Hackers Still Outpace Breach Detection, Containment Efforts

Research shows time to discovery and containment of breaches slowly shrinking, but attackers don’t need a very big window to do a lot of damage.

It’s breach report season and one of the prevailing trends uncovered by security researchers is that organizations are ever-so-slowly improving the window between when a compromise occurs and when it gets detected. In spite of this slight gain, the fact solidly remains that the typical breach timeline still completely favors attackers.

Book a demo today to see GlobalDots is action.

Optimize cloud costs, control spend, and automate for deeper insights and efficiency.

Book a demo today to see GlobalDots is action.

Two different reports this spring showed that organizations are shortening the time to discovery of data breaches. Most recently, the Trustwave 2019 Global Security Report released late last month found that the time between an intrusion and detection of that incident shrank almost in half. That study showed that the median time between intrusion and detection fell from 26 days in 2017 to 14 days in 2018.

This corroborates the downward trend in this statistic identified in March by the FireEye 2019 Mandiant M-Trends Report, though that study showed a more modest reduction and a much higher time between these important breach milestones. Mandiant found that the time between intrusion and detection went down from 101 days in 2017 to 78 days in 2018. That’s marked improvement from 2011, when Mandiant put that number at 426 days.

Mandiant uses a common parlance of “dwell time” for this statistic, though other experts have their own colorful terms. But they all agree that reduction should be a big priority for cybersecurity teams.

A close-up of a hand resting on a computer keyboard with illuminated keys and a dark background.

Read more: Dark Reading 

Latest Articles

Why C-Suite Executives Are Switching from VPNs to ZTNA

Hybrid workforces and cloud-first strategies have exposed the cracks in VPNs. Designed for simpler times, these legacy tools now create more problems than they solve. They slow your team down, leave security gaps, and make scaling a headache. How do you secure remote access without these hurdles? The answer is Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). […]

29th April, 2025
Weak Defences: The Most Hackable Sports Passwords

We get it. Thinking of another password that you haven’t used before can be frustrating – especially when we have to change or update our passwords so regularly. But while it might be tempting to use your favourite sports teams and clubs as passwords, it’s a risky move for your cyber security.  Using unique passwords […]

7th April, 2025
Solving Network Security Issues for Rapidly Growing Global Businesses

Introduction Ryohin Keikaku is a global manufacturing and retail company that handles everything from product planning to sales for products known as “Mujirushi-Ryohin” in Japan and “MUJI” overseas. To keep pace with its rapid expansion—adding 100 new stores annually in Japan—and its growing global presence, now spanning 225 locations across 20 countries, including 50 stores […]

3rd April, 2025

Unlock Your Cloud Potential

Schedule a call with our experts. Discover new technology and get recommendations to improve your performance.

    GlobalDots' industry expertise proactively addressed structural inefficiencies that would have otherwise hindered our success. Their laser focus is why I would recommend them as a partner to other companies

    Marco Kaiser
    Marco Kaiser

    CTO

    Legal Services

    GlobalDots has helped us to scale up our innovative capabilities, and in significantly improving our service provided to our clients

    Antonio Ostuni
    Antonio Ostuni

    CIO

    IT Services

    It's common for 3rd parties to work with a limited number of vendors - GlobalDots and its multi-vendor approach is different. Thanks to GlobalDots vendors umbrella, the hybrid-cloud migration was exceedingly smooth

    Motti Shpirer
    Motti Shpirer

    VP of Infrastructure & Technology

    Advertising Services