Cybersecurity has become a battle of machine versus machine, with AI being used by both attackers and defenders. As the digital economy expands, security teams are overwhelmed with a vast array of vulnerabilities and attack paths, often exceeding their ability to sort, prioritize, and respond effectively.
Traditional risk-based approaches attempt to filter threats, but they still leave SOC teams drowning in too many alerts, limited resources, and an endless backlog of security issues. The challenge isn’t just detecting threats—it’s knowing where to focus and how to act fast.
To win this AI-driven war, security teams need a smarter approach—one that prioritizes chokepoints, the critical nodes where multiple attack vectors converge.
At TEHTRIS, we embrace the chokepoint philosophy through the TEHTRIS XDR AI PLATFORM, which automatically detects and neutralizes threats, in real time. By fortifying these strategic intersections, it identifies and eliminates multiple threats at once, allowing organizations to optimize resources, strengthen their security posture, and enhance overall efficiency. This approach helps security teams reduce complexity, streamline operations, and proactively counter cyber threats.
Understanding chokepoints in cybersecurity
The term “chokepoint” comes from military strategy, where controlling narrow passages can slow down or block an enemy’s advance.
In cybersecurity, a chokepoint is a key location in a network or device where multiple attack paths pass through before reaching important systems or data. By identifying and securing these chokepoints, organizations can block several attack methods at once. This helps reduce risks, strengthen security, and make it easier to monitor threats.
By identifying and securing these intersections, organizations can:
✔ Stop multiple threats at once: Strengthen security where it matters most.
✔ Reduce noise and false positives: Focus on critical alerts instead of drowning in irrelevant ones
✔ Optimize resources: Protecting chokepoints requires less effort than defending every possible entry point.
Key advantages using of a Chokepoint-Focused Strategy
Security teams often struggle with an overwhelming number of alerts and limited resources. Emphasizing chokepoints offers a pragmatic actionable solution by enabling teams to concentrate their efforts where they will yield the most significant impact.
1. Maximizing impact with targeted efforts
By securing chokepoints, organizations can address at once multiple risks through a single action. Instead of attempting to remediate every non-exploitable attack-path, focusing on these critical intersections allows a direct disruptive control of several potential attack paths simultaneously.
2. Optimal resource utilization
Given resources constraints many cybersecurity teams are facing, redirecting resources toward chokepoints ensures that efforts are concentrated on areas that offer the highest return in terms of risk reduction.
3. Alleviating alert fatigue
The constant influx of security alerts leads to analyst cyber-fatigue and oversight. Meanwhile, a chokepoint-centric approach helps in filtering out less significant threats, allowing teams to prioritize and respond to the most pressing issues more effectively.
TEHTRIS’ implementation of the chokepoint philosophy
The TEHTRIS XDR AI PLATFORM is engineered to automate threat detection and neutralization in real-time, leveraging artificial intelligence to preemptively address potential attacks.
Based on TEHTRIS experience against cyber threats in SOC in all geographies, Threat Research and Product Development, TEHTRIS XDR AI Platform implements mapping attack paths across cloud, endpoint, network, and identity infrastructures, our platform identifies high-risk chokepoints where adversaries are most likely to converge. This methodology ensures:
- Detecting and stopping lateral movements early, so attackers cannot gain deeper access.
- Prioritized remediation efforts, focusing on threats that pose the most significant threats.
- Proactive threat management, reducing the reliance on manual interventions and enhancing overall security efficiency.
- High-quality automated predictable response
Insights from the MITRE ATT&CK evaluations
In the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations, TEHTRIS had the opportunity to assess its cybersecurity strategies against simulated advanced adversaries, including notable ransomware groups and state-sponsored actors.
This year’s evaluations placed a strong emphasis on post-attack analysis, marking a shift from the traditional early detection focus. Despite this change, the TEHTRIS XDR AI PLATFORM successfully demonstrated its effectiveness, leveraging its chokepoint strategy to achieve 100% visibility in the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations.
However, one of the key challenges was the interpretation of results, which generated significant noise. For CISOs, extracting clear, actionable insights from these evaluations can be complex, making it difficult to align findings with real-world security priorities.
To address this challenge, TEHTRIS partnered with MITRE Corporation for a dedicated webinar, offering expert insights on how to interpret MITRE ATT&CK results effectively and leverage them for strategic decision-making.
Exclusive webinar with MITRE: exploring the chokepoint strategy
To delve deeper into our approach and findings from the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations, we collaborated with the MITRE Corporation for an exclusive webinar. This session highlighted also how the chokepoint philosophy enhances detection accuracy, improves response times, and optimizes security operations. This partnership with MITRE showcases significants benefits of focusing on key attack intersections to develop a more resilient cybersecurity framework.
Embracing a collaborative defense approach
At TEHTRIS, we believe that proactive defense is crucial for effective risk mitigation. The insights gained from the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations reinforce the importance of:
- Prioritizing real-time threat neutralization over reactive post-attack analyses.
- Utilizing AI-driven detection and sorting to alleviate the workload on security teams.
- Implementing the chokepoint philosophy to enhance detection efficiency and reduce unnecessary alerts.
By integrating Neural Process Automation (NPA) into our proprietary AI, CYBERIA, we aim to streamline event processing and convert raw data into actionable intelligence. Our objective is to empower security teams with effective solutions that bolster cyber resilience.
For a comprehensive analysis of our MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation results, please visit our blog: TEHTRIS MITRE ATT&CK Analysis
To view our exclusive webinar with MITRE Corporation discussing the chokepoint strategy, please watch: TEHTRIS & MITRE Webinar
TEHTRIS, automatic, human-free detection, response and remediation of cyberattacks. Protect your business and let’s face the unpredictable together!