Privileged User Activity Monitoring for Better Visibility

Privileged User Activity Monitoring is a critical security practice that involves tracking, recording, and analysing the actions of users with elevated access rights in an organisation. These users, often referred to as privileged users, could be system administrators, database managers, or network engineers, among others. They can make significant changes to systems, access sensitive data, and potentially cause substantial damage if their accounts are compromised or misused.

The primary role of activity monitoring in this context is to provide visibility into privileged user event logs to detect potential anomalies in user activity. This helps detect potential threats and abate them at a faster pace.

Activity Monitoring is a proactive approach to security that protects both the organisation and its employees. By implementing such systems, companies can create a transparent environment where all actions are accountable. This, in turn, reduces the risk of both intentional and unintentional misuse of privileged access.

Why is Privileged User Activity Monitoring Important?

Did you know? privilege misuse is among the top eight patterns found in data breaches, according to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report.

“Just back in April 2024, a significant breach of privilege misuse occurred when Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested by the FBI for involvement in a Pentagon intelligence breach.

Teixeira, who held a Top-Secret security clearance, had been sharing highly sensitive classified information about US government and military operations, including critical data about the ongoing war in Ukraine, with his friends on Discord over several months.” *

The statistics and breaches like the Pentagon intelligence breach highlight the importance of strong monitoring systems for privileged users.

User activity monitoring serves as a crucial line of defence against both internal threats and external attacks.

It helps organisations maintain the principle of least privilege and provides valuable insights for incident response and forensic analysis. It also ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA, and more.

With the rise of sophisticated cyber-attacks and the increasing complexity of IT environments, organisations are looking for a comprehensive view of all privileged activities.

This is particularly important in the era of remote work and cloud computing. As traditional network perimeters are dissolving and privileged access is granted from anywhere in the world, the need is stronger than ever.

Benefits of Monitoring User Activity

1. Real-time Monitoring: Activity monitoring provides real-time visibility into user actions, allowing security teams to detect and respond to suspicious activities promptly.

2. Complete Visibility: Comprehensive activity monitoring offers a 360-degree view of all privileged sessions. This includes session duration, access permissions, specific commands executed, files accessed, and changes made to critical systems.

3. On-demand Session Termination: Advanced activity monitoring allows administrators to immediately terminate suspicious sessions, providing an additional layer of control and security.

4. Easy Detection of Anomalous Activity: By establishing baseline user behaviour patterns, activity monitoring systems can quickly identify deviations that may indicate a security threat.

5. Better Auditing Capabilities: Detailed logs and session recordings provided by activity monitoring tools greatly enhance an organisation’s auditing capabilities, making it easier to comply with various regulatory requirements.

6. Accelerated Threat Responsiveness: With real-time alerts and activity data, security teams can respond more quickly and effectively to potential threats, minimising damage and reducing recovery time.

7. Improved Operational Efficiency: Beyond security benefits, activity monitoring can provide valuable insights into workflow processes and system usage. This information can be used to optimise operations, identify bottlenecks, and improve overall IT efficiency.

Sectona for All-Round Visibility and Security

The lack of traceability and visibility of privileged accounts can result in ambiguity and security vulnerability. In case of a security incident, it becomes highly difficult to trace back and respond to/mitigate possible threats. This gap often results in the unavailability of evidence when issues arise, making incident detection and response difficult.

Sectona provides a privileged user activity monitoring system that effectively tackles illegitimate access and suspicious privileged activities.