This blog post is AI-Assisted Content: Written by humans with a helping hand.

Author’s note: This is an AI-generated summary of a webinar InterWorks hosted on May 29, 2025. The main presenter was John Crowley, Partner Development Manager. If you want to watch the whole webinar we summarized for this piece, feel free to watch it here!

Modern cybersecurity has reached a critical juncture. The old playbook of deploying security tools and hoping for the best no longer works. Today’s attackers leverage artificial intelligence to craft convincing phishing campaigns, mimic legitimate user behavior, and stay hidden in networks for an average of 277 days before detection. That’s more than nine months of undetected access to your systems, data, and operations.

For organizations already managing cybersecurity, the challenge extends beyond just identifying threats. Security teams face overwhelming alert volumes, disconnected tool sets that don’t communicate effectively, and the constant pressure to maintain compliance while keeping pace with evolving threats. The question becomes less about whether to invest in security and more about how to build something that actually works.

The Real Cost of Modern Threats

The statistics around modern cyber attacks paint a sobering picture. Breaches cost organizations millions of dollars in direct remediation costs, but the hidden costs often prove more damaging: reputation damage, customer trust erosion, and in some cases, business closure. Organizations that have already experienced breaches understand these costs intimately. Those that haven’t are playing a dangerous game of when, not if.

What makes the current threat landscape particularly challenging is the sophistication of attacks. Threat actors use AI to bypass anomaly detection systems. They craft phishing emails convincing enough to fool even trained employees. Once inside a network, they move laterally, mapping systems and escalating access privileges while remaining undetected for months.

The most concerning statistic: attackers can remain hidden in your environment for an average of 277 days before detection. During that time, they’re not idle. They’re learning your systems, identifying valuable data, and positioning themselves for maximum impact when they strike.

Where Security Programs Fall Short

Most organizations face similar challenges in their cybersecurity programs, regardless of industry or size. These gaps create vulnerabilities that sophisticated attackers are quick to exploit.

Overwhelmed Security Teams: Even organizations with dedicated security personnel struggle with excessive alert volumes. When teams receive hundreds or thousands of alerts weekly, alert fatigue sets in. Genuine threats get lost in the noise, and critical incidents go unnoticed until significant damage occurs.

Disconnected Tool Sets: Organizations typically deploy multiple security solutions over time, each addressing specific needs. The problem: these tools often don’t communicate effectively with each other. A firewall sees one thing, an endpoint protection system sees another, and the SIEM sees a third. Without correlation between these data sources, security teams miss the patterns that indicate coordinated attacks.

Compliance Gaps: Pressure to meet specific regulatory frameworks sometimes leads to checkbox implementations where tools get deployed without proper configuration or integration. The result is a false sense of security where compliance boxes are checked but actual protection remains inadequate.

The fundamental issue: organizations can’t defend what they can’t see. Without comprehensive visibility across the entire environment, threats slip through undetected.

The Three Layers of Complete Protection

Effective cybersecurity requires three distinct but interconnected layers. Think of it like protecting your home. You need prevention measures to keep intruders out, detection capabilities to know when someone bypasses those measures, and response protocols to handle incidents when they occur.

Prevention Layer: This includes foundational security measures like software patching, firewalls, security awareness training, and antivirus protection. These tools create barriers that keep common threats at bay. However, sophisticated attackers know how to bypass traditional prevention protocols, which is why the next layers are critical.

Detection Layer: When prevention measures fail, real-time threat detection becomes essential. Modern detection leverages AI and machine learning to identify suspicious activities that indicate someone has breached your defenses. This includes Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), log monitoring, and threat intelligence. The key is centralizing all this information so patterns become visible.

Response Layer: Detection without response is pointless. This layer includes 24/7 security operations center (SOC) monitoring, forensic investigation capabilities, incident management protocols, and coordinated response procedures. When threats are detected, trained cybersecurity professionals need to know exactly what to do and how to do it quickly.

Without all three layers working together cohesively, organizations leave gaps that attackers exploit. The most sophisticated attackers specifically probe for these gaps, looking for the weakest links in security chains.

ArmorPoint’s Security Operations Platform

ArmorPoint positions itself as more than just a managed SOC provider. The company describes its offering as “cybersecurity as a service,” and that distinction matters. While managed SOC services form the centerpiece of what ArmorPoint does, the broader approach addresses multiple aspects of cybersecurity program management.

At the core sits a custom-built SIEM platform designed from the ground up to function as a security operations platform rather than just a log aggregator. This platform centralizes data and events from across entire environments, including endpoints, servers, cloud infrastructure, and network devices. The system provides real-time threat detection and correlation capabilities that help security teams understand not just what’s happening, but why it matters.

What sets ArmorPoint’s platform apart is its role as more than just a detection tool. It functions as a collaboration platform where security teams can work together on investigations, share insights, and coordinate responses. Some managed security service providers (MSSPs) leverage ArmorPoint’s platform in the background specifically for these collaboration capabilities.

The platform operates from geographically redundant data centers across the United States, with ArmorPoint owning infrastructure down to backup generators at their primary Phoenix facility. For organizations with European operations requiring GDPR compliance, the company maintains dedicated infrastructure in Ireland.

The Human Element: 24/7 US-Based SOC

Technology alone doesn’t stop sophisticated attacks. ArmorPoint emphasizes what they call the “human verification process” to distinguish their approach from purely automated security solutions. While automation plays a critical role in detecting and initially responding to threats, human analysts provide the verification and context that automation can’t deliver.

Here’s a practical example: An endpoint detection and response (EDR) tool might detect malware when someone clicks a malicious link. The automated system blocks the malware and generates an alert. That’s valuable, but it’s only part of the picture. The human verification process takes it further by asking critical questions: Where did this threat originate? How did it reach this user? Are there other compromised systems? What data might have been accessed?

ArmorPoint’s SOC operates 24/7, 365 days per year, staffed entirely by US-based security analysts and threat intelligence specialists. These teams don’t just monitor alerts. They investigate, correlate events across systems, and coordinate incident response activities. When serious incidents occur, they stand up emergency call bridges and work directly with clients through every stage of containment and remediation.

The company has also developed a mobile application specifically for SOC team members, enabling real-time alerts, streamlined incident management, and enhanced collaboration even when analysts are away from their desks. This mobility ensures continuous monitoring and rapid response regardless of circumstances.

Beyond Monitoring: Comprehensive Cyber Services

The “cybersecurity as a service” model means ArmorPoint can engage organizations at whatever stage of their security journey they’re currently in. Some organizations need comprehensive managed SOC services. Others might need help with specific challenges like compliance, vulnerability management, or security awareness training.

Risk Assessment and Compliance: ArmorPoint assists with penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, business impact analysis, business continuity planning, and incident response planning. These services help organizations understand their current security posture and identify areas requiring attention.

Security Awareness Training: The company offers what it calls “human risk management” programs, recognizing that end users remain the weakest link in many security chains. Training programs teach employees to recognize threats and understand proper incident reporting procedures. For organizations with compliance requirements, ArmorPoint also provides policy development and training on those policies.

Incident Response: When breaches occur, ArmorPoint provides full remediation services, including forensic investigations, system quarantining, and complete incident management. The company’s approach includes standing up emergency response infrastructure and guiding clients through every phase of incident containment and recovery.

The company supports organizations across all verticals and sizes, from small and medium businesses to enterprise-level deployments. Client diversity spans healthcare, higher education, retail, and numerous other sectors, each with unique compliance and security requirements.

The Automation Question

One of the most frequently asked questions about modern cybersecurity revolves around automation. How much should organizations rely on automated responses versus human decision-making?

ArmorPoint’s position: automation should play a specific and critical role, but organizations should never rely on it exclusively. Automated systems excel at rapid detection and immediate response to known threat patterns. When someone clicks malware, automated EDR systems can block execution instantaneously, far faster than any human could react.

However, automation has limits. An automated system can report that it blocked a threat, but it can’t answer the deeper questions that matter for comprehensive security. Understanding where the risk originated, identifying how the attack vector reached the user, and determining whether other systems are compromised all require human analysis and investigation.

This philosophy underpins what ArmorPoint calls the human verification process. Automation handles initial detection and response, while trained analysts verify those actions, investigate root causes, and implement additional measures to prevent recurrence. This balanced approach provides both the speed of automation and the depth of human expertise.

Measuring Security Investment ROI

Calculating return on investment for cybersecurity presents unique challenges. The most significant ROI comes from breaches that never happen, making the value difficult to quantify. Organizations must instead think about two key cost categories.

First, what would a breach cost your organization? This calculation includes direct remediation expenses like forensic investigation, legal fees, notification costs, and potential ransom payments. But indirect costs often dwarf direct expenses. Reputation damage, customer trust erosion, regulatory fines, and potential business closure all factor into the true cost of security incidents.

Second, what would building equivalent security capabilities internally cost? Organizations need to calculate the expense of deploying and maintaining comprehensive security tool sets, plus the cost of hiring and retaining qualified security analysts to monitor systems 24/7. Security analyst positions often see high turnover, creating additional recruitment and training costs.

For most organizations, the math strongly favors partnering with specialized security providers like ArmorPoint. The alternative requires significant capital investment in technology, ongoing operational costs for maintenance and licensing, and the considerable expense of building and maintaining a skilled security team.

What Network Visibility Really Means

When organizations think about security visibility gaps, network visibility consistently ranks as the biggest concern. This makes sense when you consider that network-level visibility requires understanding not just what’s happening on individual endpoints or servers, but how all these components communicate with each other and external systems.

Comprehensive network visibility means understanding traffic patterns, identifying unusual communication paths, detecting lateral movement within your environment, and recognizing when legitimate credentials are being used in unauthorized ways. It requires correlating network-level data with endpoint activity, user behavior, and application logs to create a complete picture of what’s normal versus what’s suspicious.

ArmorPoint’s platform addresses network visibility by centralizing telemetry from across the entire environment. Rather than having network devices, endpoints, servers, and cloud infrastructure generating separate logs that live in different places, everything flows into a single system where correlation and analysis can happen effectively.

Getting Started: The First Conversation

For organizations interested in exploring ArmorPoint’s services, the engagement process begins with a straightforward conversation. The first discussion typically runs about 30 minutes and focuses on understanding current challenges: Where does your security program feel weakest? What keeps you up at night? What compliance requirements are you trying to meet?

From that initial conversation, ArmorPoint can identify areas where they can provide the most value and recommend appropriate next steps. For some organizations, that might mean comprehensive managed SOC services. For others, it could start with specific services like penetration testing, security awareness training, or compliance assistance.

The key philosophy: ArmorPoint positions itself as a cybersecurity partner rather than just a vendor. The goal is meeting organizations wherever they are in their security journey and providing the specific help they need, whether that’s comprehensive protection or targeted assistance with specific challenges.

The Evolution of Threats Demands Evolved Defenses

The cybersecurity landscape continues evolving at a rapid pace. ArmorPoint releases new features and functionality weekly to address emerging threats and improve operational efficiency. Much of the current development focuses on leveraging AI and automation to enhance analyst efficiency and improve threat detection capabilities.

The company maintains SOC 2 Type 2 certification and HIPAA High-Tech certification, demonstrating commitment to maintaining rigorous security standards for customer data. With infrastructure spanning multiple geographic regions and compliance with various international data protection regulations, ArmorPoint can support organizations with global operations and complex regulatory requirements.

For organizations currently managing security internally, the question becomes whether that approach remains sustainable as threats grow more sophisticated and compliance requirements become more stringent. The average breach detection time of 277 days suggests that many current security programs have blind spots that allow threats to persist undetected.

Smarter attacks require smarter defenses. That means moving beyond disconnected tools and overwhelming alert volumes toward integrated security operations platforms backed by skilled analysts who can separate signal from noise and respond effectively when threats emerge.