Three crucial questions to ask before adopting a cybersecurity solution

As data breaches and hacks continue to make headlines, it is only natural for enterprises to look at the vast landscape of cybersecurity solutions available and adopt anything that seems like it might provide some protection. Considering that a recent report from IBM and the Ponemon Institute found that the average data breach costs companies $3.5 million, organizations can hardly be blamed for taking a “more is better” approach.

Unfortunately, adopting a greater number information security tools does not necessarily mean a company will be better protected. In fact, adopting a solution without considering exactly how it will fit into your security operations center’s (SOC) security plan can actually make security operations management more difficult by producing additional information without context in an environment where security professionals are already swamped. With that in mind, here are three critical questions to ask before you invest in a new cybersecurity solution:

Will the product make my SOC more proactive?

Considering the time many IT security professionals are already spending trying to manually investigate and resolve alerts, simply collecting more threat intelligence will just increase the workload for an already inundated SOC. A tool that provides security orchestration and situational awareness by integrating threat intelligence with remediation, however, allows security professionals to halt attacks earlier in the kill chain and uncover new associations and patterns that will allow them to act even faster in the future.

Will the solution make my team more effective?

Optimizing security operations management is about leveraging your team members’ skills in the most efficient way. That means you need your senior staffers tackling the most complex issues while junior team members watch, learn and handle high-volume, low-complexity tasks. A tool that can automatically resolve simpler tasks or recommend a course of manual action when necessary accomplishes both goals: It helps junior staffers learn best practices and frees senior team members to resolve the toughest challenges.

How quickly will I see ROI?

As with any capital expenditure, understanding how much additional time and money you will have to spend before you see concrete ROI with a new security solution is crucial. Reading academic research and product case studies is a good idea, as these materials provide you with realistic expectations for recouping your investment. Once you have relevant data you can make an informed decision about whether or not adopting the solution in question makes sense for your organization.

Today’s cybersecurity teams have access to many high-quality solutions, particularly for detection. The key for these teams moving forward will be to ensure that any tool they implement complements what they already use, rather than duplicating or complicating existing solutions.