Insider Threat and Behavioural Monitoring Services

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What is an Insider Threat

Insider Threat Management and Behavioural Monitoring Services

An insider threat is a risk posed by an individual within your organisation who may have access to networks, assets, data and sensitive information. These individuals may be:

  • Former employees
  • Current employees
  • Contractors
  • Business partners

They maliciously aim to misuse their privilege or unwittingly disclose or misuse your organisation’s data and, as a result, damage your organisation's reputation or allow cyberattacks to invade your network.

Insider threats pose a significant risk as they are usually trusted individuals with various access levels. This can complicate catching an insider, as you will need to monitor unusual behaviour and traffic to identify the source of the threat. But because they also know your systems and controls, they may be able to bypass them and elude your cybersecurity team.

Insider Threat Categories

There are three types of insider threats that you should watch out for, namely:

Malicious insider - Turncloak

This type of insider intentionally uses their credentials and access to launch a malicious insider attack. These could range from stealing sensitive information or data to extorting the company for financial gain. Also known as a Turncloak, they are especially dangerous as they have prior experience with your organisation’s security infrastructure and can target specific loopholes and vulnerabilities.

Negligent insider - Pawn

Careless insiders are the most common type of insider threat. This individual unwittingly exposes your organisation's systems and networks to malicious actors. Most careless insiders mean no harm and often fall victim to scams or negligently allow hackers to access your network through an open device.

Mole

A mole is an outsider who gains undue access to your secure network by posing as an employee or trusted stakeholder. They will intentionally join your company to cause harm.

Indicators of Insider Threats

As your go-to cybersecurity partner, Mindfire watches out for suspicious or anomalous activities within your network as they are potential insider threat indicators. Some key indicators of insider threats include:

Unexplained increase in downloads of company data

Excessive downloading of data that is divergent from your usual patterns should be a warning sign. We keep an eye out for data downloaded remotely or at odd times of the day.

Unusual user logins

Mindfire is always on the lookout for unusual logins that happen at odd hours from unknown locations. We also check for username attempts that may warrant further investigation.

Increased access and escalated privileges

The more privileges a user has, the higher the risk they pose to your organisation. Our security team looks for a rise in users with enhanced privileges or attempts to acquire unauthorised privileges.

Attempted access to unauthorised applications or systems

We monitor access to your critical applications, such as ERPs and CRMs, to ensure no unauthorised users gain access. Numerous attempts to access these systems are reasons to issue an alert and analyse these activities.

Unusual employee behaviour

You should keep an eye out for employees whose behaviour changes from being a high performer to violating company policies. Also, watch out for comments about financial distress or a sudden rise in their financial status.

Techniques for Detecting an Insider Threat

Detection of insider threats requires both human and technological efforts. Mindfire uses and recommends these four methods of detecting insider threats.

Behavioural monitoring

This method of insider threat detection looks for unusual or suspicious behaviour of users within your organisation. Mindfire can provide cybersecurity solutions for behavioural monitoring in various ways, namely:

  • User and Entity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA): We perform managed behavioural monitoring to detect anomalies and issue threat alerts to security teams. Our security technicians also look for suspicious or unusual network behaviour within your organisation and your routers, servers and endpoints.
  • Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): This cybersecurity technique collects data and event information to provide visibility into standard user patterns. When the system detects abnormal user behaviour, it alerts security personnel.

Using personnel as sensors

Your employees are one of the best resources for insider threat detection and identification. They can offer insight into changes in a fellow employee's behaviour, which may serve as warning signs. It would be best if you looked out for warning signs.

Behavioural Warning Signs

  • Expressing extreme job dissatisfaction or stress
  • Extreme changes in behaviour
  • Regularly spending time in the office after hours
  • Continual attempts to bypass security measures
  • Often being irritated or grumpy towards fellow employees
  • Sudden indiscipline and violation of company policies
  • Frequent comments about resigning or new, more lucrative job opportunities
  • Boasting about wealth and an abrupt lifestyle change

User activity monitoring

Activity monitoring is one of the most common ways of identifying insider threats. Through user activity monitoring (UAM), our security experts can continuously monitor user activity within your organisation’s network. With automated UAM tools, the system sends real-time threat alerts to security officers as soon as a user violates a rule.

Threat hunting

Using this proactive approach to insider threat mitigation, we actively look for indicators of compromise. This activity has a broader scope than cybersecurity assessment. It requires security teams to gather and analyse data such as results of risk assessments, logs of suspicious user activity, threat reports etc. Mindfire utilises various AI-based cybersecurity technologies to perform threat-hunting activities. This ensures no opportunistic cyber attackers are lurking around your networks.

How to Defend Against Insider Threats - Best Practices

When defending against insider threats, Mindfire can perform the following activities to ensure you are not at risk of insider threats.

  1. Conduct regular risk assessments to help your security teams fully understand the possibility of a cybersecurity insider threat.
  2. Provide security awareness training — including insider threat awareness training — for all employees to create insider threat awareness.
  3. Perform insider threat management activities by monitoring accounts of employees and stakeholders with network access.
  4. Perform regular penetration tests — including threat awareness tests — to identify required security improvements to detect insider threat vulnerabilities.
  5. Monitor our network and endpoints 24/7 to detect indicators of insider attacks.

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Protect your business

If you are looking for reliable and efficient solutions to enhance your business operations, Mindfire is the perfect partner for you. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve your goals. Whether you need Cyber Security Services, Managed Security Services (MSS), Consulting Services, Cyber Risk Management Services, Cloud Services, Digital Services, or Digital Transformation, our team of experts is here to assist you every step of the way. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us and take your business to the next level with Mindfire.