Strengthening Network Security with Integrated Analytics
How NETSCOUT combines multiple methods for precise threat detection

As organizations face increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats, the need for a comprehensive and effective security strategy has never been more urgent. Traditional cybersecurity solutions often fall short, either by focusing only on known threats or by lacking the depth needed to detect unique attack techniques.
NETSCOUT’s Omnis Cyber Intelligence (OCI) integrates a multidimensional threat analytics approach at the source to provide a unique and powerful solution for customers seeking robust, real-time, and adaptive network security. In this blog, we explain how this approach works, why it’s important, and what makes it uniquely suited to meet today’s cybersecurity challenges.
Why This Approach Matters
In the ever-evolving landscape of cyberthreats, security teams must be able to detect both known and unknown threats across complex environments. OCI’s multidimensional threat analytics framework integrates multiple detection strategies directly at the network source, to help ensure that no potential threat is missed. This approach is essential because it not only improves detection accuracy but also provides actionable insights that are crucial for fast, effective incident response.
By combining multiple methods—from threat intelligence feeds to behavioral anomaly detection—OCI provides a depth of visibility and adaptability that single-method solutions simply cannot match.
OCI’s Unique Multidimensional Approach
OCI’s integrated analytics framework is built on the following five key layers, each serving a distinct function and working in tandem to provide unparalleled network visibility and threat detection:
- Threat intelligence: Threat intelligence focuses on indicators of compromise (IoCs), such as known malicious IPs, URLs, and domains. This provides an immediate line of defense because known threats can be detected and blocked without delay. By leveraging both NETSCOUT’s own ATLAS Intelligence Feed and third-party feeds, this method empowers organizations to respond rapidly to recognized risks.
- Compliance and policy violation detection: OCI custom policy creation and monitoring helps ensure network configurations meet internal and regulatory standards, which is vital for industries with strict compliance requirements. This layer identifies known vulnerable protocols and custom policy breaches or configuration issues that could expose the organization to security risks, providing peace of mind for customers and preventing costly compliance violations.
- Intrusion detection and file analysis: Moving beyond known indicators, OCI uses Suricata-based signatures or rules and file analysis to detect specific patterns of malicious behavior. This helps customers identify threats that may evade simpler IoC-based methods. This layer gives organizations confidence that they can detect malicious activity within the network itself, even if it originates from insider threats or advanced persistent threats (APTs).
- External attack surface monitoring: By observing unexpected internal-to-external traffic patterns, OCI enables customers to keep an eye on the external attack surface and potential entry points. This approach is invaluable for spotting unusual patterns that might indicate an external threat attempting to infiltrate or exploit vulnerabilities within the network.
- Behavioral anomalies for unknown threats: At the top of OCI’s pyramid is behavioral anomaly detection, which identifies unusual behavior patterns. Moreover, these detections are mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework. This layer is crucial for detecting unknown or advanced threats that exhibit no known signatures. For organizations, this represents a powerful capability to detect “zero-day” threats, ransomware, or other complex attacks that might otherwise go undetected until significant damage has been done.
Solving Cybersecurity Challenges with Integrated Threat Analytics
OCI’s unique, multilayered approach addresses a wide range of organizational pain points, offering solutions that adapt to the needs of different environments—whether on premises, cloud, or hybrid. Here’s how:
- Enhanced detection accuracy: With the integration of multiple threat analytics methods, OCI provides more precise and accurate threat detection than any single approach can offer. Organizations benefit from fewer false positives and reduced alert fatigue, allowing their security teams to focus on real threats and respond more effectively.
- Comprehensive, scalable visibility: Unlike traditional monitoring tools that may focus on specific areas of the network, OCI’s approach provides visibility across diverse network environments. For organizations with complex infrastructures, this means greater assurance that no part of their network is left unmonitored or unprotected.
- Improved incident-response and forensic capabilities: By capturing real-time and historical data, OCI’s analytics support both immediate response to ongoing threats and in-depth forensic investigations. This capability is invaluable in the aftermath of an incident, enabling a clear understanding of how an attack unfolded and what steps to take to prevent recurrence.
- Seamless integration with existing tools: OCI’s platform is designed to integrate smoothly with popular security information and event management (SIEM); security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR); and extended detection and response (XDR) tools, enhancing existing cybersecurity ecosystems with rich network context. This flexibility is a major advantage for organizations that can leverage OCI’s insights within their preferred security management solutions.
The Unique Value of OCI’s Integrated Approach
The value of OCI’s integrated analytics lies in the solution’s ability to provide unmatched visibility and comprehensive threat detection capabilities. Many solutions in the market rely heavily on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven or behavioral analytics alone, which can miss known threats or struggle with more sophisticated attacks. OCI’s approach, however, balances immediate detection of known threats with advanced methods for uncovering unknown threats, providing a holistic and adaptable security solution.
Additionally, OCI’s deep packet inspection (DPI) capabilities bring a level of granularity to threat detection that is often missing from flow-based or log-based monitoring solutions. This is a game-changer for organizations seeking to strengthen their defenses against a wide array of cyberthreats, from routine malware to advanced attacks.
Learn more about NETSCOUT’s Omnis CyberStream and Omnis Cyber Intelligence.