additionally, continuous monitoring along with automated response can help block a threat as soon as it is detected to prevent damage.
• Granular visibility—provides full user data at an endpoint in combination with network and application communications. This includes information on access permissions, applications in use, and files accessed. Having full visibility across your system, including on-premises and in the cloud enables you to detect and block attacks faster.
• Effective response—robust data collection and analysis allows you to trace an attack path and reconstruct attacker actions. This provides the information needed to locate the attacker wherever they are. It also provides valuable information that you can apply to strengthen your defenses.
• Greater control—includes the ability to both blacklist and whitelist traffic and processes. This ensures that only approved actions and users can enter your system.
• Better productivity—centralization reduces the number of alerts and increases alerting accuracy. This means fewer false positives to sift through. Also, since XDR is a unified platform and not a combination of multiple point solutions, it is easier to maintain and manage, and reduces the number of interfaces that security must access during a response.

How Does XDR Work? 4 Key Capabilities

Here are the four key capabilities of XDR solutions.

Collecting data from multiple security layers

XDR solutions analyze both internal and external traffic, from multiple layers of an organization’s technology stack. This makes it possible to identify threats even if they bypass the system perimeter, integrate threat intelligence to identify known attack methods, and leverage machine learning-based detection to identify unknown and zero-day threats. 

Advanced analytics for automated investigation

XDR tools correlate alerts and data from multiple security silos and use advanced analytics to build complete attack timelines. They can also combine data to provide unified visibility into attacks that involve multiple attack vectors.

Fast detection of threats and improved investigation and response

XDR tools provide a central UI that lets analysts investigate and respond to events, regardless where they occurred in the environment. They provide response orchestration, integrating with multiple security tools—for example, XDR can automatically update endpoint policies or spam email rules across the enterprise, in response to an attack.

Flexible SaaS-based deployment

XDR solutions can orchestrate and automate existing security tools, making more of existing security investments. They are cloud-based, with scalable storage and compute to reduce costs and operational overhead. Finally, they continuously improve by applying machine learning and threat intelligence to huge volumes of historical data.

How XDR Differs From Other Security Solutions

XDR is different from other security tools in that it centralizes, normalizes, and correlates data from multiple sources. These capabilities enable more complete visibility and can expose less obvious events.

By collecting and analyzing data from multiple sources, XDR solutions are able to better validate alerts, thereby reducing false positives and increasing reliability. This helps reduce any time teams might waste on excessive or inaccurate alerts. According to Gartner, this results in improved productivity in security teams and allows faster, more automated responses.

XDR vs. MDR

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is a solution that provides an alternative to an in-house SOC. It provides 24/7 network monitoring and detection of security incidents by human security analysts.

Both MDR and XDR help security teams deal with limited resources and growing threats, by they do so in different ways:

• MDR supplements the internal security team – it offers SOC as a service, which might include an XDR solution as part of the offering, operated by the MDR’s staff.
• XDR automates security tasks and improves analyst productivity – if an organization has an in-house SOC, it can improve its incident response effectiveness. 

For organizations just starting to build their security infrastructure, MDR will typically provide a more cost effective solution and significantly faster ramp up.

XDR and SIEM

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) is used in most security operations centers as a central repository of security event data and a way to generate alerts from security events. XDR can extend SIEM by tapping into SIEM data, and combining it with data from point solutions that integrate with the XDR platform. 

XDR can take SIEM one step further. For example, when a SIEM platform generates an alert, instead of having security analysts manually go into endpoint security systems or cloud systems to investigate further, XDR can do this automatically.

XDR also enables more advanced analytics. SIEM was traditionally based on statistical correlation rules, while XDR introduces AI-driven analysis that establishes behavioral baselines, and identifies anomalies based on these baselines.

You can learn more about endpoint security concepts in our guides:

• EPP vs. EDR: What Matters More, Prevention or Response?
• EDR Cybersecurity: Unlocking the Black Box of Endpoint Protection

EDR vs XDR

EDR was created to provide perimeter-wide protection for a system. This was an advancement on existing methods as it provided coverage for a primary component in an attack: endpoints. The result was proactive endpoint security that covered many security gaps and blindspots.

Effective use of EDR still requires collaboration with other tools and processes, however. It cannot protect your system on its own. It also cannot provide full visibility of your system.

XDR is a more advanced version of EDR. Unlike EDR, it can provide visibility into every phase of an attack, from endpoint to payload. By integrating XDR into your security platform, you can collate information from across your systems.

Learn more about EDR in our guide: What Does EDR Stand For?

XDR Security with Cynet 360 AutoXDR

Cynet 360 AutoXDR is the world’s first Autonomous Breach Protection platform that natively integrates the endpoint, network and user attack prevention & detection of XDR with the automated investigation and remediation capabilities of SOAR, backed by a 24/7 world-class MDR service. End to end, fully automated breach protection is now within reach of any organization, regardless of security team size and skill level.

Get a free trial of Cynet 360 and experience the world’s only integrated XDR, SOAR and MDR solution.

Learn More About XDR

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto: Architecture & Capabilities Overview

Palo Alto Networks offers an XDR platform called Cortex XDR, packaged as two main versions. Cortex XDR Prevent provides protection for endpoints, and Cortex XDR Pro adds capabilities for networks, cloud resources, and third-party products. The basic functionalities of Cortex XDR include an app for tracking visibility and a data lake for logging. Advanced capabilities feature an analytics engine, next-generation firewalls, agents, and alerts.

Learn what capabilities to expect in Palo Alto’s XDR.

Read more: Cortex XDR by Palo Alto: Architecture & Capabilities Overview

XDR Security Solutions: Get to Know the Top 8

XDR enables organizations to extend endpoint visibility beyond regular endpoint detection and response (EDR). XDR security solutions can integrate with existing SOAR and SIEM, as well as cloud and on-premise environments, and remote endpoints such as IoT.

Learn about XDR capabilities and what are the top 8 XDR platforms.

Read more: XDR Security Solutions: Get to Know the Top 8

McAfee XDR: McAfee Endpoint Security Suite at a Glance

McAfee MVISION XDR enables organizations to extend EDR capabilities, providing features for adversarial research and threat intelligence information. McAfee XDR is part of the McAfee Endpoint Security Suite, which includes solutions for endpoint and mobile protection, as well as policy management via an interface called MVISION ePO.

Learn what capabilities to expect from each solution.

Read more: McAfee XDR: McAfee Endpoint Security Suite at a Glance

Cisco XDR: SecureX Suite at a Glance

Cisco’s XDR enables organizations to collect and analyze threat data, as well as prioritize, hunt, and remediate threats. Cisco’s XDR security solution is part of the SecureX cloud-native platform, which integrates with all Cisco security offerings. Organizations use SecureX to centralize security products and environments, such as network security, cloud edge, and EDR.

Discover capabilities offered by Cisco XDR and other SecureX solutions.

Read more: Cisco XDR: SecureX Suite at a Glance

What is Trend Micro XDR?

Trend Micro offers a wide range of cybersecurity tools and services, including extended detection and response (XDR). Trend Micro XDR services are part of the Trend Micro Vision One platform, which provides capabilities such as data collection and correlation, and threat intelligence.

Discover the Trend Micro Vision One XDR platform, the managed Trend Micro XDR Service, and how the solution works to protect endpoints, networks, and cloud systems.

Read more:

What is Trend Micro XDR?

See Additional Guides on Key Cybersecurity Topics

Together with our content partners, we have authored in-depth guides on several other topics that can also be useful as you explore the world of cybersecurity.

Zero-Day Attack

Authored by Cynet

• Zero-Day Attacks, Exploits, and Vulnerabilities: A Complete Guide
• 5 Ways to Defend Against Zero-Day Malware
• What is a Zero-Day Exploit?

Network Attacks

Authored by Cynet

• Unauthorized Access: 5 Best Practices to Avoid Data Breaches
• Network Security: Complete Guide to Threats & Defenses
• Network Attacks and Network Security Threats

Managed Firewall

Authored by Atlantic

•  Managed Firewall Service – Get Pricing and Firewall Service Description 
•  Are Cloud Data Breaches Getting Better or Worse? 
•  Top 10 Firewalls: The Best Network Firewalls Available