Network Security with Network Detection and Response (NDR)

Security Monitoring with NDR (Network Detection and Response) is a powerful approach to enhance threat visibility, detection, and incident response capabilities in an organization's cybersecurity framework.

What is NDR?

Network Detection and Response (NDR) is a cybersecurity technology that monitors network traffic to detect malicious activities, policy violations, and suspicious behaviors using techniques like machine learning, behavioral analytics, and threat intelligence.

Unlike traditional security tools (e.g., IDS/IPS or firewalls), NDR is behavior-based and focuses on east-west traffic (lateral movement) inside the network, not just inbound/outbound traffic.

Key Capabilities of NDR for Security Monitoring

Why Use NDR?

• Advanced Threat Detection: Detects stealthy attacks that evade signature-based tools.

• Improved Visibility: Monitors unmanaged, IoT, and encrypted traffic.

• Accelerated Response: Reduces dwell time with fast detection and context.

• Complements EDR/XDR: Fills the gap where endpoint detection may not reach (e.g., rogue or unmanaged devices).

Use Cases

1. Detecting Lateral Movement in the network after initial compromise.

2. Identifying C2 Communication with external attackers.

3. Discovering Rogue Devices or unauthorized access attempts.

4. Monitoring Critical Assets for anomalous traffic patterns.

5. Zero Trust Architecture Support, validating device behaviors continuously.

Leading NDR Solutions

Some prominent NDR platforms include:

• NetWitness NDR

• Darktrace

• Vectra AI

• Corelight

• ExtraHop Reveal(x)

• Cisco Secure Network Analytics (Stealthwatch)

Network Detection and Response (NDR) is increasingly vital in modern security monitoring strategies, particularly as threats grow more sophisticated and perimeter defenses alone become insufficient.

What is NDR in Security Monitoring?

NDR platform provide deep visibility into network trafficboth north-south (external) and east-west (internal)using behavioral analytics, machine learning, and threat intelligence to:

• Detect known and unknown threats

• Identify policy violations and anomalies

• Support incident response and forensics

NDR continuously monitors network telemetry, such as:

• Full packet capture (PCAP)

• Flow data (NetFlow, sFlow)

• Metadata (DNS, HTTP headers, TLS handshake info)

Security Monitoring Use Cases for NDR

1. Detecting Lateral Movement

   • Identifies abnormal internal connections or privilege escalation attempts.

2. Command and Control (C2) Detection

   • Flags low-and-slow or encrypted outbound connections to known malicious IPs/domains.

3. Data Exfiltration

   • Alerts when large or unusual volumes of data are sent to unauthorized destinations.

4. Rogue Device Discovery

   • Detects unknown or unmanaged devices joining the network.

5. Encrypted Threat Visibility

   • Inspects SSL/TLS metadata to detect threats hidden in encrypted traffic.

NDR solutions integrates with:

• SIEM for alert correlation and dashboards

• SOAR for automated response

• XDR platforms for unified threat visibility

Getting Started with NDR for Security Monitoring

1. Define Monitoring Objectives
   E.g., insider threats, lateral movement, C2 detection.

2. Select Visibility Points
   Tap/SPAN ports, cloud VPC flow logs, VPN traffic.

3. Deploy NDR Sensors
   Virtual or physical, depending on your environment.

4. Integrate with Existing Tools
   SIEM (NetWitness SIEM, Splunk, QRadar), SOAR (NetWitness SOAR, Cortex XSOAR), EDR (NetWitness EDR, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne).

5. Tune and Validate
   Use red team exercises or threat simulations to validate detection.