November 25, 2024
Threat Modeling for Businesses: A Complete Guide
Threat Modeling for Businesses: A Complete Guide
Fiza Nadeem
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Recent statistics show that 60% of corporate data is stored in the cloud worldwide. In the past year, 39% of businesses faced data breaches related to the cloud.
These statistics highlight that despite the advantages of cloud storage, vulnerabilities such as misconfigured services, insecure APIs, and shared environments pose significant risks.
As a result, organizations are seeking ways to improve their security and ensure compliance to protect their data from cyber threats.
The impact of non-compliance extends beyond financial penalties. It can harm a brand's reputation, lead to economic losses, and result in legal issues.
Therefore, compliance is not only about fulfilling regulatory requirements but also about protecting the integrity of an organization's data.
This understanding has led to the development of new processes like Continuous Security Monitoring.
This method improves visibility into information security systems and controls, strengthens security, and ensures that best practices are followed.
Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) is a security management process that addresses vulnerabilities, tracks security controls, and regularly evaluates the risk environment to strengthen an organization’s cyber defenses.
It also helps the Security Operations Center develop and execute strategies to reduce risks.
Continuous Security Monitoring in 2025 improves visibility of your IT infrastructure and information security systems.
It helps you detect breaches in real time and sends alerts to the Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) system when incidents occur.
Continuous Security Monitoring and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) improve cybersecurity but serve different purposes.
CSM is an ongoing process that monitors systems, networks, and assets in real time to identify vulnerabilities, detect threats, and ensure continuous compliance.
SIEM gathers, studies, and correlates log information from various sources to detect and respond to security problems.
It usually reacts to events after they happen. On the other hand, Continuous Security Monitoring in 2025 identifies and mitigates risks proactively to prevent incidents.
When used together, SIEM and CSM enhance an organization's overall security posture.
An organization’s IT infrastructure includes a mix of on-premises servers and cloud-hosted applications.
Late one evening, the organization's Continuous Security Monitoring system detected unusual activity on a server hosting critical financial data.
The monitoring system flagged an unauthorized login attempt from an IP address in a foreign country, inconsistent with the company’s standard geographic access patterns.
Upon further inspection, the CSM system identified that the account used in the login attempt belonged to a senior finance manager who was not actively working.
Additionally, the system's anomaly detection feature noticed that shortly after the login attempt, a script was being executed to encrypt files on the server, indicative of ransomware behavior.
The Continuous Security Monitoring solution immediately triggered an alert and integrated with the organization’s SIEM system to provide detailed logs of suspicious activity.
The security team was notified in real time and was able to:
After the incident, the team fixed the security issue and improved access controls by adding extra verification steps for critical accounts.
Thanks to the quick response from the security monitoring team, potential data loss and costly ransom demands were avoided.
If you need to monitor these security risks, a continuous security monitoring solution is the right choice:
Infrastructure monitoring observes the physical components of a security system, such as servers, storage devices, and network equipment.
It helps detect issues related to hardware malfunction or the performance of other physical components in your organization's security setup.
If your security team notices a problem with hardware or a motherboard due to visible signs like overheating, this is possible through infrastructure monitoring.
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Compared to infrastructure monitoring, application monitoring focuses on overseeing the software aspects of your security system, such as application codes, online servers, and digital databases.
This tool allows your security team to identify issues like slow performance, memory leaks, or unauthorized changes in application code that could be harmful.
Network monitoring tracks your network traffic and equipment, such as routers and switches, so you can quickly identify issues like packet loss or high latency.
Depending on your organization's requirements, you can choose one, all, or a combination of security monitoring methods to achieve optimal results.
To use Continuous Security Monitoring in 2025 effectively, identify the processes that handle critical data or assets.
These processes might involve sensitive information like HR onboarding, IT onboarding, or access management.
Categorize and prioritize these processes according to their importance to enhance your security approach with a focus on risk management.
The next important step is to select the appropriate tools and procedures for your continuous security monitoring strategy.
Various continuous monitoring tools and processes are available. Opt for tools that protect against multiple threats and provide features such as vulnerability scanning, malware detection, and real-time threat detection.
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Regularly monitor all devices to safeguard data from cyber-attacks. Equally important is the implementation of security measures to address internal threats in CSM, such as user behavior analytics (UBA), role-based access controls, and least privilege principles.
One way to achieve this is by creating guidelines on how staff should interact with information. This helps detect unusual behaviors and potential threats systematically.
Update your organization's policies to keep pace with evolving cyber threats and compliance requirements.
Ensure your policies align with security standards and are reviewed and updated as needed.
Software updates maintain system currency, while security patches within updates enhance protection. Another key aspect is establishing protocols for third parties accessing your network.
Having advanced tools and technologies alone is insufficient. Engage frontline personnel, such as employees, and provide regular training to keep them informed about threats, policies, and their responsibilities as guardians of organizational security.
Cyber attacks and data breaches can severely damage an organization's reputation, with new incidents reported frequently.
Regular continuous security monitoring is essential to combat these threats effectively.
ioSENTRIX integrates seamlessly with your technology setup to enhance online security.
We monitor security continuously and provide instant updates on the status of all internal controls and processes through a user-friendly dashboard.
We serve as more than just a CSM solution. We also help improve overall security and compliance. Discover how ioSENTRIX achieves this.
Contact us now for more information.
