We all know the fable of the boy who cried wolf – shouting warnings so often that when the real danger came, no one listened. In cyber defence, a similar problem can unfold: alert fatigue.
The modern security challenge
A 2024 report revealed that Microsoft’s customers face an astounding 600 million attacks daily from both cybercriminals and nation-state actors. This highlights the relentless pressure on security teams, who must sift through hundreds, sometimes thousands, of alerts each month. Many of these are low-priority, repetitive, or outright false positives. While alerts are meant to help catch threats early, their overwhelming volume leads to a dangerous side effect: alert fatigue
Over time, analysts could become desensitised to the constant noise, making it harder to spot the genuine threats buried in the clutter. As alert volumes grow, so does the risk of burnout among security teams who are expected to respond to everything, all while staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats.
To make matters more complex, cyber security is becoming increasingly important at the board-level. CISOs and IT leaders are under rising pressure to demonstrate that their tools and teams are delivering value. That pressure often trickles down, pushing teams to react quickly, report confidently, and maintain constant vigilance.
This is exactly where the danger creeps in: when the system cries “wolf” too often, real threats can be overlooked, delayed, or dismissed.
Enter WhiteSpider Managed XDR: Cutting through the noise
Our Managed XDR service is built to solve this. Our specialists prioritise alerts based on your business needs, so you can focus on real threats, not low-level noise. By applying Cisco XDR’s advanced analytics and automation, we filter out high-volume, low-risk alerts, surfacing only those that truly matter.
Through automation of routine tasks, reduction of false positives via tool fine-tuning, and providing rich context around each relevant alert, we streamline the response process and free up valuable time. Combined with ongoing training and support, our approach helps organisations tackle alert fatigue head-on – transforming overwhelming data into clear, actionable insight.
Key benefits:
- Real threats, not false alarms: We minimise noise and surface critical issues with context.
- Infrastructure Intelligence Operations Centre (IIOC): Our specialised SDN experts provide deep observability and intelligent orchestration across your network, enabling proactive threat response, smarter alert handling, and faster, more confident decision-making.
- Faster escalation paths: Alerts that pass our intelligent filtering are actionable and prioritised.
- Peace of mind for C-suite: With our IIOC continuously monitoring, filtering, and prioritising threats, security leaders can trust that real risks are being identified, highlighted, and handled.
Why it matters
In today’s cyber threat landscape, missing a real alert can cost millions, not to mention the damage to your brand. But wasting time on false ones can be just as costly. When it comes to cyber defence, the “boy who cried wolf” effect is real. That’s why our Managed XDR service is designed to help clients get the most value out of Cisco XDR by cutting through the noise and surfacing what truly matters.
Ready to surface the threats that truly matter? Get in touch to learn more about our limited-time Managed XDR offer.