By Herb Hogue, CTO, Myriad360
The idea of a single pane of glass—a unified interface that consolidates all relevant security data for real-time, actionable insights—has long been a holy grail for security professionals. In theory, it promises to reduce complexity, improve response times, and provide a cohesive view of an organization’s threat landscape. In reality, however, achieving such a comprehensive solution remains an elusive dream for most.
The challenges aren’t just technological; they reflect decades of growth and evolution in the security landscape. As the tools and data have multiplied, so have the silos, redundancies, and inefficiencies that make a unified view so difficult to achieve.
How We Got Here
The fragmented state of today’s security environment reflects decades of layering tools and technologies on top of one another. Every new wave of threats introduced tools designed to address specific challenges—firewalls for network access control, endpoint detection for device monitoring, and SIEMs for aggregating data across systems. But these tools rarely talk to one another, leaving security teams with isolated insights that fail to tell the full story.
According to ESG Research, 70% of organizations now manage between six and 25 different security tools. Each of these tools generates valuable data, but without integration, they also create noise and operational inefficiencies. For many organizations, the more tools they add, the further they get from the single-pane ideal.
The Problem with Tools
Every tool is designed to solve a specific problem. Firewalls monitor traffic and enforce access controls. Endpoint detection platforms protect devices. SIEMs aggregate event data for analysis. While these tools excel in their individual roles, they often fail to work together, leaving security teams to manually correlate data from multiple sources.
This leads to “alert fatigue,” where teams are overwhelmed by uncoordinated notifications. A Ponemon Institute study found that 51% of organizations identify alert fatigue as a major barrier to effective threat detection. Without cohesive visibility, critical signals are easily lost in the noise.
The Reality of Legacy Systems
Few organizations have the luxury of starting from scratch. Most infrastructures are built on decades of legacy systems layered with newer technologies. While these systems remain essential, they were never designed to integrate with modern tools. The result is a patchwork of technologies that require constant adaptation to function together.
In the public sector, this challenge is particularly pronounced. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that federal agencies spend 80% of their IT budgets on maintaining legacy systems, leaving little room for modernization. This creates a significant barrier to achieving the seamless integration required for a single pane of glass.
The Diversity of Data
Each layer of the security stack produces data in its own way. Firewalls generate logs of traffic flows and access attempts, endpoint tools track device compliance, and SIEM platforms aggregate events for analysis. The diversity of these data streams is both a strength and a weakness. While they provide valuable insights, they also create complexity.
IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report highlights the risks of fragmented systems. Organizations with disjointed ecosystems take an average of 283 days to detect and contain a breach, compared to 204 days for those with more integrated environments. These delays increase costs and risks, underscoring the need for cohesive visibility.
AI as an Enabler
While the dream of a single pane of glass remains largely unmet, artificial intelligence offers a promising path forward. AI-driven platforms like Cisco SecureX and Splunk are beginning to bridge the gaps by correlating data streams, reducing noise, and highlighting actionable insights. These tools use machine learning to identify patterns that human analysts might miss, enabling faster and more effective responses.
For organizations adopting AI-driven tools, the benefits are clear. A recent study found that integrating AI into security operations can reduce incident response times by up to 90%.
The Urgency of Integration
The dream of a single pane of glass grows more urgent with every passing year. As threats become more sophisticated and data streams multiply, organizations without unified visibility risk falling behind. The challenges are significant, but so are the potential rewards.
At Myriad360, we’ve worked with countless organizations struggling to make sense of their fragmented ecosystems. Our approach focuses on building tailored solutions that align tools, processes, and people, helping clients take meaningful steps toward achieving cohesive visibility. While the single pane of glass may not yet be fully realized, every step toward integration brings us closer to turning that dream into reality.