As today’s cyber-attacks become more sophisticated and harder to detect, traditional security measures are no longer enough to stop them. In order to avoid downtime, financial loss, and data breaches, companies are increasingly turning to advanced and emerging cybersecurity solutions. One such tool being implemented is user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA).
Understanding UEBA
UEBA involves monitoring and analyzing user (human) and entity (non-human) behavior over time, to detect unusual patterns that may indicate a potential security threat. Unlike traditional cybersecurity solutions, which rely on predefined rules and signatures, this technique uses machine learning (ML) to establish a baseline of normal behavior. It is then able to easily identify deviations from this baseline.
Key Components
UEBA functions using the following basic components:
- Data Collection: Gathering data from various sources, including user activities, network traffic, and system logs.
- Pattern Recognition: Identifying patterns and trends in the collected data to establish normal behavior.
- Anomaly Detection: Using ML to detect deviations from established patterns, which may indicate malicious activity.
Benefits
UEBA comes with a variety of benefits, for companies that choose to implement it:
- It allows for the proactive detection of threats, by identifying unusual behavior before it escalates into a security incident. This approach makes it easier for organizations to address potential threats early, reducing the risk of a successful attack.
- Traditional security systems often generate false positives, overwhelming security teams and reducing efficiency. UEBA reduces false positives by focusing on deviations from normal behavior, which helps ensure that only genuine threats are flagged for investigation.
- It provides detailed insights into user behavior and system activities, which allows faster and more effective incident response by helping human security teams to better understand the context of anomalies.
Challenges
While it offers many benefits, UEBA is not without challenges. Like any cybersecurity measure, there are a few things businesses should watch for.
- Data Privacy Concerns: The collection and analysis of user behavior data inherent to UEBA can raise privacy concerns. Organizations must ensure compliance with data protection regulations (such as the GDPR, for companies operating within the EU), and use additional measures to safeguard user privacy. Always anonymize and encrypt data to protect user identities.
- Scalability Issues: As organizations grow, the volume of data to be analyzed increases, which could place strain on systems. Use scalable cloud-based solutions to handle large data volumes, and optimize data storage and processing to maintain performance.
Implementing UEBA
There are some considerations that businesses should take into account when choosing to implement UEBA into their cybersecurity frameworks:
- Integration with Existing Systems: To maximize effectiveness, UEBA should be fully integrated with existing security systems – such as security information and event management (SIEM) and intrusion detection systems (IDS). This allows for more comprehensive monitoring and analysis. Ensure compatibility between UEBA tools and any existing security infrastructure.
- Continuous Learning and Adaptation: UEBA systems should be designed to constantly learn and adapt to new behavior patterns and emerging threats. This improves the accuracy of threat detection, and reduces the likelihood of missed threats. Implement ML models that update regularly based on new data, and conduct periodic reviews and updates to the system to ensure it remains effective.
- Collaboration Between Security Teams and AI Systems: Effective use of UEBA requires collaboration between human security teams and ML systems. Cybersecurity professionals can provide knowledge and expertise that enhance the capabilities of UEBA tools. Train security teams to understand and interpret UEBA insights, and establish workflows that integrate its outputs into the overall security strategy.
Modernize Your Cybersecurity Framework
Protecting company data is only becoming a more difficult task, as the sophistication of cyber-attacks increases. And as the scope and consequences of data breaches rise, having a strong cybersecurity framework is more important than ever before. But if businesses are willing to put the time and effort into properly leveraging emerging solutions like UEBA, they can protect sensitive data and avoid cyber incidents.
The technology experts at Com Pro can take over the human element of cybersecurity for you, helping you make the most of the solutions available and giving you more time to focus on other areas of your business. Discover our managed security offerings, and learn how we can protect your data and customers.