Take a moment to consider how many security alerts your business receives every day… Now, think about how often your IT team must drop everything to deal with them.
For many UK small to medium businesses (SMBs), this is the reality. With cyber threats escalating and IT teams shrinking, businesses are overwhelmed by an ever-growing flood of alerts. These notifications are vital—they flag potential threats and vulnerabilities—but when they start piling up by the thousands, managing them feels like a never-ending battle.
The alert avalanche: a growing challenge
As more businesses rely on cloud-based applications and remote working tools, the number of potential entry points for cyber threats has multiplied. Each entry point needs monitoring, and each issue generates an alert. Before long, even the best-intentioned IT teams find themselves drowning in a sea of notifications.
In fact, it’s common for SMBs to face hundreds of security alerts daily. This surge in alerts isn’t just a distraction—it’s a risk. When teams are bombarded with too much information, important alerts can be missed, delayed, or even ignored.
Why Microsoft’s security solutions are popular—and where they fall short
Microsoft’s security solutions are being increasingly adopted, especially among SMBs. Their integration with familiar ecosystems like Office 365 and Azure makes them appealing to both security teams and executive boards, particularly non-cyber decision-makers, who see value in continuing to use trusted Microsoft tools. Solutions like Microsoft Defender promise a central hub to manage and respond to alerts.
However, security teams often expect this to reduce the number of dashboards they need to navigate, but in reality, they find themselves accessing multiple different portals.
This fragmented experience lacks the consistency and efficiency many hoped for, complicating the management of security operations despite the familiar interface.
The result?
Teams often find themselves reacting to alerts rather than proactively managing them.
Plus, many SMBs lack the specialised expertise to interpret and act on every alert, leaving potential threats unresolved.
AI and automation: The future of alert management?
With IT teams already stretched to the limit, many businesses are turning to AI and autonomous systems to help manage the influx of alerts. AI-based solutions can prioritise and filter alerts, allowing teams to focus on the most critical threats while ignoring false positives. They can even take autonomous action, neutralising known threats before human intervention is required.
But AI isn’t a magic bullet. It’s important to strike a balance between automation and human oversight. While AI can handle routine tasks, it’s the IT professionals who bring the context and critical thinking needed to manage complex threats.
So, what’s the right approach?
Should SMBs rely more on automation, or is a hybrid approach the key to balancing workload with security?
Want to learn more? Join our webinar
Date: Thursday 26 September 2024
Time: 12.30pm BST
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by security alerts and wondering how to better manage them, we’ve got you covered.
We’ll discuss:
1. The external forces driving security teams to locking themselves into Microsoft
2. The positives of a Microsoft-centric security posture, and also the inherent risks and limitations
3. What security teams can do in the face of mounting pressure to adopt Microsoft
Don’t miss out— register today to learn practical strategies that can protect your business without overwhelming your security teams.
It’s time to take control of the alert flood before it overwhelms you.
If you miss any of our webinars, you can watch back the entire series on our website.
