I used to think that Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Managed Security Services (MSS) were a waste of time. After all, most attacks that I had worked on began, and were over, within seconds, and were typically totally automated. In my mind, an IDS alarm going off, or getting a call from the SOC operator, would be like the captain of a ship getting an alarm such as: “Captain, a torpedo passed through engines #2 and #3, and exited the starboard flank. We will be sinking in seven minutes.”

But the Verizon Business 2008 Data Breach Investigations Report tells a very different story.

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