Cloud detection and response (CDR) is a comprehensive, cloud-native approach to finding and dealing with cyber threats in the cloud.
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One of the main reasons organisations use cloud solutions is because they can scale almost infinitely. Yet the bigger they scale, the more complex cloud environments become—making them harder to protect against cyber threats. Cloud detection and response (CDR) combines existing and novel capabilities to give security teams a single, integrated solution for detecting, identifying, and responding to cloud threats.
Importantly, CDR is cloud-native, meaning it is cloud-based itself and reflects the unique ways cloud applications and infrastructure work. It can provide protection in single or multi-cloud environments.
Sometimes cloud detection and response is referred to as cloud threat detection and response (CTDR) or cloud-native detection and response (CNDR).
Why is cloud detection and response important?
The vast majority of organisations rely on one or more cloud applications or instances of cloud infrastructure to get business done. That widespread use and central role in operations and transactions makes cloud solutions a prime target for cyberattacks.
Bad actors typically infiltrate cloud environments by stealing credentials they can use to gain access to accounts. Once inside, they probe for ways to “upgrade” their permissions so they can access increasingly sensitive functions and data. They may try to steal (exfiltrate) private or protected information, or they may hijack cloud resources an enterprise is paying for and put them to their own use (such as cryptocurrency mining).
Standalone cybersecurity tools designed for traditional enterprise network/IT environments aren’t suited to the openness, complexity, and scale of the cloud, making it essential for organisations to deploy a CDR solution.
How is CDR different from traditional security approaches?
Unlike other cybersecurity solutions, cloud detection and response is cloud native. Because of that, CDR tools can operate at “cloud scale” and keep up with the ever-changing (dynamic) nature of the cloud itself. That includes detecting threats in real time and using cloud capabilities to respond to those threats in automated ways—far faster than human teams working manually.
How does cloud detection and response work?
CDR tools work by providing real-time threat detection and automated threat response:
- Real-time threat detection relies on continuous monitoring and analysis of cloud data to find, as early as possible, any signs of cyber threats or an actual breach (also known as an indicator of compromise). This can involve massive amounts of information from a huge variety of sources related to user activity and behavior, network traffic, and more. The goal is to achieve total visibility for the cloud environment.
- Automated threat response is about using software-based tools to sequester cloud resources that may have been compromised, blocking traffic from suspicious IP addresses, and providing post-incident analysis so that security teams can learn from and adapt cloud security practices, and also comply with risk assessment and cloud compliance requirements.
In these ways, CDR solutions perform similarly to other types of existing cybersecurity solutions such as extended detection and response (XDR) and endpoint detection and response (EDR), though they do so specifically in a cloud-native way.
What are some key capabilities of CDR tools?
In searching for and responding to cloud threats, a CDR solution will often provide the following capabilities:
- Continuous monitoring of the cloud environment to keep constant watch for anomalous activity or behaviors, such as how data is being accessed, who is accessing it, if policies are being followed, and more. A CDR solution should also be able to automatically raise alerts in real time if suspicious activity is detected.
- Integration of threat intelligence to ensure the latest threats are always being watched for, combined with AI and machine learning to pick out telltale patterns that a known threat may be active in the cloud environment. Combining threat intelligence with historical analyses and predictive machine learning, CDR allows security teams to adopt a strongly proactive approach to cloud security.
- Reporting and policy enforcement that help the organisation stay compliant with its own policies and with external privacy and security regulations or laws (including PCI DSS for payment transactions, HIPAA for health data, and GDPR for data protection more broadly in the EU). Because CDR solutions are automatically tracking, digesting, analysing, and acting on massive amounts of data, they are well positioned to generate reports and intelligence that support compliance in this way.
- Automated data and privacy protection by making sure data is properly classified and stored according to its security and privacy requirements, for example, in the right cloud locations or jurisdictions, or with appropriate levels of encryption and access control.
- Collection and correlation of telemetry from both agent-based (e.g., EDR, CWPP) and agentless (e.g., CSPM, cloud API logs) sources provide comprehensive visibility into cloud workloads and infrastructure. By correlating events across these diverse data streams, CDR can provide faster threat detection, contextual analysis, and prioritised response actions across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Implementing cloud detection and response
In many ways, cybersecurity is becoming increasingly strategic for enterprises—more integrated into the overall management of the business and more closely connected to business goals. Just as cloud technology adds complexity for security teams, so does this shift toward a strategic mindset.
CDR fits into the “strategic cybersecurity” category since it focuses on protecting business-critical cloud resources and is a necessary part of overall cyber risk management. As a result, implementing a CDR solution requires thoughtful strategic planning.
Practically, organisations need to make sure they have the right skills and knowledge in house to handle continuous, adaptive cloud security, and to use machine learning and AI effectively to minimise false positives and prevent teams from being overwhelmed by an increased volume of alerts.
Because CDR is a sophisticated, high-scale, and strategic cybersecurity approach for cloud environments, organisations also need to make sure they have the budget to implement it successfully and maintain it over the long term.
Future of cloud detection and response
Organisations are evolving their approach to cloud security to keep up with new threats and as a reflection of how important cloud has become to their business operations. Many are adopting cloud-native application protection platforms (CNAPP) to gain a more unified, end-to-end, lifecycle approach to cloud protection.
By providing detection and response capabilities, CDR is a key part of any CNAPP implementation, performing a vital role in future-ready cybersecurity as the complexity of cloud environments and the nature of threats co-evolve.
Where can I get help with cloud detection and response?
Trend Vision One™ Cloud Security provides the threat detection and response capabilities of CDR for multi-cloud and hybrid environments, along with high-value additional features such as real-time risk assessment, attack path prediction, exposure management, and more.
Cloud Security provides maximum visibility along with continuous monitoring, assessment, and prioritisation of cyber risks in a comprehensive solution that streamlines incident response and cloud security compliance.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
What does cloud response mean?
“Cloud response” refers to the ability of a cybersecurity team to respond to potential threats that could compromise cloud resources.
What is the detection and response process?
Detection and response involves the continuous monitoring of a technology environment to detect threats and implement appropriate measures to respond to those threats to minimise their potential harm.
What is the difference between XDR and CDR?
Both XDR (extended detection and response) and CDR (cloud detection and response) perform detection and response functions. XDR deals with the different security layers of the enterprise network/IT environment. CDR is designed to protect cloud environments specifically.
What is cloud-based detection?
Cloud-based detection refers to any technology that operates within the cloud and uses cloud capabilities to detect cyber threats.
What is CDR and EDR in telecom?
CDR stands for cloud detection and response; EDR stands for endpoint detection and response. Both are important aspects of overall cybersecurity.
What is the difference between EDR and CDR?
EDR (endpoint detection and response) focuses on protecting physical devices (“endpoints”) in an organisation’s IT environment. CDR (cloud detection and response) protects cloud applications and infrastructure.
What is the difference between detection and response and SOC?
A SOC is a security operations centre—a centralised group or office that handles cybersecurity. Detection and response are functions performed by the SOC to protect the organisation, namely by finding and dealing with potential threats.
What is detection and response in cybersecurity?
As the name suggests, “detection and response” refers to the process of detecting (finding and identifying) potential cyber threats and responding to them to limit the damage they can do.
What makes a SOC a SOC?
A security operations centre can be in-house (meaning an organisation staffs it and operates it on its own) or be outsourced (meaning its functions are provided by a managed service provider). In either case, what makes a SOC a SOC is that it is a centralised place where cybersecurity operations are carried out.
What is the main goal of incident response in SOC?
“Incident response” is about taking action to contain and stop or minimise the harm caused by a cyber threat such as a cyberattack. The security operations centre (SOC) is responsible for making sure incident response is done quickly and is effective.
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