What Is Threat Detection and Response (TDR)?
Learn how to protect your organization’s assets by proactively identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks with threat detection and response.
Threat detection and response (TDR) defined
Threat detection and response is a cybersecurity process for identifying cyberthreats to an organization’s digital assets and taking steps to mitigate them as quickly as possible.
How does threat detection and response work?
To address cyberthreats and other security issues, many organizations set up a security operations center (SOC), which is a centralized function or team responsible for improving an organization’s cybersecurity posture and preventing, detecting, and responding to threats. In addition to monitoring and responding to ongoing cyberattacks, a SOC also does proactive work to identify emerging cyberthreats and organizational vulnerabilities. Most SOC teams, which may be onsite or outsourced, operate around the clock, seven days a week.
The SOC uses threat intelligence, and technology to uncover an attempted, successful, or in-progress breach. Once a cyberthreat is identified, the security team will use threat detection and response tools to eliminate or mitigate the issue.
Threat detection and response typically includes the following stages:
- Detection. Security tools that monitor endpoints, identities, networks, apps, and clouds help surface risks and potential breaches. Security professionals also use cyberthreat hunting techniques to uncover sophisticated cyberthreats that evade detection.
- Investigation. Once a risk is identified, the SOC uses AI and other tools to confirm the cyberthreat is real, determine how it happened, and assess what company assets are affected.
- Containment. To stop the spread of a cyberattack, cybersecurity teams and automated tools isolate infected devices, identities, and networks from the rest of the organization’s assets.
- Eradication. Teams eliminate the root cause of a security incident with the goal of evicting the bad actor completely from the environment. They also mitigate vulnerabilities that may put the organization at risk of a similar cyberattack.
- Recovery. After teams are reasonably confident that a cyberthreat or vulnerability has been removed, they bring any isolated systems back online.
- Report. Depending on the severity of the incident, security teams will document and brief leaders, executives, and/or the board on what happened and how it was resolved.
- Risk mitigation. To prevent a similar breach from happening again and to improve response in the future, teams study the incident and identify changes to make to the environment and processes.
What is threat detection?
Identifying cyberthreats has grown increasingly more difficult as organizations have expanded their cloud footprint, connected more devices to the internet, and transitioned to a hybrid workplace. Bad actors take advantage of this expanded surface area and the fragmentation in security tools with the following types of tactics:
- Phishing campaigns. One of the most common ways that bad actors infiltrate a company is by sending emails that trick employees into downloading malicious code or providing their credentials.
- Malware. Many cyberattackers deploy software that is designed to damage computers and systems or collect sensitive information.
- Ransomware. A type of malware, ransomware attackers hold critical systems and data hostage, threatening to release private data or steal cloud resources to mine bitcoin until a ransom is paid. Recently, human-operated ransomware, in which a group of cyberattackers gain access to an organization’s entire network, has become a growing issue for security teams.
- Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Using a series of bots, bad actors disrupt a website or service by flooding it with traffic.
- Insider threat. Not all cyberthreats comes from outside an organization. There’s also a risk that trusted people with access to sensitive data may inadvertently or maliciously harm the organization.
- Identity-based attacks. Most breaches involve compromised identities, which is when cyberattackers steal or guess user credentials and use them to gain access to an organization’s systems and data.
- Internet of Things (IoT) attacks. IoT devices are also vulnerable to cyberattack, especially legacy devices that don’t have the built-in security controls that modern devices do.
- Supply chain attacks. Sometimes a bad actor targets an organization by tampering with software or hardware that is supplied by a third-party vendor.
- Code injection. By exploiting vulnerabilities in how source code handles external data, cybercriminals inject malicious code into an application.
Detecting threats
To get ahead of rising cybersecurity attacks, organizations use threat modeling to define security requirements, identify vulnerabilities and risks, and prioritize remediation. Using hypothetical scenarios, the SOC tries to get inside the mind of cybercriminals so they can improve the organization’s ability to prevent or mitigate security incidents. The MITRE ATT&CK® framework is a useful model for understanding common cyberattack techniques and tactics.
A multilayer defense requires tools that provide continuous real-time monitoring of the environment and surface potential security issues. Solutions also must overlap, so that if one detection method is compromised, a second one will detect the issue and notify the security team. Cyberthreat detection solutions use a variety of methods to identify threats, including:
- Signature-based detection. Many security solutions scan software and traffic to identify unique signatures that are associated with a specific type of malware.
- Behavior-based detection. To help catch new and emerging cyberthreats, security solutions also look for actions and behaviors that are common in cyberattacks.
- Anomaly-based detection. AI and analytics help teams understand the typical behaviors of users, devices, and software so that they can identify something unusual that may indicate a cyberthreat.
Although software is critical, people play an equally important role in cyberthreat detection. In addition to triaging and investigating system-generated alerts, analysts use cyberthreat hunting techniques to proactively search for indications of compromise, or they look for tactics, techniques, and procedures that suggest a potential threat. These approaches help the SOC quickly uncover and stop sophisticated, hard-to-detect attacks
What is threat response?
After a credible cyberthreat has been identified, threat response includes any actions that the SOC takes to contain and eliminate it, recover, and reduce the chances that a similar attack will happen again. Many companies develop an incident response plan to help guide them during a potential breach when being organized and moving quickly is critical. A good incidence response plan includes playbooks with step-by-step guidance for specific types of threats, roles and responsibilities, and a communication plan.
Components of threat detection and response
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Extended detection and response
Extended detection and response (XDR) products help SOCs simplify the entire prevention, detection, and response cyberthreat lifecycle. These solutions monitor endpoints, cloud apps, email, and identities. If an XDR solution detects a cyberthreat, it alerts security teams and responds automatically to certain incidents based on criteria that the SOC defines.
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Identity threat detection and response
Because bad actors often target employees, it’s important to put in place tools and processes for identifying and responding to threats to an organization’s identities. These solutions typically use user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) to define baseline user behavior and uncover anomalies that represent a potential threat.
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Security information and event management
Gaining visibility into the entire digital environment is step one in understanding the threat landscape. Most SOC teams use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions that aggregate and correlate data across endpoints, clouds, emails, apps, and identities. These solutions use detection rules and playbooks to surface potential cyberthreats by correlating logs and alerts. Modern SIEMs also use AI to uncover cyberthreats more effectively, and they incorporate external threat intelligence feeds, so they can identify new and emerging cyberthreats.
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Threat intelligence
To get a comprehensive view of the cyberthreat landscape, SOCs use tools that synthesize and analyze data from a variety of sources, including endpoints, email, cloud apps, and external threat intelligence sources. Insights from this data help security teams prepare for a cyberattack, detect active cyberthreats, investigate ongoing security incidents, and respond effectively.
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Endpoint detection and response
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions are an earlier version of XDR solutions, focused just on endpoints, such as computers, servers, mobile devices, IoT. Like XDR solutions, when a potential attack is discovered, these solutions generate an alert and, for certain well-understood attacks, respond automatically. Because EDR solutions are only focused on endpoints, most organizations are migrating to XDR solutions.
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Vulnerability management
Vulnerability management is a continuous, proactive, and often automated process that monitors computer systems, networks, and enterprise applications for security weaknesses. Vulnerability management solutions assess vulnerabilities for severity and level of risk and provide reporting that the SOC uses to remediate issues.
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Security orchestration, automation, and response
Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) solutions help simplify cyberthreat detection and response by bringing together internal and external data and tools into one centralized place. They also automate cyberthreat responses based on a set of predefined rules.
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Managed detection and response
Not all organizations have the resources to effectively detect and respond to cyberthreats. Managed detection and response services help these organizations augment their security teams with the tools and people necessary to hunt for threats and respond appropriately.
Key benefits of threat detection and response
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Early threat detection
Stopping cyberthreats before they become a full breach is an important way to dramatically reduce the impact of an incident. With modern threat detection and response tools and a dedicated team, SOCs increase the odds that they will uncover threats early when they are easier to address.
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Regulatory compliance
Countries and regions continue to pass strict privacy laws that require organizations to have robust data security measures in place and a detailed process for responding to security incidents. Companies that don’t abide by these rules face steep fines. A threat detection and response program helps organizations meet the requirements of these laws.
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Reduced dwell time
Typically, the most damaging cyberattacks are from incidents in which the cyberattackers spent the most time undetected in a digital environment. Reducing the time spent undetected, or dwell time, is critical to limiting the damage. Threat detection and response processes like threat hunting help SOCs catch these bad actors quickly and limit their impact.
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Enhanced visibility
Threat detection and response tools, like SIEM and XDR, help give security operations teams greater visibility over their environment so that they not only identify threats quickly but also uncover potential vulnerabilities, such as outdated software, which need to be addressed.
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Protection of sensitive data
For many organizations, data is one of their most important assets. The right threat detection and response tools and procedures help security teams catch bad actors before they gain access to sensitive data, reducing the likelihood that this information will become public or be sold on the dark web.
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Proactive security posture
Threat detection and response also illuminates emerging threats and sheds light on how bad actors can gain access to a company’s digital environment. With this information, SOCs can fortify the organization and prevent future attacks.
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Cost savings
A successful cyberattack can be very expensive for an organization in terms of the actual money spent on ransoms, regulatory fees, or recovery efforts. It can also lead to lost productivity and sales. By detecting threats quickly and responding in the early stages of a cyberattack, organizations can reduce the costs of security incidents.
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Reputational management
A high-profile data breach can do a lot of damage to a company or government’s reputation. People lose faith in institutions that they don’t think do a good job safeguarding personal information. Threat detection and response can help reduce the likelihood of a newsworthy incident and reassure customers, citizens, and other stakeholders that personal information is being protected.
Threat detection and response best practices
Organizations that are effective at threat detection and response engage in practices that help teams work together and improve their approach, leading to fewer and less costly cyberattacks.
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Conduct regular training
Although the SOC team bears the greatest responsibility for securing an organization, everyone in a company has a role to play. A majority of security incidents start with an employee falling for a phishing campaign or using an unapproved device. Regular training helps the workforce stay attuned to possible threats, so they can notify the security team. A good training program also makes sure that security professionals stay current on the latest tools, policies, and threat response procedures.
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Develop an incident response plan
A security incident is typically a stressful event that demands that people move quickly to not only address and recover but to provide accurate updates to relevant stakeholders. An incident response plan removes some of the guesswork by defining the appropriate containment, eradication, and recovery steps. It also provides guidance to human resources, corporate communications, public relations, lawyers, and senior leaders who need to make sure employees and other stakeholders know what’s going on and that the organization is complying with relevant regulations.
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Foster strong collaboration
Staying ahead of emerging threats and coordinating an effective response requires good collaboration and communication among security team members. Individuals need to understand how others on the team are evaluating threats, compare notes, and work together on potential issues. Collaboration also extends to other departments in the company who may be able to help detect threats or assist in the response.
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Deploy AI
AI for cybersecurity synthesizes data from across the organization, delivering insights that help teams focus their time and rapidly address incidents. Modern SIEM and XDR solutions use AI to correlate individual alerts into incidents, helping organizations detect cyberthreats faster. Some solutions, like Microsoft Defender XDR use AI to automatically disrupt in-progress cyberattacks. Generative AI in solutions like Microsoft Security Copilot, help SOC teams quickly investigate and respond to incidents.
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Continuously improve
Every security incident provides a learning opportunity. Once a security incident is resolved, it’s a good practice to evaluate what went well and what didn’t, with the goal of updating processes and mitigating vulnerabilities. Tools, like XDR, help by making post-incident security posture improvement part of the response process.
Threat detection and response solutions
Threat detection and response is a critical function that all organizations can use to help them find and address cyberthreats before they cause harm. Microsoft Security offers several threat protection solutions to help security teams monitor, detect, and respond to cyberthreats. For organizations with limited resources, Microsoft Defender Experts provides managed services to augment existing staff and tools.
Learn more about Microsoft Security
Unified security operations platform
Protect your entire digital estate with a unified detection, investigation, and response experience.
Microsoft Defender XDR
Accelerate your response with incident-level visibility and automatic attack disruption.
Microsoft Sentinel
See and stop cyberthreats across your entire enterprise with intelligent security analytics.
Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR
Get help stopping attackers and preventing future compromise with a managed XDR service.
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
Reduce cyberthreats with continuous vulnerability assessments, risk-based prioritization, and remediation.
Microsoft Defender for Business
Safeguard your small or medium-sized business from cyberattacks, like malware and ransomware.
Frequently asked questions
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Advanced threat detection includes the techniques and tools that security professionals use to uncover advanced persistent threats, which are sophisticated threats that are designed to remain undetected for an extended period of time. These threats are often more serious and may include espionage or data theft.
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The primary methods of threat detection are security solutions, such as SIEM or XDR, that analyze activity across the environment to discover indications of compromise or behavior that deviates from what’s expected. People work with these tools to triage and respond to potential threats. They also use XDR and SIEM to hunt for sophisticated attackers that may evade detection.
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Threat detection is the process of uncovering potential security risks, including activity that may indicate a device, software, network, or identity has been compromised. Incident response includes the steps that the security team and automated tools take to contain and eliminate a cyberthreat.
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The threat detection and response process includes:
- Detection. Security tools that monitor endpoints, identities, networks, apps, and clouds help surface risks and potential breaches. Security professionals also use cyberthreat hunting techniques to try to uncover emerging cyberthreats.
- Investigation. Once a risk is identified, people use AI and other tools to confirm the cyberthreat is real, determine how it happened, and assess what company assets are affected.
- Containment. To stop the spread of a cyberattack, cybersecurity teams isolate infected devices, identities, and networks from the rest of the organization’s assets.
- Eradication. Teams eliminate the root cause of a security incident with the goal of evicting the adversary completely from the environment and mitigating vulnerabilities that might put the organization at risk of a similar cyberattack.
- Recovery. After teams are reasonably confident that a cyberthreat or vulnerability has been removed, they bring any isolated systems back online.
- Report. Depending on the severity of the incident, security teams will document and brief leaders, executives, and/or the board on what happened and how it was resolved.
- Risk mitigation. To prevent a similar breach from happening again and to improve response in the future, teams study the incident and identify changes to make to the environment and processes.
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TDR stands for threat detection and response, which is a process of identifying cybersecurity threats to an organization and taking steps to mitigate those threats before they do real damage. EDR stands for endpoint detection and response, which is a category of software products that monitor an organization’s endpoints for potential cyberattacks, surface those cyberthreats to the security team, and automatically respond to certain types of cyberattacks.
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