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Multidomain attacks are on the verge of becoming a digital epidemic as nation-states and well-funded cybercrime attack groups look to exploit wide gaps in digital estates’ defenses. Enterprises are having to contend with widening – and often unknown – gaps between enterprise assets, apps, systems, data, identities and endpoints.
The fast-rising pace of attacks is driving a graph database arms race across leading cybersecurity providers. Microsoft‘s Security Exposure Management Platform (MSEM) at Ignite 2024 reflects how quickly the arms race is maturing and why its containment requires more advanced platforms.
In addition to Microsoft’s MSEM, other key players in the graph database arms race for combating multidomain threats include CrowdStrike with its Threat Graph, Cisco’s SecureX, SentinelOne’s Purple AI, Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XDR and Trend Micro’s Vision One, alongside providers like Neo4j, TigerGraph and Amazon Neptune who supply foundational graph database technology.
“Three years ago, we were seeing 567 password-related attacks per second. Today, that number has skyrocketed to 7,000 per second. This represents a massive escalation in the scale, speed and sophistication of modern cyber threats, underscoring the urgency for proactive and unified security strategies,” Vasu Sakkal, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity, management and privacy, told VentureBeat during a recent interview.
Microsoft goes all-in on their security vision at Ignite 2024
With every organization experiencing more multidomain intrusion attempts and suffering from undiscovered breaches, Microsoft is doubling down on security, pivoting its strategy to graph-based defense in MSEM. Sakkal told VentureBeat, “The sophistication, scale, and speed of modern attacks require a generational shift in security. Graph databases and generative AI offer defenders the tools to unify fragmented insights into actionable intelligence.”
Cristian Rodriguez, CrowdStrike’s Americas Field CTO, echoed the importance of graph technology in a recent interview with VentureBeat. “Graph databases allow us to map adversary behavior across domains, identifying the subtle connections and patterns attackers exploit. By visualizing these relationships, defenders gain the contextual insight needed to anticipate and disrupt complex, cross-domain attack strategies,” Rodriguez said.
Key announcements from Ignite 2024 include:
Microsoft Security Exposure Management Platform (MSEM). At the core of Microsoft’s strategy, MSEM leverages graph technology to dynamically map relationships across digital estates, including devices, identities and data. MSEM support for graph databases enables security teams to identify high-risk attack paths and prioritize proactive remediation efforts.
Zero Day Quest. Microsoft is offering $4M in rewards to uncover vulnerabilities …