Why is Continuous Security Monitoring important in cybersecurity?

Cyber attacks are increasing and advancing by the day, along with their costs. In fact, a study by Field Effect highlighted that the average cost of a data breach in 2024 was about $4.88 billion, a 10% increase from 2023. The need to pay critical attention to cybersecurity has never been so apparent, and you certainly wouldn’t want to suffer attacks.

Why do you need continuous security monitoring (CSM) and how does it work?

Just as the name suggests, the Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) approach helps manage vulnerabilities, track security controls and monitor risk to improve your cyber defense mechanism. By taking advantage of this approach, security operation centers can create and implement proper mitigation measures.

Think of it as a scenario where you are able to detect breaches in real time and apply the necessary corrective measures promptly. In a time when a cyberattack is likely to happen every 39 seconds, you definitely need such an infrastructure. In summary, a CSM works as follows:

• Helps monitor security controls and provide the safety status of all systems across the organization
• Gather and examine security-based data, including threats and threat activities
• Automate vulnerability scanning and use the information collected to optimize security controls

What are the benefits?

Remember, we have already noted that recovering from cyberattacks is quite expensive. And as if that is not enough, you risk injuring your brand perception and trust, which are key elements buyers often consider before transacting. But what about being able to tell the threats even before they cause any harm? That is the power of continuous security monitoring.

And the best part is that if you can identify threats quite early, you can then prioritize security measures. It’s actually part of why Precedence Research values the global commercial security system market size to be about $254.78 billion and expects it to grow to $540.44 billion within the next few years. No one wants to be a victim of an attack they could avoid, so many businesses are implementing this approach.

Compliance with various security protocols is very important in our contemporary. In fact, it can give you an edge because there are customers who will only partner with you just because of compliance. And since frameworks like ISO 27001, HIPAA and NIST, among many others, mandate CSM, you will actually do well to adopt this security strategy. 

You also get the opportunity to respond to security issues more effectively. Since you can access detailed information, such as the origin of threats and the extent of the damage, you can optimize a defense strategy more efficiently.

How can you implement Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM)?

By now, you must be convinced about the need to continuously monitor your networks and systems. Just recently, a report noted a 30% increase in the number of weekly attacks organizations experience. And perhaps you store your business data on the cloud. Do you actually know that 39% of such businesses experienced cloud breaches just in 2023? As we have seen, CSM can really help with this, and if you want to learn about its implementation, read on.  

Of course, the first step is to identify and define the processes that involve sensitive data and assets, such as HR and IT onboarding. After you’ve done this, categorize the processes according to their sensitivity to adopt a risk-based security approach.

Choose the appropriate tools for your strategy. They should be able to cover an extensive threat surface and allow you to perform functions like malware detection. You don’t just want to implement continuous monitoring; measures to address insider threats are also important. Establish ways for employees to engage with data to help create a systemic process for detecting malicious activities.

Cyber threats keep evolving, so schedule regular policy updates and track third parties. And, of course, you can never ignore the power of employee training. Training can help employees effectively implement the stipulated policies. It also helps to inform them of their role in the larger security scheme, which may foster a strong cybersecurity culture.

What function does application security posture management play?

At this point, you are perhaps thinking about how enterprises
benefit from ASPM, and in this section, we try to address that concern. This approach of continuous monitoring combines the following aspects:

• Continuous assessment and monitoring of application security in the development environments and cloud ecosystems
• Integration of multiple security testing tools to develop a holistic view of your company’s application security
• Automation of vulnerability detection and prioritization
• Ensuring consistent security measures by centralizing policy management and implementation
• Helping teams focus on the most sensitive security aspects by offering risk-based scoring
• Strengthening partnerships between security and development teams by ensuring a single source of truth

Operating a business without proper security measures is a no-go zone for businesses seeking long-term survival. Remember, attacks do not only affect your finances but also your brand reputation. And since recovering from such has become unusually expensive, you want to do anything within your means to avoid attacks.

Thankfully, measures like continuous monitoring can really come in handy. And as the old saying goes, ‘prevention is better than cure,’ CSM helps identify risks in real time and apply corrective measures to avoid further harm.