MITRE Madness: A Guide to Weathering the Upcoming Vendor Positioning Storm

April is usually a whirlwind month for the cybersecurity
industry as it coincides with the release of the highly regarded
and influential MITRE ATT&CK test results. The ATT&CK test
measures cybersecurity platforms’ abilities to detect and react to
emulated, multistep attacks that can be used as a barometer of
platform effectiveness.

This means that every cybersecurity vendor will be tripping over
themselves to push out blog posts, webinars, press releases, and
more touting how great their services are and how the results
validate their products.

The result is a storm of spin and PR that is hard to navigate.
An upcoming webinar offered by Cynet (register here^[1]) aims to help industry
participants differentiate the spin from the real information when
it comes to MITRE ATT&CK results.

The Webinar will be led by renowned cybersecurity researcher and
Chief Security Strategist for Cynet, Chris Roberts, and Director of
Product Marketing for Cynet, George Tubin. The conversation will
center on what customers and vendors can expect to see when the
MITRE ATT&CK results are published on April 20th and the days
that follow.

In the race to be first and publish the most favorable coverage,
companies will cloud the online landscape, so it’s crucial to know
how to separate fact from fiction. More importantly, it’s vital to
know how to read the actual results to make an informed decision.
As MITRE’s doesn’t directly provide vendor comparisons,
interpreting the results to compare different vendors takes some
skill and knowledge.

Some of the topics covered by Roberts and Cynet Director of
Product Marketing, George Tubin, will include:

• What exactly is MITRE ATT&CK, and why does it
  matter? The yearly evaluation has become a golden standard
  and a point of pride for cybersecurity vendors who participate.
  It’s important to understand why it’s such a key piece of the
  decision-making process.
• How should CISOs interpret the results and the vendor
  propaganda? Despite its importance, MITRE’s results can be
  difficult to parse for the unfamiliar. CISOs and security leaders
  should understand exactly what the results mean, and how vendors
  use (and misuse) them.
• How should CISOs use the results to evaluate
  vendors? Understanding the results is one thing, but
  knowing how to use them as a barometer is more important as looking
  at them in a vacuum can be confusing.
• How can vendors leverage the tests to their fullest
  advantage? In the end, the tests are a major point of
  validation for vendors, and understanding how to use them in a
  transparent, open way is a good starting point for any
  cybersecurity organization.

The webinar will be available for viewing on April 14th and
15th, leading up to MITRE’s planned publishing of the results on
April 20th. You can register for the event now to save a spot
at the link here^[2].