How to Use Cybersecurity Metrics to Improve Your Business

Imagine you're in charge of a company's cybersecurity. How would you measure your success?

This is where cybersecurity metrics come in. Cybersecurity metrics help you track your progress in order to figure out if your current security measures are working or not. They are the key to understanding your company’s cybersecurity status and how to improve it. 

In this blog, we’re going to cover what cybersecurity metrics are, and the key metrics your business should be tracking to improve its security and success.

You've probably heard the term 'cybersecurity metrics' tossed around a lot in information security, but what do they actually mean? And more importantly, why should you care?

In business, a metric is a type of performance measurement or a set of indicators that are used to measure the success of an organization or project. Basically, they are a way of quantifying and measuring what you're trying to accomplish.

The best way to monitor applications, networks, or systems for cybersecurity is by using cybersecurity metrics. These metrics are used to determine the effectiveness of your current security efforts. Key cybersecurity metrics can include anything from the number of security incidents to the number your company faces on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, the amount of data and money your business has lost as a result of these incidents, and the percentage of your systems that have been compromised by hackers.

You can't improve what you don't measure, and that's why cybersecurity metrics are so important. By tracking key performance indicators, you can see exactly how well your company is doing when it comes to cybersecurity.

 
And that's not all. These metrics can help you make informed decisions about your security posture and identify areas for improvement. They also provide a way to benchmark your organization against industry peers and compliance requirements.

Cybersecurity Preparedness

The ability to identify, prevent, and respond to cyberthreats is known as cybersecurity preparedness. It is a critical component of any organization that needs to protect its data and systems from cyberattacks . Is your security team always ready to respond to an incident? Are your systems working properly and fully patched? Are you able to test your security posture on a regular basis? These are the types of questions that can help you measure your cybersecurity preparedness. 

Unidentified Devices on Internal Networks

Modern networks are subjected to constant change because of the increasing number and types of devices connected to them. The rapid growth of the number of endpoints and mobile devices on corporate networks, leaves networks open to attack by those who want to gain access to sensitive data. 

Intrusion Attempts and Security Incidents

As long as you are connected to the internet, you are vulnerable to network intrusions. Are you aware of the number of attempts that are made to break into your network each day? What’s the frequency of these attacks? How many of these attacks are successful? Check your logs regularly to identify any changes or trends in the number of attempts.

Mean Time to Detect (MTTD)

Mean Time to Detect or MTTD is a metric that measures the time it takes to detect a security incident, potential security threats, or other indicators of compromise. Do security threats go undetected for long periods of time in your organization? If so, how can you improve your detection capabilities?

Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR)

 Mean Time to Resolve or MTTR is a metric that measures the time it takes to resolve a security incident. It is a great way to measure the effectiveness of your incident response capabilities. How long does it take for your incident response team to resolve an incident?

Mean Time to Contain (MTTC)

Mean Time to Contain (MTTC) is a metric that measures the time it takes to detect, address and contain the possible spread of a security incident. It is a good indicator of the efficacy of your incident management efforts. You should always work towards minimizing the time it takes to contain security threats across all your endpoints. 

First Party Security Ratings

Security ratings are a useful way for you and external stakeholders to understand the security posture of your organization. They use a simple scoring system to rate the security of your organization, that can be easily understood even by non-technical stakeholders. Different security rating platforms use different scales to score security postures such as a scale from 0 to 100 or from A to F. The data-driven ratings are usually based on a  number of factors that demonstrate how well your company can protect its data from breaches and security incidents.

Average Vendor Security Rating

Third-party risk assessments from a trusted source are a  good way to get an outsider’s perspective on your security posture and help you understand your organization’s threat landscape better. 

Patching Cadence

Patching cadence is a term that is used to refer to the frequency and quality of the updates that your organization makes to its software and operating systems. These updates are used to remediate vulnerabilities, and are an important part of your overall security posture. Cybercriminals often take advantage of the fact that computers are constantly running software and operating systems that are not properly patched. The longer it takes for your organization to make security updates, the more likely it is that your systems could be breached.

Access Management

Privilege escalation attacks abuse the user accounts that have access to systems and data they do not require. Access management is a process that ensures that only authorized users are allowed to access sensitive information, and that they can only access the information they require. Additionally, leverage zero-trust access controls and policies to monitor user activity and access to systems.

Vendor Patching Cadence

Supply chain risks are one of the top ways that cyber criminals compromise organizations’ networks and data. Vendor patching cadence indicates the patching capabilities and frequency of the third party vendors in your supply chain. Run regular risk assessments to ensure that the vendors you’re in business with are able to protect their data and meet your security requirements as well. 

Mean Time For Vendors Incident Response

As already mentioned under the previous metric, attack attempts on your vendors make you a potential target for attack as well. If your vendors take too long to respond to security threats and incidents, you are more likely to fall victim to a third-party data breach.

When it comes to cybersecurity, it's essential to have a holistic view of your security posture so that you can understand what you’re trying to protect. 

Threat Intelligence’s EvolveXDR Dashboards provide predefined visualizations for services such as - Automated Penetration Testing - Compromised Account Monitoring - DNS Sinkhole that give you a comprehensive view of your overall security. Additionally, you can explore vulnerability and compliance data in detail. 

Moreover, our Managed Detection and Response service allows you to generate a report summarizing events for the previous calendar month, covering key areas such as Summary of Events, MITRE ATT&CK framework, File Integrity Monitoring, Cloud Services (such as AWS and Office 365) and Vulnerability Monitoring.

Our dashboards and reports are available in easy-to-understand formats so that you can easily visualize and share them with the Board. Check out one of our Supply Chain Monitoring dashboards in the picture below: