Strengthening Cybersecurity with Digital Twin Technology
Cyber-attacks can cause significant financial and reputational losses to businesses, and more of them are happening every year. Yet, at the same time, companies struggle to find and keep highly trained security professionals. According to a 2021 study, the global cybersecurity workforce must grow by 65% to defend organizations’ critical assets effectively. So, how do we safeguard our systems in an increasingly severe cyber threat landscape? And in a world where talented security professionals are in short supply? Cyber range and digital twin technology offer a promising solution.
Cyber Range and Digital Twin Technology Explained
A cyber range is a controlled, interactive technology environment where fledgling cybersecurity professionals can gain hands-on experience securing the corporate environment. Cyber ranges simulate the on-the-job experience, provide real-time feedback, and provide a place where new ideas can be tested, and teams can work to solve complex cyber problems.
Similarly, a digital twin is a digital replica of a company’s assets, processes, users, systems, and devices that can be used for cybersecurity training and testing. As a result, digital twins have become a powerful tool for predicting and mitigating cyber risks. This is why a whopping 80% of security executives already use digital twin technology in some form.
Cyber Attack prediction using Digital Twin
Digital twins allow organizations to simulate cyber threats that mirror the real world. This means companies become better at predicting where hackers will strike, how attacks unfold, and what damage they will cause. Armed with this information, companies can make changes to their infrastructure to boost safety and test these changes before deploying them in the production environment.
Cybercriminals are constantly sophisticating their techniques and developing novel ways to infiltrate systems. Digital twins can play a powerful role here, catching and predicting these emerging tactics before they can damage live systems. For example, digital twins can construct attack graphs that predict the intruder’s most effective route. They also allow security teams to safely test various scenarios, responses, and processes to map out decision-making trees for appropriate cyber responses.
The use of Digital Twin for Cyber Deception
Cyber deception technology aims to deceive attackers by using traps and decoys, from entirely fake network environments to honeypots to breadcrumbs like artificial credentials. These traps are often distributed across the system’s infrastructure to imitate genuine assets. Then, if an intruder triggers the trap, the server can log and monitor the attack vectors at play. The overarching goal of deception technology is to protect the system by becoming better informed and prepared.
When it comes to the use of digital twins for cyber deception, it’s usually in the form of honeypots. Essentially, the digital twin looks like a real system and will be an attractive target to cybercriminals who want to wreak havoc on your network or quietly exfiltrate data. But while the hacker is busy attacking your digital twin, your network remains safe.
Cyber deception technology is becoming increasingly popular because it can detect attackers before a breach, gain real-time threat intelligence specific to an organization, and eliminate false positives or alert fatigue.
