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Bitdefender Scores Highly in 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation for Managed Services

Bitdefender Scores Highly in 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation for Managed Services

Bitdefender Scores Highly in 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation for Managed Services

The sophistication and volume of cyber-attacks continue to increase over time. Those charged with defending against attacks in the ever-changing threat landscape are engaged in an ongoing defensive endeavour. At the same time that attacks have increased in numbers and complexity, the ramifications of being breached have also gone up, with the financial and reputation costs reaching high levels due to regulatory fines and other factors.

For decision-makers in managed service providers (MSPs), C-suite executives, and cybersecurity professionals, choosing the right cybersecurity tools and services, such as a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) partner, is critical to security in the current threat landscape. However, the market for security tools and services can often seem more complex than the threat landscape, making it difficult to know which offerings to evaluate, pilot, and deploy.

This is where industry surveys like the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations for Managed Services play a helpful role. By providing an independent, transparent assessment of enterprise cybersecurity solutions, these evaluations offer valuable insights into how well MDR vendors perform under real-world attack scenarios. In 2024, Bitdefender distinguished itself as a top performer in these evaluations, reinforcing its position as a leader in enterprise security.

What is the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation Process?

The MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations provide the industry's most thorough and clear assessment of security vendors' capabilities. In the 2024 evaluation for Managed Services, MITRE tested eleven vendors on their ability to detect and respond to advanced attack scenarios based on actual threat actor activities. Figure 1 shows the results of the 2024 testing.

Bitdefender Scores Highly in 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation for Managed Services

Figure 1: Results for the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations for Managed Services

The 2024 evaluation used two separate attack scenarios. The first mimicked the techniques of menuPass, a cybercriminal group known for targeting intellectual property across various industries. The second scenario focused on BlackCat ransomware, an operating system-agnostic threat written in RUST that targets both Windows and Linux systems.

The evaluation process measured three crucial aspects of an MDR solution's ability to detect and stop these threats.

  • Visibility - the ability to collect relevant data
  • Non-actionable reporting - basic threat detection
  • Actionable reporting - comprehensive threat detection with contextual information

In addition to testing for these three core abilities, the evaluation also considered the Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and the signal-to-noise ratio in alert generation.

Testers also evaluated vendors across 43 sub-steps representing various attacker tactics and techniques. The results of these comprehensive assessments, as shown in Figure 1, enable organisations to make informed decisions when selecting enterprise security solutions to evaluate or deploy.

How Bitdefender Performed in the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation

Bitdefender's performance in the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation was impressive, particularly in areas crucial for effective enterprise security. As shown in Figure 1, Bitdefender achieved 100% visibility coverage across all 43 sub-steps of attacker tactics and techniques. This is a remarkable achievement that demonstrates the comprehensive monitoring capabilities of their MDR solution. To break this down in the context of the testing criteria listed previously:

  • Visibility - Bitdefender attained 100% visibility, demonstrating its capability to detect all 43 sub-steps within the evaluation scenarios. This highlights the platform's ability to monitor and collect data comprehensively, ensuring no attacker activity goes unnoticed.
  • Actionable Reporting - Bitdefender achieved the highest score in this category (see Figure 1), with 93% of incidents detected getting reported with actionable context. The level of detail in the reports, like timestamps, user activity, and attack nature, enabled rapid, informed responses.
  • Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) - Bitdefender's average detection time was just 24 minutes, compared to the industry average of 42 minutes, showcasing its ability to respond swiftly to emerging threats.

Additionally, Bitdefender excelled at reducing alert noise. While other vendors flooded analysts with hundreds of alerts, Bitdefender maintained a balance, generating high-fidelity alerts that prioritised critical or high-severity incidents. Bitdefender achieved its results while maintaining an exceptionally low false positive rate, generating only 54 email alerts and 28 console alerts compared to the industry averages of 130 and 389, respectively.

This targeted alert generation minimises alert fatigue, enabling security teams to focus on dealing with genuine threats. Even with the lower number of alerts and emails generated, Bitdefender didn't miss any of the Red Team Activities that the testers expected an MDR solution to detect.

What Cybersecurity Tools Does Bitdefender Provide?

The results of the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations clearly show that Bitdefender is an excellent choice for MSPs, businesses, or other organisations looking to bolster their cybersecurity with a rapid and comprehensive MDR solution.

Bitdefender's MDR service is part of a comprehensive suite of enterprise security solutions designed to protect organisations against modern cyberattacks. Their platform combines advanced threat detection, endpoint protection, and response capabilities with expert human analysis.

Their GravityZone platform provides unified endpoint protection and response, while its MDR service offers 24x7 threat monitoring, detection, and response by security experts. This combination of advanced technology and human expertise enables organisations to maintain robust security postures without the burden of managing complex security operations internally.

In the fight against ransomware, Bitdefender's solutions incorporate advanced machine learning and behaviour-based detection to identify and block both known and zero-day threats. Their ability to detect living-off-the-land techniques and credential theft attempts, as demonstrated in the MITRE evaluation, showcases the sophistication of their security tools.

You can explore Bitdefender’s MDR for MSPs solutions on their dedicated landing page, as well as a range of comprehensive security solutions for MSPs on this page. These solutions are designed to protect Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and are equally applicable to Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs).

Conclusion

The results of the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation clearly demonstrate Bitdefender's excellence in managed detection and response capabilities. Their combination of comprehensive visibility, rapid detection times, and highly actionable alerts, all while maintaining a low false positive rate, makes Bitdefender a good choice for organisations seeking to enhance their security posture through MDR services. Read more on their performance in the evaluations on the Bitdefender blog.

For organisations looking to strengthen their defences against sophisticated cyber-attacks and ransomware, Bitdefender's performance in the MITRE ATT&CK evaluations suggests that it offers a robust and efficient security solution. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, partnering with a proven security provider like Bitdefender becomes increasingly crucial for maintaining effective enterprise security.

To learn more about how Bitdefender's security solutions can protect your organisation, contact Renaissance to arrange a chat with an expert.