NCSC Urges Improvement in Observability and Threat Hunting to Enhance Cybersecurity

What's Happening?

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has called for UK organizations to enhance their observability and threat hunting capabilities to better detect and respond to cyber threats. According to NCSC CTO Ollie Whitehouse, there is significant variation in the ability of organizations to effectively monitor and analyze cyber activities. Observability, which involves having a comprehensive view of account activity, devices, networks, applications, and cloud services, is crucial for effective threat hunting. However, many organizations struggle with shadow IT and lack the advanced analytics needed to perform effective threat hunting. The NCSC has provided guidance to improve these capabilities, including maximizing system visibility, encouraging tech vendors to support improved monitoring, and developing tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to understand attacker behavior.

Why It's Important?

Improving observability and threat hunting is vital for strengthening national cyber resilience. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, organizations need to move beyond traditional indicators of compromise and focus on understanding attacker tactics and techniques. This dual approach enhances both reactive and proactive security capabilities, making it harder for adversaries to succeed. Organizations that fail to improve these capabilities risk being vulnerable to cyber attacks, which can lead to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage. By following NCSC's guidance, organizations can better protect themselves and contribute to the overall security of the national infrastructure.

What's Next?

Organizations are encouraged to adopt the NCSC's recommendations, which include using the NCSC Assured list of incident response providers and participating in the Cyber Adversary Simulation (CyAS) scheme to validate their threat hunting approaches. As organizations enhance their capabilities, they may see a reduction in successful cyber attacks and an improvement in their ability to respond to incidents. The NCSC will likely continue to provide support and guidance to help organizations mature their cybersecurity practices.

Beyond the Headlines

The push for improved observability and threat hunting highlights the growing complexity of the cybersecurity landscape. As attackers become more adept at evading detection, organizations must invest in advanced technologies and skilled personnel to stay ahead. This development also underscores the importance of collaboration between organizations, tech vendors, and government agencies to build a more resilient cybersecurity ecosystem.