Threat Detection and Hunting Online

A Simplified Guide

The digital world is a wonderland, which allows businesses to put their best foot forward with their website and digital presence, to attract customers or clients with a glow that can’t be done in person.

However, the threats in the digital realm are becoming more targeted, thanks to the rise in AI-phishing attacks and speed, meaning that to keep your digital glow up and running (as well as ensuring you get plenty of sales), you need to make sure that your website has a top-of-the-line cybersecurity system.

Ideally, you will want software that offers both threat detection and hunting to help keep your customers' data (and your company data) safe from hacks and data leaks. For many website owners and small companies, this is a task that is well worth outsourcing to a cybersecurity company, but before you choose the right company for you, here is what you need to know about threat detection software and how it can help your business to grow.

What is Threat Detection Software?

At its core, threat detection software is a type of cybersecurity tool that is programmed to monitor online activity and look for signs of unusual behaviour before your website is hacked.

Websites are increasingly storing sensitive information, and so, it is essential for business operations to continue as normal to have systems that are capable of threat hunting and to spot the early signs of threats. Rather than the standard guards to website data, such as a firewall, threat detection software scans websites for signs of issues, such as malware infections, attempts at hacking, and any unauthorised file changes. This software is also capable of spotting SQL injections, cross-site scripting, and malicious bots, which are often placed on websites to scrape data or to overwhelm and weaken the servers.

As hinted at earlier, traditional firewalls will compare website activities against a present list of known attack patterns. However, with threat hunting and detection, there are options to analyse behavioral patterns of website users that may deviate from the norm/ This could be sudden spikes in traffic, or logins from odd locations.

Advantages of Threat Detection Software

So, if you run an online page and handle sensitive information, what are some of the benefits of having threat detection software on your webpage?

Early Identification of Security Threats

All threat detection software is able to monitor your website activity, which will help to spot unusual website user behaviour as soon as it occurs. This means that everything from malware uploading, abnormal traffic, or even failed login attempts can be spotted and contained before they escalate into an attack or data breach. This reduces the chances of such an event happening and ensures that your business's sensitive data, such as customer addresses and bank details, is kept safe.

Reduced Website Downtime

Any security incident with a website will require those who run the site to take it offline, and this can have a costly impact. Indeed, the average cost of a data breach is estimated at $4.4 million, meaning that as a small business, you really can’t afford to have one! By alerting the site admin in real time (or by having AI bots to oversee the site and take action), you can automatically block attacks long before they happen. Also, by having these safety measures in place, you can avoid having to pay for the expensive recovery costs and will also ensure a lower cost if there is a security incident. Prevention really is better (and cheaper) than a cure here!

Defense Against Automated and Bot-Based Attacks

The majority of cyberattacks are driven by AI or bots, which will scrape data or cause a denial of service on your site. A website threat detection tool will be able to not only spot these bots, but, with AI-backed software, it can also spot AI-based attacks and block the automated attacks. This will help your website to stay running, protect data, and, in the case of AI threat detection tools, it will be able to act in response to the threat by accessing trillions of data points to make the right move. Alternatively, you can opt for a traditional threat detection system, which can offer the same defence against bots and is supported by AI back-ups, to help you or your cybersecurity provider make the best choice based on the threat that is posed to your website.

Improved Security and Compliance

The laws around compliance on websites are tough and will differ based on what kind of business you have. As a general rule, you will want to ensure that any basic website compliance meets the standards of the PCI-DSS or GDPR. By having threat detection software in place, you can ensure that your website is complying with the laws set down by the regulatory bodies and that all monitoring and logging on your website is meeting legal requirements. This will help you to ensure that your site has better security overall, which will help with search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings. Thus, you will have a higher presence on search engines, which will help you to reach customers with greater ease.

Signs You May Need to Update Threat Detection on Your Website

At this stage, you may still be thinking that you don’t need to update your website's security. However, there are some tell-tale signs that it may be time to have a security audit and to contact a cybersecurity team.

Unexplained Traffic Spikes and Issues with Performance

When it comes after a marketing campaign, a spike in traffic is no surprise. However, if there are a lot of spikes out of nowhere, this can point to automated bots scanning your website, as well as the presence of scraping tools. This can put strain on your website's performance, so if you notice that the page slows down a lot, crashes, or is unavailable with no clear cause, you may need to update your threat detection software.

Non-Existent or Vague Security Alerts

On the flip side, if you are having no security alerts or vague ones, this is equally as worrying as having too many. This can point to ineffective software. A more modern, up-to-date system is likely to send you what are called granular alerts, real-time notifications, and offer clear insights into the potential threat your website is to. Thus, you and your team (or your cybersecurity company) can react faster to prevent hacks.

Your Website Has Been Compromised More Than Once

This is probably the clearest sign that you need a new detection method. If your site has had repeated malware infections, unauthorised access attempts, or even been offline for a few minutes, these all point to cybercriminals looking for weak points in your site, which are more likely to exist if you have outdated plugins or older software on the page.

FAQs

If you are looking for a simple breakdown of what threat detection is and how it can help your business, read on, as here, the most commonly searched questions about this topic are answered.

1. What is threat detection and hunting online?

Threat hunting and detection online is the process of spotting unusual or suspicious activity, preventing and stopping cyberattacks, and identifying hidden threats within your company’s digital systems. This software mixes automated security tools with investigation and finding threats that can be overlooked by traditional threat defences and firewalls before they can cause damage. Some types of threat detection software are manual, and others are AI-supported.

2. How can small to mid-size businesses benefit from threat hunting software?

Data indicates that small to medium-sized businesses are the most frequent targets for cyberattacks and hacking, simply because attackers assume that these businesses have weaker defences. A simple piece of threat hunting and detection software can spot risks early, which will reduce any downtime, along with protecting customer data and stopping financial loss. These systems can also identify vulnerabilities in your site setup, which can stop potential future attacks, too.

3. How does threat hunting differ from other cybersecurity tools?

When thinking about regular cybersecurity tools, these react to known threats within defined rules. However, within threat detection, the approach is proactive and looks for everything from unusual behaviour and attempted logins that may signal a more advanced attack. This will help your business to detect threats that an automated system may miss.

4. How do I know if my business needs threat detection and hunting?

Key signs of needing to update your threat detection include phishing attempts, a slowdown of the system, and unusual login activity. Also, as most businesses rely on cloud services for online communication and work, it is well worth looking into threat detection to protect sensitive data.

5 Can you outsource threat detection and hunting?

In a word, yes. A lot of businesses outsource their threat detection and hunting to well-known cybersecurity providers, which ensures you and your company have access to expertise, as well as advanced tools. This also means that you don’t have to hire an in-house team, so you will likely save money long-term.