What does proactive threat hunting aim to achieve?

Proactive threat hunting is aimed at actively searching for potential threats before they can be exploited by adversaries. This process involves analyzing patterns, behaviors, and anomalies within a network to identify signs of malicious activity or vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the future. By doing so, cybersecurity teams can act preventively to mitigate risks and strengthen their security posture.

This approach contrasts with reactive strategies, where the emphasis is on responding to known threats or vulnerabilities after they have been identified or exploited. While isolating infected devices and auditing user access logs are important components of incident response and monitoring, they do not embody the proactive nature of threat hunting, which seeks to preemptively discover and neutralize risks. Therefore, the focus on searching for potential threats before they become actual incidents is what defines the goal of proactive threat hunting.