Freely subscribe to our NEWSLETTER

The report reveals that companies utilizing cyber detection reduce data breach-related costs by over 51% as compared to organizations that do not deploy deception technology. The research also indicates that the average reduction in data breach costs is $1.98 million per incident or $75.12 per compromised record. The cost reductions are based on factors of faster detection and response, effective incident response and reduced incident handling complexity.

In addition, it reports that deception technology can significantly reduce time wasted on false positive alerts and increase efficiencies for the typical Security Operations Center (SOC). A recent Ponemon Exabeam SIEM Productivity Study found that the average amount of time spent per SOC analyst per incident was around 10 minutes and SOC analysts waste approximately 26% of their day dealing with false alarms, representing a loss of over $18,000 in productivity per analyst per year. Users of deception technology have cited a 12X time savings when addressing a deception-based alert as opposed to other alerts, which ultimately can save organizations as much as 32% or $22,746 per SOC analyst per year.

"The term ’game changing’ is used far too often,” said Kevin Fiscus, SANS Institute Principal Instructor and founder of Deceptive Defense. “Almost as often as so many grand claims are made, they are found to be over-hyped, at best, and for that reason, they are rightly met with suspicion. Cyber deception is different and it’s not just a new iteration of a legacy technology. It literally changes the game of computer security. It changes the rules. It changes the fundamental assumptions that attackers and defenders have relied upon for decades. The true ‘magic’ of cyber deception is that it causes attackers to question everything they believe they know, often stopping an attack before it’s even really started. That is truly game changing."

“Industry research continues to validate why cyber deception is not only a vital control for detection but also one that will yield significant cost savings,” said Carolyn Crandall, Attivo Networks Chief Deception Officer and CMO. “Organizations both large and small are increasingly leveraging deception to create a proactive defense and are adding detection and prevention depth to their security posture. Executives are prioritizing security investments that help them fight disruption of service, prevent ransomware extortion, and ensure the security of their data. The ability to detect attacks early, reduce data breach costs, and improve SOC efficiencies makes cyber deception a critical security control for the enterprise.”

In addition to the financial and productivity benefits provided by deception technology, the report also cites that properly deployed deception technology can reduce a company’s average dwell time between 90% and 97% — down to as little as 5.5 days. This is significant as recent reports show that the current median dwell time is 56 days, and the mean time to identify a breach is 207 days.

This research, when paired with the MITRE ATT&CK® framework DIY APT tool test results, demonstrates how deception technology can be a powerful security control to add to every defender’s arsenal. This APT testing specifically validated Attivo Networks’ solutions ability to boost EDR detection rates by an average of 42% and its impact in reducing dwell time.

Unlike other deception solutions, the Attivo ThreatDefend® platform provides comprehensive attack prevention and detection capabilities that enable it to cover not only decoy techniques, but also a wide variety of other methods. The platform proactively diverts attackers away from their targets with fake information that raises an alert and misdirects them to decoys, and through denial of access, can conceal and prevent an attacker from obtaining critical information such as Active Directory objects, data, and file storage systems. With the ability to control the path of the attacker into a decoy, defenders can safely gather the valuable insights that they need to understand their adversary’s tools and techniques, as well as intent.

The “Cyber Deception Reduces Breach Costs & Increases SOC Efficiency” report is available for download here.