Understanding Entity and User Behavior Analytics for Security

Cybersecurity Threats Don’t Always Come from the Outside

Put yourself in this situation. Your organization has invested hundreds of thousands (if not millions) in building what you believed was a best-in-class cybersecurity platform. You hired well-trained analysts, you implemented expensive technology solutions that scanned day and night for external threats, and you spent countless hours running tests on the many components of your overall technology environment. 

Whenever a cybercriminal tried to break down the front door, your security solutions were there waiting for them — mercilessly blocking their path forward and notifying you of the incident so you could take action to protect your customers, employees, and company.

Then, one day, it all came crashing down. Your network was compromised. Cybercriminals gained access to your network and stole every ounce of your customer data. Within hours, your company’s breach was the spotlight feature on countless websites and was a viral topic across social media. Your phone lines couldn’t handle the influx of customer calls, and their trust in your organization will be damaged for years to come — if it can even be regained.

Your investment has failed you, your security solutions are now useless, and your cybersecurity team is in shock. There is nothing you can do to solve this now apart from making efforts to ever prevent it from happening again. What happened?

After a careful evaluation, it appears that the attackers gained access to the network through a single employee’s account. That individual’s account showed significant activity over the past week — and they did not report for work this morning. For days, the attackers had been using that employee’s account to burrow their way in deeper into your network toward their goal. Maybe that employee was bribed or intimidated. As unbelievable as it sounds, maybe they were part of it all along. All you can do is cooperate with law enforcement and move forward.

How User Behavior Analytics for Security Could’ve Prevented This

User and entity behavior analytics, or UEBA, could have revealed the past week of unusual activity at the first onset of something suspicious. As far as that employee’s manager and your cybersecurity team knew, nothing out of the ordinary was occurring. The employee hadn’t been acting strangely, and he had been getting his various assigned tasks completed. Despite that, there were significant cyber vulnerabilities present in his account.

UEBA is a security solution that scans the activity of your users (employees or otherwise) at a granular level. Typical usage patterns are recorded, logged, and analyzed. This could include anything from typical login times and durations to the actions taken while in the network. Data accessed, the amount of data downloaded or retrieved, and so on — all of it can be monitored to create a benchmark of “normality.” Should something out of the ordinary occur, your user behavior analytics for security solutions will sound the alarm for your team to take action.

How User Behavior Analytics for Security Protects Organizations

UEBA Identifies Compromised Accounts

In the example above, the employee in question had malicious intent. Of course, that won’t always be the case. Often, users who aren’t tech savvy might become the victim of a phishing email or end up downloading some kind of malware onto their system, which then begins the process of permeating your network. With UEBA, you can proactively identify these accounts based on the unusual activity occurring now and take action to prevent further incursions.

UEBA Detects Force Attempts

Brute-force attacks are hackers’ attempts to identify usernames, passwords, and other information simply by using automated software to run possibilities in hopes of finding the right word or combination. In some cases, their software runs every word in the dictionary. In others, commonly-used usernames and passwords are put forth to try to get access to a cloud platform or network. These attempts occur rapidly. Obviously, an employee would not be entering and re-entering their login information thousands of times per second. When this occurs, UEBA can identify the threat and block access to the platform or network.

UEBA Reveals Potential Insider Threats

It may have seemed unlikely, but the example above in which an insider threat ultimately provided cybercriminals with access to a network is possible. In happens every year, and it costs companies anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per occurrence. Whatever the motivations and reasons for such actions may be, what matters is your ability to detect when something unusual is going on. Similar to the above scenarios, other employees and even security solutions might not be able to detect smaller hints that something is amiss. With UEBA, unusual activity ranging from unauthorized access and data manipulation to policy violations can be instantly identified and reported.

UEBA Alerts You to Unauthorized Access

Permissions are set for a reason. When an account circumvents a permission or other restrictive setting, it’s a clear indicator that something is up. UEBA can help to reveal when a specific account may be accessing information that it has no business reason to access. This also applies to higher-level accounts with permission-setting abilities, as these are often one of the primary accounts used so as to make any changes appear normal. If new administrative accounts are created suddenly and for no reason, UEBA can alert your organization to this.

Make User Behavior Analytics for Security Part of Your Strategy

While it may seem complex, implementing user behavior analytics for security into your organization is not difficult, especially when coupled with a comprehensive security strategy that considers other factors as well. At Inversion6, we use behavior monitoring solutions for our clients to help them better understand their users’ activity, identify potential threats, and take action when needed. If you’re ready to learn more about UEBA and how we can support your organization, reach out to us below.