Security workers across the world have been busy since last Friday dealing with CVE-2021-44228, the log4j 0-day known as Log4Shell, that is already being heavily exploited across the Internet. Given the huge number of systems that embed the vulnerable library, the myriad ways that attackers can exploit the vulnerability, and the fact that automated exploitation has already begun, defenders should expect to be dealing with it for the foreseeable future.

In today’s evolving threat landscape, the decision of whether to bring in external talent expertise is no longer optional. During the 2021 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit, we heard other facts and figures that aligned with the needs of our customers and of the market. At the summit, Gartner analysts noted that organizations must have partnerships with MSS/MDR providers and security consulting firms if security is to enable corporate business objectives.

CISA recently released a set of playbooks for the Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) to provide improved cybersecurity incident response (IR) and vulnerability response. As was demonstrated by the SolarWinds SUNBURST attack in December 2020, coordination and reporting across the FCEB continues to be a challenge. Adding to this challenge is the situation where agencies have differing playbooks on how to handle confirmed malicious cyber activity where a major incident has been identified.

Over the last several years, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP) have evolved, and some have started offering Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services as part of their overall security solution. However, an MSSP lacking MDR capability simply cannot provide the same level of security, particularly in today’s quickly changing environment that has seen remote and hybrid work become the norm.