Turn off all notifications on your computer. Put your phone on silent for the next half hour, out of arms reach. And whatever you do, resist the temptation to check them for notifications. 

How would that make you feel? Would you feel relieved and relaxed, or would it increase your stress? The sound of an incoming message only lasts about a second, but it can affect your brain, your body, and your whole approach to life. 

Pause and think about it. Nearly everything that surrounds us has an alert fighting for our attention. From the alarm clock to wake us in the morning. The chime of incoming messages on our phones. The ping of the microwave. The assortment of beeps when we open our car door and start the engine. To a cascade of dings and bells when we arrive at the office. All this sensory input over time can lead to alert fatigue. What is the typical response? We simply ignore them.

A Wolf Or Just A Boy?

Alert fatigue and IT security teams are a critical issue, and it’s on the rise. The adoption of cloud computing means an increased range of attack vectors and more information to protect. Monitoring complex systems and numerous endpoints put a strain on resources, human and technical.

According to a survey conducted by Bitdefender, 72% of CIOs say that alert fatigue is a big problem affecting their team. In addition to dealing with false alarms, there is the adrenaline rush that comes from coping with genuine threats and attacks. This constant level of high alert takes a toll on organizations and their people. Apathy increases and leaves companies less secure. 

Staying Sharp

It is crucial for organizations to continuously assess, prioritize, and harden endpoint security misconfigurations. Here are a few suggestions to help you fight alert fatigue:

Reduce redundant alerts. Receiving notifications for the same issue repeatedly reduces productivity and the effectiveness of your response. Reducing their numbers is the easiest step in minimizing false alarms. 

Make each alert actionable and contextual. Understanding the reason for an alert and steps to remediate are critical for alerts to be useful security aids. Your mileage may vary depending on the software, so when comparing options, take time to consider the customization and details of its notification abilities. 

Customize detection thresholds. Limit the number of systematic anomalies flagged as active threats by adjusting detection thresholds. Fine-tune baselines regularly to keep pace with growth and routine changes. If your environment utilizes machine learning, those metrics can be used as a starting point to eliminate non-critical notifications. When applied correctly, machine learning frees teams to respond to real issues rather than false alarms. 

Notify the right team or individual. It’s not a matter of if but when a credible threat requires a rapid response. Organizing a plan for team-wide responsibilities and actions can help organizations fight alert fatigue without silencing or ignoring credible threats.Reevaluate and alter responses periodically. Like most protocols and procedures, threat detection and response should be tested, reevaluated, and retooled regularly. Hosting weekly meetings can help your team increase efficiency and adapt to change.

Risk Analytics That Work!

If you have been following our blog this year, you have seen our discussions about Bitdefender and its security innovations. One of the features we love is the powerful yet intuitive risk analytics employed by its protection platform. Bitdefender GravityZone helps organizations stay ahead of evolving threats by eliminating false positives. It delivers coordinated, adaptive endpoint defense designed for resource-strapped IT security teams. With a full-featured, low-overhead EDR layer, organizations with limited security analysis resources can triage with a single click, reducing alert fatigue.

As a Bitdefender partner, we can offer your team a demo and answer any questions you may have if you’re wondering if Bitdefender GravityZone is right for your organization.