Privileged User Behaviour Analytics to Analyze Threats in Advance

Today’s enterprise infrastructure is a complex mix of endpoints, the cloud and the data stored in them. Numerous users (both standard and privileged) access and share the data in these endpoints to complete their work. The enterprise data is deemed sensitive; losing this data can bring monetary and reputational losses to businesses.

As the data is precious, cybercriminals continuously lurk to find vulnerabilities in organizational networks to intrude and steal this mission-critical information. More often than not, hackers target vital privileged accounts such as service and admin accounts to gain unrestricted access to a business network.

Forrester estimates that privileged account abuse accounts for around 80% of breaches. With cyber criminals using sophisticated attack techniques, businesses must have clear visibility and control over privileged user behaviour.

Privileged User Behaviour Analytics (PUBA) or Privileged Account Analytics (PAA) helps enterprises monitor privileged user activity. PUBA enhances the security posture of an organization with its threat intelligence.

What is Privileged User Behaviour Analytics (PUBA)?

PAM, or Privileged Access Management, helps you secure your enterprise elevated access through various approaches such as Multi-Factor Authentication, session recording, remote device security etc. It is an essential set of security measures for businesses of all sizes and sectors to protect themselves from catastrophic cyber threats.

The PAM system considers the involvement of both non-human and human elements. It assumes that the privileged user activity must be continuously monitored and analyzed with Privileged User Behaviour Analytics (PUBA). It is an additional layer of security for businesses to anticipate threats in advance and prepare to fight against cyber threats.

The Key Functions of Privileged User Behaviour Analytics

Know Who Possesses Access to What

Although it may be against a company’s policy, individuals often share their credentials with unauthorized persons (even within the company). Businesses may detect credential-sharing violations and take appropriate action by using PUBA to check for concurrent, remote, or otherwise anomalous use of user accounts.

Analyze User Activity in Real-Time

When new forms of external attack or malicious insider activity emerge, they go undetected by a rules-based security system. Privileged User Behaviour Analytics (PUBA) monitors and graphs user behaviour in real-time to get a clearer picture of what is going on in your IT infrastructure. It may also be used with collected session data for establishing correlations.

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Detect Privileged Account Abuse in Advance

The primary focus is on your privileged accounts. This makes it crucial to check for any suspicious activity associated with elevated access. A clear sign of insider danger might be automated, remote, or simultaneous access. Warning signs include:

Logging in at odd times.
Attempting to access unapproved accounts or systems.
Sending or receiving data without permission.

Configure the Most Important Alerts

By classifying user events according to risk and deviation levels and emphasizing the most suspicious occurrences, PUBA helps decrease the false positives created by Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems. In addition to sending alerts to SIEM systems, the user-friendly interface also displays a prioritized list of occurrences that security analysts may utilize to zero in on the most pressing threats.

Effective Incident Response with Privileged User Behaviour Analytics

Start with a background check to verify the legitimacy of administrators and other high-level employees, including third-party vendors. As such, businesses can understand the privileged access usage in their networks.

Next, invest in a PAM tool that will help protect not just the credentials but also the access rights and privileges of privileged accounts. Neither outside hackers nor trusted inside users should be able to get access to sensitive information or misuse their powers as administrators.

To scale the efficiency of the PAM tool, understand the pattern of privileged user behaviour, and create a baseline for the same. So, every time you notice an unusual behaviour, you can trace it and take the necessary steps.

To conclude…

It is time for businesses to think beyond legacy security practices such as manual privileged account access delegation and authentication. They must employ a cutting-edge PAM tool such as Sectona Security Platform (simply Sectona PAM) for robust access security and control.

To add more weight to the enterprise PAM strategy, Sectona provides a PUBA/PAA module that helps businesses take necessary steps to identify and stop a threat before any potential damage. Not only that, but diverse IT teams can use the tool to control and manage access effortlessly from a single console. It is easy to deploy, implement and manage.

To know more about Sectona PAM, schedule a 30-minute no-commitment call with our IAM (Identity and Access Management) and PAM experts now.

Thinking of starting your PAM journey? Read our Buyers’ Guide for Privileged Access Management and make informed decisions while choosing the solution that fits your access security and management needs.