The Benefits Of Threat Research For Midsize Businesses

If you follow cybersecurity news, you are probably aware of—and concerned about—the constant flow of headlines warning about everything from the latest malware to the biggest, baddest data leaks.

If you also happen to work for a midsize business, you probably find the litany of threats to be overwhelming, especially since you probably have far fewer resources than someone who works for a big company with deep pockets.

When it comes to cybersecurity for your midsize business, it’s important to remember a couple important factors:

• Money is the threat actor’s primary motivator. This means the more data you have online, the more interesting you become to threat actors.
• Size does not matter. Regardless of the size of your business, you are probably sitting on a substantial amount of data related to financials, customers, intellectual property and more. All that data is enticing to threat actors who want to sell your information on the dark web.

This all means that—both despite your limited resources and because of them—your midsize business needs advanced cybersecurity protection that enables you to do more with less. This is where threat intelligence comes in.

By incorporating threat research into your cybersecurity solutions, you can preemptively strengthen your company’s defenses to help ensure you are not an easy target for threat actors. The potential benefits of this type of proactive security include many of the outcomes most midsize businesses seek, such as reducing risks, lowering costs, optimizing internal resources, improving business performance and maintaining a positive reputation among stakeholders.

Benefits Of Intel-Backed Security

Threat intelligence provides a comprehensive view of the threat landscape, including the tactics, techniques and procedures that attackers use. This information is crucial for midsize businesses to understand their specific risk profile so they can tailor their security measures accordingly. With this knowledge, you can implement more effective security protocols, reduce the likelihood of successful attacks and minimize potential damage.

Moreover, by focusing on and automatically blocking the latest threats, a threat-intelligence feed enables you to allocate your budgets and personnel more efficiently.

There is no such thing as an “inexpensive” data breach, so cost reduction is another significant benefit for companies whose cybersecurity solutions incorporate threat research. By using artificial intelligence to identify potential attacks and automation to stop them before they happen, you could save hundreds of thousands in remediation and recovery efforts.

In addition to direct cost savings, actionable threat intelligence helps improve overall business performance by enabling your compliance with regulatory requirements, and helps prevent fines and legal fees that could arise from data breaches.

Finally, security that is based on the latest threat intelligence contributes to business growth by helping foster trust among customers, partners, employees and other stakeholders. In fact, the importance of this level of trust cannot be overstated: a recent study cited in Security Magazine found that 66% of U.S. consumers would not trust a company that falls victim to a data breach, and 44% of consumers attribute cyber incidents to a company’s lack of security measures.¹

How Threat Intelligence Enhances Security Solutions

Security products enhanced with a robust threat intelligence feed can help your business block threats before they reach your network. The following are examples of the types of solutions you should consider.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Mitigation

DDoS attacks occur when threat actors flood a website with traffic to disrupt operations and take the site down. According to security training company StationX, the number of DDoS attacks committed from 2013 to 2022 increased by a whopping 807%.²

Some smaller businesses might think DDoS attacks only impact larger, high-profile websites, but this is a dangerous misconception. In reality, threat actors are primarily motivated by financial gain, so midsize businesses stand out as potential targets of Ransom DDoS, a technique in which an attacker launches (or threatens to launch) a DDoS attack unless and until a ransom is paid.

When your DDoS protection is powered by threat intelligence, your company can identify and block the latest attack vectors before they reach your environment. When it comes to Ransom DDoS in particular, this type of protection is vital.

Built-in Network Security Solutions

By proactively building cyber defense into your networking solution, your midsize company benefits from an added layer of defense at the edge. When protection is fueled by a vigorous threat-intelligence feed, this additional layer of protection works to automatically block traffic from known internet-based threats before they can breach your internal network. This integration helps reduce disruptions to your business, which elevates network performance and enhances experiences for customers and employees alike.

Virtual Security Operations Centers (VSOCs)

The ubiquity of cyberthreats makes 24/7 SIEM (Security Incident and Event Monitoring) a “must-have” solution for companies of all sizes. The resources required for 24/7 SIEM, however, often make it cost- and resource-prohibitive.

To overcome these challenges, many companies are turning to virtual SOCs to augment their IT staff. When those virtual SOCs utilize up-to-the-minute threat intelligence feeds, their remediation recommendations go beyond standard notification actions and help your team focus attention where it’s needed most.

How Lumen Uses Threat Intelligence To Protect Midsize Customers

At Lumen, our threat intelligence team Black Lotus Labs® specializes in detecting, tracking and disrupting global threats. With direct access into the #1 peered IP network³, Black Lotus Labs tracks approximately two million threats per day, which gives us a comprehensive understanding of the global threat landscape. By feeding Black Lotus Labs data into certain products like DDoS Mitigation, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and our newly launched Lumen Defender^SM, our customers benefit from proactive threat blocking, operational efficiency and resource optimization.

From DDoS mitigation to network security and virtual SOCs, security solutions backed by threat intelligence—like those offered by Lumen—are a smart investment for midsize businesses for several reasons. In addition to providing a level of security that can deter even the most sophisticated cyber threats, they enable you to optimize the use of limited resources and support your bottom line by helping to reduce costs and enhance performance.

As cyberthreats continue to grow in complexity, the integration of threat intelligence into security strategies is not just beneficial; it’s becoming essential for the survival and success of midsize businesses in the digital age.

To learn more about the Lumen security portfolio for midsize businesses and the solutions powered by Black Lotus Labs, check out our Midsize Business Solutions.

¹Security Magazine, 66% of consumers would not trust a company following a data breach, Jan. 5, 2024.
²StationX, Top +35 DDoS Statistics (2024), April 10, 2024.
³The Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), AS Rank, March 2024.

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