How to Catch a Bad Actor: The Power of Network Visibility in Cybersecurity

How to Catch a Bad Actor: The Power of Network Visibility in Cybersecurity

Imagine trying to catch bad actors in a crowded city. They could blend in with the crowd, hide in the shadows, or even disguise themselves. To find them, you'd need eyes everywhere-on every street, in every building, watching every interaction.

In the world of cybersecurity, catching a bad actor-be it a hacker, a malicious insider, or a rogue application-requires a similar approach. You need complete visibility across your entire digital environment to see where they are, what they're doing, and how to stop them. And there's no better way to achieve this than through packet-based network visibility.

The First Step: Seeing the Whole Picture

To catch bad actors, you first need to see them. But in today's complex IT environments, this isn't easy. Visibility is fragmented across different tools:

• Endpoint detection and response (EDR): Tracks activities on devices such as computers and servers
• Security information and event management (SIEM): Aggregates logs from various security tools to provide a centralized view of events
• Extended detection and response (XDR): Expands visibility across multiple security domains
• Network detection and response (NDR): Monitors network traffic for suspicious behavior, providing a bird's-eye view of all activity across the network

Of these, network-traffic visibility is the most comprehensive. It's like having security cameras on every street corner, watching every car, every pedestrian, and every interaction. Network-based tools don't just see individual endpoints-they see how everything connects, making it easier to spot a bad actor, no matter where that actor tries to hide.

Why Network Visibility Is Key to Catching the Bad Actor

Bad actors often exploit gaps in visibility. They move laterally between systems, use encrypted channels to hide their communications or trigger minimal alerts to avoid detection. Network visibility closes these gaps by providing a complete, unfiltered view of all traffic across your organization. Here's why this is critical:

• Comprehensive coverage: Unlike other tools that focus on specific endpoints, network tools see everything-every connection, every transaction, every packet. This makes it nearly impossible for bad actors to hide.
• Anomaly detection: Network tools are great at spotting unusual behavior, such as unexpected data flows, unauthorized access attempts, or strange communication patterns-typical signs of a bad actor at work.
• Forensic investigation: When an incident occurs, network visibility allows security teams to trace the bad actor's every move and understand how that actor got in, what that actor did, and how to prevent it from happening again.

Enter the Detectives: Omnis CyberStream and Omnis Cyber Intelligence

To catch a bad actor, you need the right tools, and that's where NETSCOUT's Omnis CyberStream and Omnis Cyber Intelligence (OCI) come in. Together, they form a powerful platform that gives you the visibility and investigative power needed to identify, track, and neutralize threats.

Omnis CyberStream is your eyes on the street, constantly monitoring traffic with scalable deep packet inspection (DPI). It uses multidimensional detection techniques and advanced machine learning to catch bad actors in the act:

• Visibility Without Borders: NETSCOUT's Visibility Without Borders sees across on-prem, virtual, and hybrid cloud environments, ensuring no part of your network is left in the dark.
• Multidimensional threat analytics: Omnis CyberStream uses a combination of indicators of compromise (IoCs), policy violations, signatures, unexpected traffic, and behavior analysis to spot malicious activity from every angle.
• Historical investigation and hunting: With continuous packet capture and long-term storage, Omnis CyberStream lets you go back in time to catch bad actors who think they've covered their tracks.

Omnis Cyber Intelligence is your command center, where all the pieces of the puzzle come together. It provides a unified interface for managing security events, investigating incidents, and gaining actionable insights:

• Unified security event display: OCI gives you a clear view of all security events, so you can quickly identify the most serious threats.
• MITRE ATT&CK mappings: OCI contextualizes threats, making it easier to understand the bad actor's tactics and techniques.
• Proactive threat hunting: OCI enables deep historical analysis, helping you uncover bad actors who have been lurking undetected.

The Final Piece: Investigation and Response

Catching a bad actor isn't just about seeing them-it's about understanding what they've done and how to stop them. This requires thorough investigation and a quick response. Omnis CyberStream and OCI are designed with this in mind:

• Real-time detection and response: By identifying threats as they happen, OCI allows you to stop bad actors before they can do serious damage.
• Historical Investigation: With detailed packet captures and metadata storage, you can reconstruct the bad actor's every move, providing the evidence needed to prevent future attacks and improve your defenses.

The Network Is Your Best Detective

In the quest to catch a bad actor, visibility is your greatest asset. Network-based tools such as NETSCOUT's Omnis CyberStream and Omnis Cyber Intelligence offer the most complete view, allowing you to detect, investigate, and respond to threats with unparalleled precision and speed. With OCI in your arsenal, you can ensure that no bad actor slips through the cracks, keeping your organization secure and resilient against even the most sophisticated attacks.

Learn more about NETSCOUT's Omnis CyberStream and Omnis Cyber Intelligence.