What are XDR tools?

XDR tools (Extended Detection and Response) are modern, cloud-native security platforms that centralize and combine security data across your entire IT infrastructure, spanning endpoints, network layers, cloud workloads, and corporate email.

It works by automatically collecting and connecting security information. This gives you a complete picture of complex threats. It then automatically handles the security response.

By eliminating security silos, XDR provides the context needed to track an attack’s full kill chain, significantly reducing the mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR).

What Problem Do XDR Tools Solve?

XDR tools directly address the key challenges faced by modern Security Operations Centers (SOCs):

• Alert Overload: Traditional tools like SIEM often generate an overwhelming volume of uncorrelated alerts, leading to alert fatigue and missed high-priority threats.
• Siloed Visibility: Attackers exploit the gaps between disparate security products (e.g., endpoint data and cloud logs) to move laterally undetected. XDR stitches these data points together.
• Slow Response: Manual investigation of multi-vector attacks is slow and resource intensive. XDR automates correlation and response actions, allowing human analysts to focus on true threats.

How Do XDR Tools Compare to EDR and SIEM?

XDR is often confused with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). The core difference lies in the scope of data collected and the focus of the response.

Hexnode’s Unified Approach to XDR

By seamlessly integrating XDR capabilities directly into the UEM console, Hexnode provides IT and security teams with a single pane of glass to:

• Proactively enforce security policies (UEM).
• Reactively detect, investigate, and isolate threats (XDR).

This integration closes the loop between device management and security response, leading to faster, more informed remediation actions across all enrolled endpoints.

Key Benefits

• Faster Investigations: XDR automatically connects related security warnings (alerts). This cuts down the time analysts need to manually piece together an attack story.
• Complete View: You get a full, easy-to-understand timeline of any attack. This shows exactly how the threat moved across your devices, network, and cloud services.
• Automated Action: XDR allows for decisive, automatic responses across your entire system. For example, it can instantly block a bad email or isolate an infected computer at the same time.
• More Efficient Security Teams: Security Operations Center (SOC) staff receive fewer irrelevant warnings and more reliable, urgent alerts. This makes them much more productive.