Last updated at Fri, 12 Apr 2024 17:42:39 GMT

Volume up (and not in a good way)

Security teams must continuously contort their efforts to effectively respond to the growing volume of cyberthreats. These constantly shifting methods in the security operations center (SOC) can be difficult to manage in the face of emerging external threats—it can be like keeping multiple spinning plates in the air at once.

“63% of organizations globally were breached in 2021, and security decision-makers were more concerned about external attacks than any other attack vector,” according to the new Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Rapid7—The Total Economic Impact(™) of Rapid7 Threat Command For Digital Risk Protection and Threat Intelligence (hereafter referred to as “the study”).

As the world continues to lean into the convenience of the digital age, cyberthreats continue to rise. Greater visibility is needed. Accurate automation is needed. And enhancements to every organization's overall security posture are most certainly needed to stay secure in the global economy.

Threat Intelligence when you need it

The more contextualized alerts and insight you can gain on a potential threat, the better positioned you'll be to mitigate the threat before it can have a tangible impact on the business. Threat Command from Rapid7 was specifically built to help security organizations gain clarity about external threats. Can it see around corners? Almost.

Threat Command produced an ROI of more than 300%! The characteristics of the composite organization used for this calculation were based on real-life customer interviews Forrester conducted within their Total Economic Impact (TEI) framework. This representative organization is described as a $5.7 billion global enterprise consisting of 7,500 employees and headquartered in North America. The study concluded that this business realized 311% ROI over three years while also fending off threats with a solution that prioritizes:

  • Immediate value and the ability to get up and running quickly
  • More active responses with agile detection and automated alert responses
  • Simplified workflows that leverage mapping capabilities to accelerate investigations

All of this translates into greater visibility into threats—before their truly concussive effects are felt—which can lead to significantly reduced aftershocks of cyberattacks.

Threat Command benefits and other findings

Threat Command reduced the likelihood of a major security breach by up to 70%. The composite organization was able to realize significant efficiencies—and cost savings—leading to a considerable reduction in the probability of a breach event. The Forrester Consulting study states:

“By implementing Threat Command, the composite organization gains greater efficiency to detect, investigate, respond to, and remediate cyberattacks… Having Threat Command as a part of its security environment has the effect of lowering the likelihood of successful breaches by up to 70% over the course of three years and decreasing the impact of cyberattacks. This results in up to $1.1 million (PV) in savings over three years.”

Organizations were also able to leverage Threat Command to lower signal-to-noise alert ratio, as well as proactively identify and remediate threats before they morph into significant business impact. Indeed, automation helped in this area and led to time savings. A study interviewee—the principal threat intelligence analyst for a financial services firm—estimated three analysts on the security team saved three to four hours a day after implementing Threat Command.

"We were having a lot of trouble distinguishing relevant threats from noise. It was a manual approach of pulling the information from these sources ... It was very reactive.”—Principal threat intelligence analyst, financial services

Remediation efficiency

Threat Command delivered a 75% reduction in time for investigation, threat hunting, and analysis. When looked at in terms of workforce, this helped organizations avoid the cost of bringing on additional headcount due to Threat Command's comprehensive detection and user access to Rapid7's internal SOC and remediation teams.

What about security posture?

Threat Command created benefits of $1.88 million over three years against costs of $457,000. We believe that with numbers like that, employees would benefit, shareholders would be happy, and the company would make progress toward meeting its financial goals.

But threats still loom. So, how did interviewees' overall security postures look after implementing Threat Command? They experienced the following gains:

  • More efficient security processes
  • Personalized alerts on potential threats
  • Rapid takedowns of accounts and domains from the dark web
  • Greater accounting of all digital assets
  • Transition from a reactive to proactive approach for threat intelligence and remediation

Make threat intelligence intelligent

With regard to securing an ever-expanding attack surface, information means nothing if it can't be interpreted and acted upon. Threat Command from Rapid7 can supercharge your ability to turn intelligence into results-focused action with faster detection and automated alert responses across your environment.

There are lots of numbers in this study, and we love that. It's great to see proof that a solution is capable of helping customers become more confident in their security postures. But Rapid7's commitment to partnering with our customers goes beyond the numbers. We'll never stop innovating on the effectiveness of our products and services to proactively defend against—and defeat—the growing volume of global threats.

For a deep-dive into The Total Economic Impact(™) of Rapid7 Threat Command for Digital Risk Protection and Threat Intelligence, download the study now.