Today, security operations centers (SOCs) are under extreme pressure like they have never before figured in history.
Security teams are dealing with advanced attacks, increased amount of telemetry data available to them, and a constant lack of talented specialists trained to identify and respond to threats.
For being able to cope with the pressure, organizations implement modern threat detection platforms that enable them to enhance visibility and automate investigation procedures as well as accelerate the process of detection and response.
Among popular threat detection platforms are NetWitness and Vectra AI.
Though both systems are capable of resolving the issue of cyber threats, they use different technologies for this purpose. Understanding the differences between these technologies is very important when making a decision.
In this article, we are going to make a comparison of NetWitness and Vectra AI and see their advantages and disadvantages.
NetWitness is a threat detection and response platform that has been created with the purpose of providing visibility to the attack surface of an organization.
Unlike most other solutions which gather intelligence from one telemetry source, NetWitness gathers its intelligence from:
Its advantage consists in the combination of deep forensic investigation capabilities with real-time threat detection, allowing security teams to not only know that an attack has occurred but also how it occurred and what resources have been impacted.
Vectra AI has its main emphasis on intelligence-based networking detection and response. The product to be used combines machine learning and behavioral analytics in order to recognize the behaviors of attackers within network, data, and identity settings.
Rather than basing its systems on signatures and rules, Vectra AI works towards finding suspicious actions that are connected to the attackers, which allows security specialists to detect the threats that are normally missed out by traditional solutions.
In this way, Vectra AI promotes automation of the detection and prioritization processes.
| Feature | NetWitness | Vectra AI |
| Primary Focus | Threat Detection with SIEM, NDR, EDR, SOAR capabilities | AI-driven Network Detection and Response |
| Visibility | Network, endpoint, logs, cloud, identity | Network, cloud, identity |
| Full Packet Capture | Yes | Limited |
| Threat Detection | Signature, behavior, analytics, correlation | AI-driven behavioral analytics |
| Forensics | Deep forensic investigation | Investigation focused on attacker behavior |
| Log Management | Comprehensive SIEM capabilities | Limited SIEM functionality |
| Incident Response | Integrated workflows and orchestration | Prioritized alerts with integrations |
| Best For | Enterprises requiring complete visibility | Organizations prioritizing AI-driven NDR |
The differences between NetWitness and Vectra AI are highlighted in the comparison of how they detect threats.
While Vectra AI uses behavioral detection in its platform, its artificial intelligence engine analyzes the network traffic, cloud activities and behavior of the user to determine the suspicious patterns used by the attacker. This results in lesser reliance on traditional signatures and identification of advanced threats at early stages.
On the other hand, NetWitness utilizes a mixture of detection mechanisms. Instead of relying on the AI, it correlates with the network packets, telematics of the endpoint, logs, intelligence about the threats and behavior of the users.
Visibility often determines how quickly security teams can investigate incidents.
Vectra AI provides strong visibility into network traffic and identity behaviors, making it particularly effective for detecting lateral movement, compromised credentials, and unusual communications.
NetWitness extends visibility much further.
Security analysts can investigate:
This comprehensive visibility is especially valuable during ransomware investigations or advanced persistent threat (APT) incidents where analysts need to reconstruct every stage of an attack.
Artificial intelligence has emerged as a significant differentiating factor within cybersecurity technology implementations.
By offering AI-driven threats detection capability, Vectra AI has established a solid reputation. The machine learning technology offered by Vectra AI makes use of continuous analysis to spot attackers while at the same time eliminating benign events.
NetWitness utilizes behavioral analysis and threat detection as well, but does not put a lesser weight on correlation, forensic evidence, and analyst-led investigations.
NetWitness leverages the context, making the work of its analysts more effective. The company focuses on making alerts easy to validate and to enable quick responses to all incidents.
This is where NetWitness differentiates itself.
Some of the questions an analyst may seek answers for during the investigation process include:
NetWitness offers forensic capabilities, such as continuous packet analysis, metadata reconstruction, and historical investigation without arbitrary session expiration.
In contrast, Vectra AI offers investigation workflows centered around attacker behavior with metadata retention capped at 180 days for detections.
These capabilities are particularly valuable for:
Vectra AI offers investigation workflows centered around attacker behavior and attack prioritization. While this enables rapid triage, organizations that require deep forensic evidence may need additional tools.
However, other SOC requirements should also be considered when comparing NetWitness vs. Vectra AI solutions.
First, the NetWitness solution features a well-established SIEM component, which allows enterprises to collect, normalize, correlate, and analyze the organization’s logs 350+ supported log sources and 300+ unique network metadata keys. This allows for reducing the necessity of using different logging and investigation tools.
In contrast, the Vectra AI solution is usually used in conjunction with some other SIEM systems but does not replace them. For example, many enterprises use Vectra AI along with Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, or IBM QRadar.
There can be billions of events per day in large organizations.
NetWitness is designed to cater to such environments in which scalability, data retention for a longer period, and many integrations are essential.
It can work well with:
Similarly, Vectra AI works well when it comes to scaling, especially those who want to use AI-based threat detection for their networks in hybrid clouds.
Your requirements will determine which one is better for you.
The maturity level of the security group usually influences how simple the system is.
Vectra AI is very famous for giving priority detections which help minimize alert fatigue.
Teams with less experienced analysts are thankful for their clearer workflows and more straightforward investigation with AI help.
Though NetWitness provides much more comprehensive investigation options, those options are difficult to learn.
The maximum benefit from this advanced solution is obtained by experienced analysts working in SOC, incident response, and threat hunting.
Mature security operations businesses do not treat this complexity as a disadvantage.
There is no definitive answer to the question of whether to choose NetWitness or Vectra AI. The selection of either platform is based on the individual requirements of your security team.
Suppose your priority is AI-driven detection that allows for the discovery of attacker activity with minimal manual effort.
In that case, Vectra AI can be a good fit for you.
Companies that already use SIEM to good effect and are looking to enhance their network detection will find Vectra AI useful.
But detection is only part of the story. When an alert goes off, the next step is to investigate it.
This means figuring out the details of the incident, tracing the attack route taken, assessing the damage caused, and acting quickly.
This is where the value of having broad visibility becomes apparent.
Solutions like NetWitness help you address your entire workflow. They gather network and endpoint telemetry together with logs and forensic evidence to assist with your investigations.
That can save you from having to work with multiple tools and run separate investigations but only if your organization has the need and capability to conduct comprehensive investigations.
As cyberthreats are constantly evolving, security groups require something more than just precise alerts.
To win the battle against cybercriminals, they need to have everything needed to prevent delays due to ineffective systems which cannot change data during investigation.
Vectra AI has emerged as a successful network detection system powered by AI that shows great results in organizations that utilize behavioral analytics and threat prioritization processes.
NetWitness, however, adopts a more general stance towards security operations. It provides authorities with an ability to combine different forms of analytics, thus providing them with the knowledge needed for further investigation and resolution.
In the end, it is unclear which one is better as it all depends on the particular organization’s needs.
In case an organization is focused on enhancing AI-powered network detection, Vectra is a good option.
But if the goal is to develop a more sophisticated detection and response system, NetWitness seems to be a more efficient platform.
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