Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Security Operations Specialist at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Filters out the noise and streamlines the investigation process and our ability to get to root cause
Pros and Cons
  • "The dashboard gives me a scoring system that allows me to prioritize things that I should look at. I may not necessarily care so much about one event, whereas if I have a single botnet detection or a brute force attack, I really want to get on top of those."
  • "I'd like to be able to get granular reports and to be able to output them into formats that are customizable and more useful. The reporting GUI is lacking."

What is our primary use case?

We use Vectra AI to sniff the network using Ixia taps so that we can identify potentially malicious activity on the network and at all points of the kill chain. What it's exceptionally good at doing is correlating seemingly unrelated events.

It's in our data center, but the versioning is controlled by Vectra. They push it out discreetly so I don't have any touch on that.

How has it helped my organization?

We have 89,000 concurrent IPS that we're analyzing and it's distilled it down to under 1,000 IP addresses that warrant deeper investigation. It's filtering out 99 percent of the traffic that would otherwise be noise, noise that we would never get through.

The solution captures network metadata at scale and enriches it with security information, but that's because we are using the API calls to inject our CMDB data into the brain. It speeds things up quite significantly. Being an enterprise, sometimes it can take a day or two just to find the person responsible for looking after a particular server or service. This way, the information is right there at our fingertips. When we open up the GUI, if we have a detection we look at the detection and see the server belongs to so-and-so. We can reach out to that party directly if we need to. It streamlines the investigation process by having the data readily available to us and current. Each one is unique, but typically, from initial detection to completion of validation (that it's innocuous or that there's something else is going on) it's within 24 to 48 hours

It also provides visibility into behaviors across the full lifecycle of an attack in our network, beyond just internet gateway. It gives us visibility for when something is inside the network and it's maybe doing a lateral movement that it wouldn't normally be doing. Or if we have a system that has suddenly popped up on the network and we can see that it's a wireless router, for example, we pick that up right away. We can see it and we can deal with it. If people put unauthorized devices on the network — a wireless router from home — we can pick that up right away and deal with it.

In addition, Vectra triages threats and correlates them with compromised host devices. We can do a search based on the threat type and get the host. It streamlines things and makes it faster to get to the root cause of an issue.

And while it hasn't reduced the security analyst workload in our company, it has reduced the workload in that analysts are not having to look at stuff that absolutely means nothing. There is still a lot to do, but it has allowed us to focus better on the workload that needs to be done.

It has also increased our security efficiency. It has reduced the time it takes us to respond to attacks by 100 percent. If you're not aware of it you can't respond to it. Now, it's making us aware of it so we can respond to it, which is a 100 percent improvement.

The solution enables us to answer investigative questions that other solutions are unable to address. We will detect the fact that there is some suspicious domain activity going on — a DNS query is going out to MGAs and it really shouldn't be. The other systems are just passing that through, not even realizing that it shouldn't be happening. We see them and we can take action on them.

What is most valuable?

The dashboard gives us a scoring system that allows prioritization of detections that need attention. We may not necessarily be so concerned about any single detection type, or event, but when we see any botnet detections or a brute force attack detections, we really want to get on top of those. 

What needs improvement?

The solution's ability to reduce false positives wasn't very good, initially, because it was picking up so much information. It took the investment of some time and effort on our part to get the triage filters in place in such a fashion that it was filtering out the noise. Once we got to that point, then there was definitely value in time-savings and in percolating up the high-risk events that we need to be paying attention to.

I'd like to be able to get granular reports and to be able to output them into formats that are customizable and more useful. The reporting GUI is lacking.

Buyer's Guide
Vectra AI
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Vectra AI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,723 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Vectra for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is excellent.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've had no issues so far with the scalability. Right now, it covers about 90 percent of our network. We are considering increasing the usage to incorporate it in the new cloud environments that we're standing up.

How are customer service and support?

Their technical support is excellent.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial setup, but I was involved in a review of the setup when I took it over, to make sure that it is doing what it's supposed to be doing. The initial setup would have been straightforward, but it would have been very large.

The implementation strategy would have been to make sure that it got to all the places that it needed to be, and to work out a way to make that happen by getting the Ixia taps into the right locations in our enterprise.

In terms of staff from our side involved in deployment, it's web-based so there weren't a lot. Maintenance is ongoing from Vectra and they do it on the back-end. It just works. It's a black box for us.

What other advice do I have?

Take time to understand how the triage filtering works and standardize it early on. Use a  standardized naming convention and be consistent.

It's a very effective tool, but if you don't pay attention to what it's telling you, then it's like anything else. If you don't use it, then it's no good. You have to trust that what it's telling you is correct and then you can take the appropriate action.

For the most part, the users who log into it in our company are people on the security operations team. It's pretty much a closed tool. Access is limited to the people in the security center of excellence.

In terms of the solution's ability to reduce alerts by rolling up numerous alerts to create a single incident or campaign for investigation, we don't use it that way. We've set up enough triage filters over the course of the last year-and-a-half to get all the noise out of the way; stuff that is either innocuous or really isn't bad. Then we're focusing on what's left, which is typically, for lack of a better term, the bad stuff or the stuff that we need to pay attention to.

Regarding the solution's privileged account analytics for detecting issues with privileged accounts, we've used it, but not to the extent that we would like to. We just don't have enough manpower to be able to do that at this point. But it's important because we can see when an account is doing something that it shouldn't be doing, or that it doesn't normally do, or that it's connecting to a place that it doesn't normally connect to, or that it's escalating its privileges unexpectedly. We see all that and then we can respond accordingly.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1302852 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Specialist - Enterprise Security at a mining and metals company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Scoring and correlation really help in focusing our security operations on critical issues
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution's ability to reduce alerts, by rolling up numerous alerts to create a single incident or campaign, helps in that it collapses all the events to a particular host, or a particular detection to a set of hosts. So it doesn't generate too many alerts. By and large, whatever alerts it generates are actionable, and actionable within the day."
  • "One thing which I have found where there could be improvement is with regard to the architecture, a little bit: how the brains and sensors function. It needs more flexibility with regard to the brain. If there were some flexibility in that regard, that would be helpful, because changing the mode of the brain is complex. In some cases, the change is permanent. You cannot revert it."

What is our primary use case?

Our main intention was to see what type of visibility, in terms of detections, Vectra could give us. 

We use it on both our manufacturing perimeter and at the internet perimeter. That's where we have placed the devices. We have placed it across four sites, two in UAE and two outside UAE.

How has it helped my organization?

What we have seen over the course of the three to four months it has been in place is that it has not found anything bad. That's good news because nothing specific has happened. But we have identified a lot of misconfigurations as well as some information on how applications are working, which was not known earlier. The misconfigurations that became known because of Vectra have been corrected.

It has given us the opportunity to understand some of the applications better than we had understood them before because some of the detections required triage and, while triaging, or in that investigation, we found how applications work. That is one of the main benefits.

We did a red team penetration exercise and almost all the pen activities were picked up by Vectra. That is another big benefit that we have seen through the deployment of the device.

Apart from the network traffic, a lot of the privileged accounts get monitored. It focuses on the service, the machine, and the account. We have seen many of the privileged accounts flagged with alerts whenever they're doing any activity which they do not normally do. We can see that it is the admin accounts or our support team accounts where the activity is happening. It is important because any privileged access which sees increased activity becomes a cause for suspicion. It's something that we need to be watchful for. It's a very useful feature because a privileged account can propagate more easily than an account that is not privileged.

These are all examples of the kind of information which is of great value, information that we didn't have earlier.

The detections, as well as the host ratings, allow us to focus in cases where we are pressured for time and need to do something immediately. We can focus on the critical and high hosts, or on the detections that have a very high score. If you do a good job in the rules and policy configuration, the alerts are not too numerous. A person can easily focus on all the alerts. But as of now we focus on the critical, high, and medium. The scoring and the correlation really help in focusing the security operations.

While I wouldn't say Vectra AI has reduced our security analyst's workload, it allows him to focus. It's a new tool and it's an additional tool. It's not like we implemented this tool and removed another one. It doesn't necessarily reduce his total time, but what it definitely does is it allows him to prioritize more quickly. Previously, he would be looking at all the other tools that we have. Here, it allows him to focus so things of serious concern can be targeted much faster and earlier. The existing tools remain. But Vectra is something to help give more visibility and focus. In that sense, it saves his time. Vectra is very good for automated threat-hunting, so you get to pick out things faster. All the other tools give you a volume of data and you have to do the threat-hunting manually.

Also, the technical expertise required to do the hunting part is much less now, because the tool does it for you. I wouldn't say that it has moved work from tier 2 to tier 1, but both of them can use their time and efforts for resolving problems rather than searching for actual threats. You cannot do away with tier 2 people, but they can have a more focused approach, and the tier 1 people can do less. It reduces the work involved in all their jobs.

In addition, it has definitely increased our security efficiency. The red team exercise is a very clear-cut example of how efficiency has been enhanced, because none of the other tools picked these things up. Vectra was the only tool that did.

It makes our workforce more efficient, and makes them target the actual threats, and prioritizes their efforts and attention. Whether that eventually leads to needing fewer people is a different question. Quantifying it into a manpower piece is probably more an HR issue. But improved efficiency is definitely what it provides. If I needed three or four tier 2 people before, I can manage with one or two now.

And Vectra has definitely reduced the time it takes us to respond to attacks. It's a significant reduction in time. In some cases, the key aspect is that, more than saving time, it detects things which other tools don't. It helps us find things before they actually cause damage. The other tools are more reactive. If your IPS and your signatures are getting hit, then you're already targeted. What Vectra achieves is that it alerts us at the initial phase, during the pre-damage phase. During the red team exercise we had, it alerted us at their initial recon phase, before they actually did anything. So more than saving time, it helps prevent an attack.

What is most valuable?

The solution's ability to reduce alerts, by rolling up numerous alerts to create a single incident or campaign, helps in that it collapses all the events to a particular host, or a particular detection to a set of hosts. So it doesn't generate too many alerts. By and large, whatever alerts it generates are actionable, and actionable within the day. With the triaging, things are improving more and more because, once we identify and investigate and determine that something is normal, or that it is a misconfiguration and we correct it, in either of these two instances, gradually the number of alerts is dropping. Recently, some new features have been introduced in the newer versions, like the Kerberos ticketing feature. That, obviously, has led to an initial spike in the number of tickets because that feature was not there. It was introduced less than a month back. Otherwise, the tickets have been decreasing, and almost all the tickets that it generates need investigation. It has very rarely been the situation that a ticket has been raised and we found that it was not unique information.

Also, we have seen a lot of detections that are not related to the network. Where we have gained extra value in terms of the internet is during data exfiltration and suspicious domains access.

The detections focus on the host, and the host's score is dependent on how many detections it triggers. We have seen with many of our probing tools, without triaging, that these hosts pretty quickly come into the high-threat quadrant. Its intelligence comes from identifying vulnerable hosts along with the triaging part. That's something that we have seen.

What needs improvement?

One thing which I have found where there could be improvement is with regard to the architecture, a little bit: how the brains and sensors function. It needs more flexibility with regard to the brain. If there were some flexibility in that regard, that would be helpful, because changing the mode of the brain is complex. In some cases, the change is permanent. You cannot revert it. I would like to see greater flexibility in doing HA without having to buy more boxes just to do it.

Another area they could, perhaps, look at is with OT (operational technology) specifically. Vectra is very specific to IT-related threats. It really doesn't have OT in its focus. We are using another tool for that, but maybe that is another area they can consider venturing into.

It's being used by my team of four or five people. Once we hand it over to operations, then the team size will increase significantly. It will grow to about 10 to 15 people.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Vectra AI four about four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, we've not had any issues, although it has only been three or four months. We had some slight bugs in there, bugs that were related to the triaging and how we used the conditions. But stability-wise, we've had no problem. 

There were some software issues, bugs, but then nothing major. There were minor cosmetic and syntax-based issues while raising the conditions. Apart from that, no issues with the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Currently we are in the process of expanding it to two more remote sites. One is in West Africa, in Guinea, and another one in the U.S. Those are more recent deployments, in place less than a month. We are in the process of creating the policies, and triaging, and investigations for those. That's ongoing. With those sites, the benefit realization is still pending because we just started the traffic loading.

The scalability part is where the architecture comes in. That's one of the areas for improvement that I would like to recommend. Unless you have dedicated brains doing anything other than brain functions, it doesn't become scalable. If you have a brain in mixed mode, your scalability is limited. Also, the brain's capacity gets reduced based on its function, so if it's in mixed mode, the capacity is less. If it's in brain mode, the capacity is more. If it's in sensor mode, the capacity is different. It makes scalability difficult. Unless you go for two big brains with your highest capacity device and then you keep adding.

When I spoke to our internal success team at Vectra, they mentioned that this is something that they're planning to fix in the near future with an upgrade.

How are customer service and technical support?

Whenever we have raised issues we have gotten timely responses. Getting support is fairly easy compared to some of the other technologies that we have. A simple email is sufficient to get attention from their support team. They have a remote access feature wherein we don't necessarily have to give a WebEx. We just simply enable the remote access on the device, and the remote team can log in, and have a look, and understand what the problem is.

How was the initial setup?

The problem was the architecture. Once we arrived at an architecture, it was simple. What takes time is to build the architecture plan because of the way the brains work. We had to agree on a design. Once you agree on the architecture, the implementation is pretty straightforward.

The initial architecture design took some time, a week or so. The implementation was done within a day.

Our implementation strategy was to have an HA setup for each site. We put two brains into mixed mode, but then we found out that if we put it in mixed mode, HA is not possible. So we set it up as a standby and we configured manual scripts to transfer the file from one brain to the other brain. That's how we are managing it now. If we want to go live on the standby brain, we just import the configuration and go live, if there is a failure.

It's a little bit manual process for us. If it has to be automated, I believe the brains cannot be in mixed mode. That was where we faced the initial problem, I mean, for the architecture part. So we have two brains configured in mixed mode and we have a couple of sensors on the OT side, sensors that are talking to these brains. The sensors are there in the OT connectivity, the active or standby firewalls, and this is repeated on the other site as well.

Two or three people are enough for the deployment. They should have a sound understanding of the network and an idea of how the architecture and the applications function. One person from the architecture team and one person from the network or security team are sufficient to understand how to get maximum utilization from Vectra.

What was our ROI?

In terms of visibility and security improvement, we have definitely seen a return on our investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have a one-year subscription that covers support and everything. There is no other overhead.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Darktrace, in addition to Vectra, each in a PoC. We chose Vectra because the things that Vectra picked up were far more useful, and necessary from an enterprise point of view. Darktrace was a bit noisier.

What other advice do I have?

One thing we have learned using Vectra is that anomaly detection is a critical component of security; a non-signature-based technology is very critical. It helps pick up things that other tools, which are more focused on active threats, will miss. That is one major lesson that we have picked up from Vectra.

My advice would be that you need to focus, because the licensing is based heavily on IPs and area of coverage, although predominantly IPs. You need to have a very clear idea of what areas you want to cover, and plan according to that. Full coverage, sometimes, may not be practical because, since it's a detection tool, covering everything for large organizations is complicated. Focus on critical areas first, and then expand later on.

Also, the architecture part needs to be discussed and finalized early on, because there is a limited flexibility, depending on which model you choose to take.

The solution captures network metadata at scale and enriches it with security information, but the full realization of that will come with Cognito Stream, which we have yet to implement. Right now we are on Cognito Detect. Cognito Stream is something that we are working on implementing, hopefully within the next month or so. Once that comes online, the enriched metadata will have greater value. As of now, the value is there and it's inside Vectra, but we don't see that information — such as Kerberos tokens, or certificates, or what the encryption is — unless it leads to a detection. Only in that event do we currently see that information.

The Cognito Stream can feed into our SIEM and then we will have rich information about all the metadata which Vectra has in our data lake.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Vectra AI
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Vectra AI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,723 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2120022 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Clean UI with great performance and has fewer false positives than some competitors
Pros and Cons
  • "Vectra AI helped our team be more productive and save time. We have less work thanks to it."
  • "One of the things I am not so happy about when it comes to Vectra is the scoring board."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use cases for this solution are detection and then investigation afterward.

How has it helped my organization?

Vectra AI helped our team be more productive and save time. We have less work thanks to it.

We have not had any real threats so far.

Vectra AI helped improved our mean time to identify.

What needs improvement?

One of the things I am not so happy about when it comes to Vectra is the scoring board. 

In Darktrace, you can point or click on any client and see any connections that have been made directly in the dashboard. You don't have to go to recall. This is likely why Darktrace isn't as fast as Vectra, but it would still be nice to see this feature in Vectra. In addition, Darktrace has an advanced mode, but you are also able to see it directly in the main dashboard. This would be great to see in Vectra as well. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We started implementing the tool around November. It is a step-by-step process for us because we have several locations and my team was not implementing it independently. We have another team that has to drive to the location. We finished the last location in mid-January.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Vectra AI is a stable solution. It works. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Vectra AI's scalability is fine. We have a brain, we have a lot of centers, and the solution is easy to implement. Everything works.

How are customer service and support?

The tech support is great. Whenever we had a problem, we got an answer immediately. This helps with having a general feeling that everything works in a solution.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used a different tool, Darktrace. We used it for four years. The management told us to look for other tools. This was after we switched our main network hardware. We contacted Vectra and took the next step. We were just comparing different tools when we decided to go with Vectra. There were many different tools that were similar but we ultimately chose Vectra. Compared to Darktrace, Vectra's UI is much cleaner, there is less noise, and the performance is way better in the graphical interface. We get much fewer false positives. We also have to put less work into this tool, which is great for companies with small teams.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in the deployment from start to finish. It was fairly straightforward. The support we received was very good. When we had questions, they were answered immediately by the support engineer assigned to us.

What was our ROI?

I can't speak to whether or not we have seen a return on investment with this solution because we have not had any real threats so far.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

As far as pricing goes, my only reference point is Darktrace. Their pricing is pretty even, which is a fair price.

What other advice do I have?

We have not yet tested the whole tool in a penetration test. However, I would nonetheless give it at least an eight out of ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best. 

Right now, we have a good understanding of the UI and I know that there have been improvements to the visualization. The scoring redirects your focus to things that you should be looking at. The tool we used before Vectra was Darktrace. It was similar to where Vectra is heading now. With the scoring system, Vectra is a better solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2403498 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Director at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees
Real User
The weekly reports needed more insights and explanation but deployment is straightforward
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup was pretty straightforward."
  • "We had another product with Vectra AI and used the MDR solution as an add-on. Initially, it wasn't fully appropriately configured, so we didn't get the expected results. Even once configured correctly, we weren't fully satisfied with its response. The issue was both with their service response and the product's capabilities."

What needs improvement?

We had another product with Vectra AI and used the MDR solution as an add-on. Initially, it wasn't fully appropriately configured, so we didn't get the expected results. Even once configured correctly, we weren't fully satisfied with its response. The issue was both with their service response and the product's capabilities.

The solution's weekly reports needed to have more explanations. However, we needed more explanations because the reports provided were mainly statistical. We were looking for more analysis and insights.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for less than a year. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution's pricing was 50 percent lower than the other vendors shortlisted. 

What other advice do I have?

I wouldn't recommend the product to others. We are moving away from it. I rate the overall solution a six out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
reviewer2125176 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Well designed, easy to implement, and easy to manage
Pros and Cons
  • "It's easy to manage, and I love the UX. It's very well designed. When we are looking for something, it's quite easy to find it."
  • "There could be an option where Vectra manages the solution remotely, and when there is an attack, there could be a notification center to give us information about the attack."

What is our primary use case?

I'm managing the solution. I work in the infrastructure, so I install, reinstall brains and collectors.

How has it helped my organization?

It's very easy to manage. We don't have any issues with the Vectra service. It's completely painless. It's a good product.

What is most valuable?

It's easy to manage, and I love the UX. It's very well designed. When we are looking for something, it's quite easy to find it.

What needs improvement?

There could be an option where Vectra manages the solution remotely, and when there is an attack, there could be a notification center to give us information about the attack.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We didn't have any issues so far.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We deployed some brain instances, and everything was smooth. We are a big enterprise, and its scalability hasn't been an issue.

How are customer service and support?

Two months ago, we had a small incident, and we used their technical support. A colleague of mine interacted with them, and it was perfect. It was done flawlessly, and everything worked. I'd rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't use any similar solution previously.

How was the initial setup?

It's quite easy. Compared to other products, its implementation is very easy.

What about the implementation team?

We managed the deployment. We managed the team that implemented the solution. I've had only a few interactions with them, and every time, it was perfect.

What was our ROI?

We have not seen an ROI yet because we have just implemented and started to use it. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I was remotely involved in its evaluation. We tried to create alerts, and Vectra always caught the attacks. Vectra was also easy to implement.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate Vectra AI a nine out of ten because there's always room for improvement.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1444719 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Straightforward solution with good support, visibility, and implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "It has helped us to organize our security. We get a better overview on what is happening on the network, which has helped us get quicker responses to users. If we see malicious activity, then we can quickly take action on it. Previously, we weren't getting an overview as fast as we are now, so we can now provide a quicker response."
  • "In comparison with a lot of systems I used in the past, the false positives are really a burden because they are taking a lot of time at this moment."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to monitor what is happening on our network, especially to protect our network from malicious activity.

We also have the sensor into Office 365, so we can also monitor everything that is happening in there.

At the moment, we use it to monitor all our endpoints.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution's Privileged Account Analytics for detecting issues with privileged accounts is critical for our organization. Because of risk, we scan our entire network. We have a lot of segmented networks where clients can almost do nothing. If we just look into everything, then sometimes there is a bit of noise. When you select your privileged hosts or accounts, you can see how many things are left over and which are the most critical that need to be solved as soon as possible.

It notifies us if our Office 365 has been compromised. Even after business hours, I get personal emails. This is a temporary solution because we are working doing repetitive alerting, but that's a work in process. We are working on an integration with our authentication system that will be able to detect an account or device. We want to automate that process so the account will be locked out for a period of time.

Vectra is a detection system on top of our protection system. We do a lot of protection on our network, but that protection is a configuration based on human interaction, where there can also be human faults or errors in the system. 

The solution captures network metadata at scale and enriches it with security information, e.g., we have sensors for Symantec antivirus and our virtual infrastructure. We are looking into extra sensors for enabling some things from Microsoft Defender. We integrated it into our Active Directory so we can do some user correlations, etc. It enriches the metadata on hosts and accounts, but that is mainly informative. It is good for us when making a final decision about some detections.

It has helped us to organize our security. We get a better overview on what is happening on the network, which has helped us get quicker responses to users. If we see malicious activity, then we can quickly take action on it. Previously, we weren't getting an overview as fast as we are now, so we can now provide a quicker response.

The visibility is much greater because of the behavior analysis and details that sometimes we have to put into it. On the firewall that we already have, sometimes we do manual lookups and check if everything is okay, then do research into it. Now, we put less effort into trying to manually do things to ensure that we have a good security model. We can see more how behavior changes with time, but that also requires us to put more time into the solution.

The solution gives us a baseline for users and their behaviors. We are able to establish which users have risky behaviors, then reach out to them and recommend better ways of doing things.

What is most valuable?

The hosts are critical hosts, which are really good when used to look up things as fast as you can because these could be very risky situations. Furthermore, within detections, we try to clean up a lot of things that are low in priority. It is same thing for the accounts within Office 365: Everything that is critical has to be solved as fast as possible.

The triaging is very interesting because we can do more with less work. We have more visibility, without too many false positives. It is a work in process because there are a lot of clients in the network, and everything has to be researched to see if it is valid, but most alerts and detections are solved with a bit of triaging.

The interface is very intuitive and easy to use. It gives a good overview, and it is important to understand what is happening on the network.

The integration within our virtualization infrastructure allows us to see the traffic that is going between virtual machines, even within our host. That gives us a lot more insights.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s ability to reduce false positives and help you focus on the highest-risk threats is mostly good. It is still a bit of work in process, but I can give feedback to the company from the help desk. There is follow-up from the Vectra team who follows it closely. We can also give a lot of inputs to make it still a better product. It's already a very good product, but in comparison with a lot of systems I used in the past, the false positives are really a burden because they are taking a lot of time at this moment.

The Office 365 integration is still a pretty new feature. I also have seen some improvements, and they email us with every step in the improvement process. I think that this integration will grow.

Every area has room from improvement. Security is an ongoing process. It is important for Vectra to keep updating their system based on new behaviors.

We would like to see the combination of the cloud with on-premise, e.g., what's happening in the cloud versus what's happening in the on-premise situation. If there is a phishing mail in the cloud, then the phishing mail comes in and a colleague clicks on that mail. Normally, it would be blocked by the system. However, when it's not blocked, then there can be malware on the system locally. We think it's important to get the integration of what's happening on Office 365 with phishing mails. 

Sometimes, it is a bit noisy on the dashboard because all the systems are on one field. On the dashboard, we have a complete overview of high, medium, and low risks. However, it would be more interesting for us if they could split that dashboard into high, medium, and low devices. For example, there is a dashboard on a device with a complete overview specifically for high-risk.

For how long have I used the solution?

It has been operational for a few months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It runs very smoothly. It is stable.

We haven't had any issues in regards to the stability or performance. The interface works very quickly. There is no latency on the traffic.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales well. 

For end users, we have about 10,00. On the administrative side, there are five to 10 system admins who use the information from the system for configuration and monitoring tasks.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good with fast responses. They reach out if they see there might be more questions. So, if you have a simple question, it could be that they elevate it to a more complex question to see what you really mean.

Seeing all the malware reaching out to CMC services from within our network, we reach out to those people via the help desk, and tell them, "Maybe you can scan this or that because those systems are managed by us." We get a lot of thanks from those people, which are often saying, "I did have some strange behavior on our systems, but I didn't know what it was. I wasn't doing anything about it, but thank you. It helps when you scan it, and the system is running better at the moment." In a completely unmanaged network with a lot of devices bring your own devices), it helps everybody.

The way that we can work with support to add feature requests is very interesting because it is an evolving world.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't have a solution like Vectra previously.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was completely straightforward. I didn't need any help. They delivered the device within the first weeks of COVID-19. The system is preconfigured from Vectra. I placed it in the server home, configured the network, and moved the Internet traffic out of the mailboxes, then I put it onto network so it was visible. In 30 minutes to an hour, everything was running.

What was our ROI?

We can sleep better.

As long as there is no full cycle attack, we will earn our money back.

Efficiency increased. There is less technical work to be done to ensure that nothing is happening from threats. Now, the system gives us the transparency that we need.

The solution has reduced the time it takes us to respond to attacks. In the past, it was difficult to know if something was happening because we didn't have an overview. Now, we know it very quickly because we have an overview of what is happening.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is high. 

Darktrace was also pricey.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated Darktrace. We made a decision to stop testing Darktrace very early on, so it is difficult to compare to Vectra.

We chose Vectra because of the solution's simplicity; it is more straightforward. Also, we liked Vectra's support, visibility, and implementation. The solution comes to a conclusion within Vectra about some detections. It was easier to find the technical details which were interesting without looking too deep. The correlation was good too. At the end of the proof of a concept, Vectra added some extra features. However, for finding the way into the system, it took us a lot more time. 

We found that Vectra enables us to answer investigative questions that other solutions are unable to address. They provide a checklist regarding what we can do about detections. Because of this visibility, we don't have to do more investigations. 

We have other systems, like Office 365, which do behavior analysis and some signature behavior analysis. However, Vectra does not gives that many false positives in comparison with other solutions. Also, we are now able to see the entire network and cloud.

What other advice do I have?

If you are looking into this type of solution and have the money, then you certainly need to look into Vectra.

The campaigns are interesting when looking at the beginning of a campaign. The scope of false positives is a real issue in a network that continuously has a lot of new hosts, but we can cope with it. We have given some feedback to the help desk regarding coping with this matter.

We hope that we can keep it so we don't see a complete lifecycle of an attack.

We are planning to use more features of the solution in the future, e.g., automation. We also want to integrate it with more advanced client security features.

I would rate this solution as an eight of 10. There is still a lot of development going on with it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Analyste SOC at LGM Group
Real User
Top 20
Efficient, stable and improves productivity
Pros and Cons
  • "It's important for us that the user interface is easy to understand and that is the biggest benefit we see from Vectra AI."
  • "The rules for threats are not always precise and Vectra AI should improve this."

What is our primary use case?

We use Vectra AI mainly for presentations.

How has it helped my organization?

It's important for us that the user interface is easy to understand and that is the biggest benefit we see from Vectra AI.

When it comes to Vectra AI helping our software's productivity, it has an effect because it's faster and that is quite important.

What is most valuable?

The feature I found most valuable is the recording because it's easy to analyze logs that I need to analyze.

What needs improvement?

The rules for threats are not always precise and Vectra AI should improve this.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about eight months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding the stability of this solution, I would say that it is efficient. We've had only one issue in the past eight months with logs.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My impression is that Vectra AI is a scalable solution and that is exactly what we need, which is great. We have around 1,500 devices currently.

What was our ROI?

I would say that we have seen an ROI with Vectra AI.

What other advice do I have?

We use the Threat Detection and Response platform, mainly for forensics. It's quite effective because it's easy to understand and everything is in real-time.

Overall, I would rate this solution an eight, on a scale from one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2036466 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Owner NDR at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
MSP
Top 20
The Recall feature enables us to use archived data to address current or active threats that may not have been detected
Pros and Cons
  • "The core product provides excellent visibility, but my favorite feature is Vectra Recall."
  • "Vectra Recall could be utilized much more, and I'm seeing some indications of that today with the investigative components. I use the Visualize feature to visualize components and dashboards a lot. I'm interested in new ways to build automated searches or having them leveraged already from Vectra."

What is our primary use case?

I work as an analyst who determines how our services should be built and integrated. We use Vectra to address a lack of visibility in our client environments. The tool has the potential to solve problems in a few areas, with new features on the way. We're exploring ways to build our services on top of the Vectra platform. 

We are considering the various integration options and how we can build a solid portfolio using this suite of products in future services. We have other tools like Palo Alto, and we hope to leverage our services on other platforms. There are several internal integration challenges that we need to examine.

How has it helped my organization?

Vectra gives my clients a sense of comfort. For example, in some of our cases last year, Vectra enabled us to understand each exploit's phases of attack, helping us to segment those phases. We knew how the phases were executed, so we could search for all those signs. It put the client at ease to know we could see signs of successful exploitation and demonstrated our value to them. 

We're software clients building services on top of Vectra for our customers. It's crucial for us to get the alerts we need and decide which quarter should be our focus. We're still trying to navigate the solution, but we're getting closer to determining how we want to build our services. We know how to deliver the services, but there are nuanced ways we can improve. However, learning the cloud UI and new scoring models has been an adjustment. 

What is most valuable?

The core product provides excellent visibility, but my favorite feature is Vectra Recall. It enables us to use archived data to address current or active threats that may not have been detected.

I have yet to see real-time attacks, and I'm the kind of person who needs hands-on experience. At the same time, they are triggering alerts on our regular scanning tools like Nessus. It triggers if they are noisy enough. Vectra's Threat Lab showcases this, but I need a case to work with to know from experience. 

What needs improvement?

Vectra Recall could be utilized much more, and I'm seeing some indications of that today with the investigative components. I use the visualize feature to visualize components and dashboards a lot. I'm interested in new ways to build automated searches or having them leveraged already from Vectra.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Vectra AI for around a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Vectra AI is stable on the sensor side. It doesn't create a heavy maintenance burden on our team. There is a thin line between what we need to do and what our client needs to do. The client has an outsourcing partner doing things for them, and there aren't many issues with the detection platform. Recall sometimes goes down when we make too many queries, but it comes back up quickly. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Vectra AI is highly scalable. Our clients vary in size, ranging from 400 IPs to massive deployments with upwards of 20,000 IPs. So it's just a matter of getting the initial scoping and what type of visibility you want to have.

How are customer service and support?

I rate Vectra customer support ten out of ten. They're excellent, and they'll find the correct answer even if they don't know it at first. We use tech support and the customer success team. They are top-notch and responsive to any suggestions we have as an MSP. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have some personal experience with one of Vectra's main competitors, but I won't mention them by name. I'm trying to go beyond all the marketing hype, and I have huge respect for both tools. As an analyst, I want to find the bad guys at the end of the day, and I've had good experiences with both. We have more experience with the other tool, and I'm comfortable detecting threats on both. They're equally capable in this field.

Vectra AI has advantages, including a more extensive list of attack and defense references. Vecta has better at-a-glance integration options with EDR tools like CrowdStrike. There are nuanced differences between the products, and one might be more suitable depending on your needs. 

There are more dimensions than detection capabilities. It depends on the partner model and the market. Vectra covers many of those areas, and it's our primary vendor. 

How was the initial setup?

Our platform team was responsible for implementing Vectra. The greatest challenge was getting the initial scoping a hundred percent correct. Sometimes the client comes from Vectra, and/or they come from us. The handover must be hundred percent because we know exactly what we will deliver. Existing and future clients need to ensure the scoping is perfect. 

The scope is sometimes unclear and isn't apparent until you start. The scoping needs to be right for you to have a good deployment. You know your integration options and will connect X of these sensors.

Once the scoping is correct, everything else is straightforward for our team to implement. 

What was our ROI?

I haven't gotten much feedback about the return on investment. Because nothing is happening yet, we need some reassurance that we can see when it does. We must feel confident that it will actively respond when something happens. 

We can use Vectra to create visibility, like Microsoft coming out with end-of-life PCERPC integrations. We can help the clients even though it's not on the security operations team. You can utilize the network data once you have it and we can build the services to provide assistance above and beyond detection.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Vectra AI a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Vectra AI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Vectra AI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.