Threat hunting is designed to identify unknown threats within an organization’s systems. Unlike reactive cybersecurity methods, which involve responding to a known threat or attack, threat hunting is based on a hypothesis regarding a threat that the organization might be facing.
Many organizations have a security strategy focused on detecting and preventing cyberattacks, but this isn’t enough for security. Threat hunting enables an organization to detect and respond to cyber threats that bypass an organization’s cyber defenses. This is essential for mitigating attacks by advanced cyber threat actors that have experience in evading common defenses.
Every organization should engage in threat hunting as part of a defense-in-depth strategy. Proactive security enables an organization to detect missed attacks and can help to inform and improve preventative defenses.