When we think about cybersecurity threats, external hackers often come to mind. But that is not the only problem, insider threats are some of the most serious risks out there. Such threats can be very detrimental to an organization’s data and its image. However, especially when those threats are acted out intentionally or when they are a result of negligence. But then how do businesses protect themselves from such internal risks? Here comes Darktrace, the company for insider threat protection. It is grounded in AI and offers state-of-the-art solutions for insider threat identification and profiling.
Moreover, insider threats are emerging as a difficult problem that is hard to address due to the technical and organizational barriers they pose. Therefore, in this blog, we will know how Darktrace solves these problems and why AI is so important in the fight against insider threats.
What Is Insider Threat Protection?
Insider risks can be defined as a security threat from people within an organization. These individuals have a genuine right to access sensitive information and computer systems that put them at high risk.
Insider threats fall into two main categories:
- Malicious Insider Threats: These are insiders who maliciously violate security either for monetary benefit or to cause financial loss.
- Accidental Insider Threats: These happen when employees disclose sensitive information or let attackers into the organization’s network due to carelessness or ignorance.
Why Are Insider Threats Growing?
With the growth of new technologies such as remote work, cloud systems, and the use of BYOD. It is difficult for organizations to monitor the malicious intentions of employees.
Examples of Insider Threats:
- An employee makes an unauthorized copy of important files the day before he/she leaves the organization to start his/her own competing business.
- A contractor mistakenly communicates some business-critical data to individuals who should not have access to it.
- An employee in the IT department uses their authority to browse files that are off-limits to them.
Moreover, many of these threats are not simply blunt or direct but require a more sophisticated solution. Therefore, Darktrace provides tools for this.
Challenges in Insider Threat Protection
1. Difficulty in Detecting Trusted Users
While insiders act more maliciously, they perform their activities within the regular scope of their accreditation. Therefore, any traditional rule-based system cannot distinguish between normal and anomalous behaviors.
2. Lack of Contextual Awareness
Insider threats include comparatively deviations from normal behavior, for instance, opening unfamiliar files or logging in at completely different times. Without context, these changes may go unnoticed.
3. Increased Attack Surfaces
Remote and hybrid businesses make them more susceptible to new exposures. Employees currently use their own gadgets and insecure connections to get to sensitive systems. Thus, it cannot easily be monitored.
4. Time to Detect and Respond
According to the analysis, insider threats remain latent for weeks or even months before organizations notice them. However, this is a long time for the culprits to create a mess.
How Darktrace Addresses Insider Threats?
Self-learning AI is applied by Darktrace for insider threat identification. However, its efficiency with an ability to monitor flow, analyze behavior, and respond automatically to threats makes it suitable for mitigating risks.
1. Behavioral Analysis for Insider Threat
Firstly, the AI of Darktrace creates a ‘technological fingerprint or map’ for each user, device, and system in the network. Therefore, this fingerprint defines the normative pattern of behaviors, upon which changes can be noted by the system.
For example:
- An employee pulls down a large file of sensitive data from the organization’s server on short notice.
- A device accesses an extraordinary server.
- A user logs in from two geographically different areas in a matter of minutes.
Thus, these behaviors do not ring bells in network security software but Darktrace sees them as dangers.
2. Real-Time Threat Detection
This is a unique feature of Darktrace because it is employed to detect the activities of insiders in the network without interruption. However, this includes:
- Data exfiltration: Another type of data that needs to be monitored in real-time is the recognition of unfamiliar file transfers.
- Privilege escalation: In other words, activation of the information-anti-virus system involves the detection of efforts to gain access to the wrong systems.
- Unusual login patterns: Further, recognizing any action that takes place during prohibited times or originating from prohibited IP addresses.
3. Automated Threat Response
The threats and vulnerabilities highlighted by Darktrace are insider threats. So Antigena separates actions that allow addressing the source of these threats immediately. For example, it can:
- Block unauthorized access.
- Isolate-compromised devices.
- Limit the sending of any potentially or known bogus data across your system and the external world.
Therefore, Antigena manages to prevent the effects of an insider threat while creating a way for business to continue their activities.
4. Scalability and Adaptability
As an intelligent system, Darktrace grows with your organization and adds new users, devices, and work processes. This is important as you will be protected constantly as your business expands, or as you come up with new ideas.
Key Features of Darktrace Insider Threat Protection
1. Contextual Monitoring
Thus, accompanied by the means of traditional rule-based tools, Darktrace takes into account the context of each user’s actions. For example:
- Has the user just opened the given directory and wants to check what is in there?
- Are these actions appropriate to their part and previous conduct?
2. Advanced Analytics
However, this newly established company uses machine learning to examine huge amounts of data to decipher patterns and deviations.
3. Real-Time Alerts
Security teams automatically get notifications for any risky activity so that they can look into it and take appropriate action.
4. Threat Visualization
Darktrace offers clear and easily manageable user interfaces and allows the conception of the threat that the team faces.
Why AI Is Essential for Insider Threat Detection
1. Detecting the Undetectable
The traditional SIEM tools do not work for detecting insider threats since they include rules generated in advance. Meanwhile, AI can find them on its own without requiring detailed instructions on it.
2. Reducing False Positives
When examining the behavior in its environment, AI significantly reduces the number of false positives. However, it means that security officers work with real threats.
3. Continuous Learning
It is important because self-learning AI allows Darktrace to keep up with the changing tactics of insiders which might pose threats.
4. Proactive Responses
In other cases, the AI tools, like Darktrace, operate independently and can immediately contain threats without waiting for personnel to wake up.
Benefits of Using Darktrace for Insider Threat Protection
1. Enhanced Threat Visibility
Make sure that incumbent Darktrace solutions cover the entire range of endpoints, networks, and cloud systems.
2. Regular Training
Moreover, makes people in the organization aware of insider threats and how Darktrace technologies minimize threats.
3. Proactive Monitoring
To investigate such issues, make use of Darktrace’s dashboards to perform the review of activity patterns and to mitigate the mentioned threats.
4. Improved Compliance
Integrate Darktrace with SIEM systems as it provides an approach to security from a layer standpoint.
Conclusion
However, this problem is alarming nowadays that insiders are becoming a threat but it is not an unmanageable problem. Darktrace empowers organizations with AI technology to have the ability to detect and eradicate threats before any damage can be done.
Leaning on the reliance on behavioral analytics, continuous monitoring, and set-and-forget actions, Darktrace is undoubtedly the best in defending against insider threats. Therefore, be in charge of your security system today and get the Darktrace solution to safeguard your institution from within.
