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ITDR: The Missing Link in Unified XDR & Exposure Management By: Vikas Chaturvedi, Principal Architect – Microsoft Cybersecurity, Inspira Enterprise

The traditional perimeter, which clearly divided the enterprises within the four walls and the rest of the world, has long since disappeared. Neither the organizations’ resources nor the users are confined to the physical infrastructure.  Digital transformation, SaaS and cloud adoption, and remote and hybrid work have contributed to this situation, which is mired with complexities. Traditional perimeter-based defenses are ineffective, with identity becoming the new security perimeter and also the new battlefield for cyber criminals.  Every new tool added to the organization’s identity landscape is a potential gap that has to be addressed.


The market reality: Why identity is the new combat zone

Organizations of all sizes and across all sectors are vulnerable to cyber-attacks that are not limited to traditional endpoints and networks.  According to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR), credentials remain the number one battleground in cybersecurity.  Attackers are targeting identities through stolen credentials, conventional multifactor authentication, and human-operated ransomware attacks, among other methods.  The traditional SIEM and EDR solutions expose a vital gap in traditional security operations, and many times, the identity-based attacks remain undetected, giving rise to identity blind spots.  The Verizon DBIR also revealed 88% of basic web app attacks used stolen credentials, 60% of all breaches involved the human element, and brute force attacks against basic web apps rose exponentially, nearly tripling over the last year.  Microsoft’s 2024 Digital Defense Report reveals that password attacks have hit record highs, while emerging attack vectors like AiTM phishing are rapidly increasing, bringing an unprecedented scale and diversity of threats.


Why Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Matters

Identity threat detection and response (ITDR) is emerging as a key pillar in modern security operations and a critical layer in the security stack.  Gartner introduced the term ITDR to describe the collection of tools and best practices to defend identity systems.  These tools safeguard identity systems, detect when they are compromised, and enable efficient remediation.  This cybersecurity strategy enables the prevention of identity-related threats that target credentials and prevents malicious actors from compromising user identities.  ITDR emphasizes safeguarding the ‘who’, which is the identity, rather than the ‘what’, which could include devices or endpoints. Since ITDR works proactively to identify threats, it can improve an organization’s security posture.  It enhances visibility into the identity systems, identifies compromised credentials, evaluates privileged accounts, and further strengthens identity infrastructure security while supporting regulatory compliance.  ITDR, when integrated with Unified XDR (Extended Detection and Response) and CTEM (Continuous Threat Exposure Management), creates a proactive defense strategy against evolving cyber threats.


ITDR is Essential for Unified XDR and Exposure Management

Traditional XDR solutions correlate security signals across endpoints, email, cloud, and applications, but without an identity-centric approach, they lack the full attack context. ITDR fills this void by detecting identity-based threats that bypass traditional defenses.  By correlating identity signals with other security telemetry, they provide full attack visibility.  The ITDR approach also automates response actions to contain threats before they escalate.  By integrating ITDR into Unified XDR, organizations benefit in several ways,

  •        Proactive Identity Threat Hunting with Unified XDR

Modern-day sophisticated threat actors are exploiting the complex threat landscape by launching cross-domain attacks using identity as the initial attack vector, spanning endpoints, cloud, and identity systems.  These attacks are difficult to detect and mitigate as security teams lack cross-domain visibility.  On the other hand, ITDR correlates identity-based threats across multiple domains, including compromised user accounts, lateral movement attempts, privilege escalations, and malicious app consent attacks.  This cross-domain correlation helps SOC teams prioritize real threats rather than chasing false positives.


  •        Faster Incident Response with Identity-Driven Automation

In 85% of modern cyberattacks, attackers escalate privileges within 1 hour of initial compromise, and the traditional, slow incident response processes are inadequate to respond to this speed, demanding faster detection and automated response.  Here, ITDR speeds up response with real-time identity protection, enabling automatic isolation of compromised accounts before the occurrence of lateral movement. It ensures risk-based conditional access to block suspicious activities dynamically.  ITDR also enables automated attack path mapping to visualize the full impact of identity threats.


  •        Strengthening Exposure Management with ITDR in CTEM

75% of security teams still prioritize vulnerabilities based on CVSS scores alone, but not all vulnerabilities are exploited.  Gartner’s Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) framework highlights the need for proactive risk reduction beyond traditional vulnerability management.  ITDR helps shift from a “find and patch” approach to a “predict and prevent” model.  By integrating ITDR into CTEM and External Attack Surface Management (EASM), organizations can establish continuous monitoring of exposed identities across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.  They can also gain from the automated risk scoring based on real-world attack intelligence and proactive attack surface reduction, minimizing exploitable identity gaps.

A large financial services company faced repeated account takeovers despite having traditional MFA. Attackers used MFA fatigue attacks to trick employees into approving fraudulent logins. They also leveraged token theft techniques to bypass session-based authentication and, with service principal abuse, maintained persistent access.

By deploying ITDR with XDR, the company blocked unauthorized login attempts by detecting anomalous sign-ins. High-risk session revocations were automated before attackers could escalate privileges. The company also strengthened exposure management by continuously assessing misconfigured identity policies.  This resulted in a significant reduction in unauthorized access attempts within three months.


As organizations move toward hybrid and multi-cloud environments, traditional SIEM and EDR solutions are no longer sufficient. They are being augmented or replaced by ITDR and unified XDR to protect hybrid identities, which represent the future of security. Alongside conventional vulnerabilities, exposure management must now account for identity-related risks. Identity has become the new perimeter, and securing it is absolutely non-negotiable.