Active cyber defense - proactive techniques for an evolving landscape

The current cyber domain has evolved to a state where new innovative defenses are required to keep pace with the advancing threats. Threats today have reached a point where sophistication and frequency of attacks against organizations are at a tipping point in favor of attackers. The attackers of today consist of criminal organizations and state-backed military hacker cells. The public and private sectors need to implement a comprehensive cyber defense with proactive measures. The ability to predict attacks utilizing threat intelligence data integrated with modeling techniques will give defenders an asymmetric advantage over attackers. The shift from a reactive defense methodology to an active cyber defense will provide sustainability for the future. The use of intelligence data and the ability to anticipate attacks provides defenders faster mitigation efforts and reduces the occurrence of vulnerabilities. Effective modeling techniques are accomplished by deploying attack-defense trees thereby giving defenders the ability to switch from attacker and defense scenarios. The concept of an active cyber defense allows organizations to adapt to the current threat landscape and adjust defenses accordingly depending on the threats and provides for strategic planning and risk-based solutions.