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In a world where cyberattacks and data breaches are ever increasing, user behavior analytics (UBA) offers respite to security teams tasked with identifying malicious activities across a network. IT admins no longer need to sort through logs and define thresholds to spot suspicious user behavior. UBA leverages machine learning to establish a dynamic baseline of each user's activity and continuously monitors for any deviation from the established norm. When an anomalous event is detected, UBA systems alert the admins to the potential risk, so immediate remediation efforts can be carried out. Here are five UBA best practices to help you detect any indicators of compromise in your network.
Configure audit policies in your Active Directory (AD) to log every activity that takes place in your AD environment. Enable object-level auditing to report on changes to critical AD objects, files, and folders. Log all user logon activities, as these can indicate account takeovers and other attacks. A robust audit policy offers the UBA system all the data it needs to establish the baseline for normal behavior.
Security admins are typically focused on fending off external threats to your organization's sensitive data. However, suspicious activities by malicious insiders are a little harder to identify, because they're already operating past your first line of defense. Use UBA to your advantage by configuring it to look for abnormalities in user behavior that point to insider attacks.
Carefully consider beforehand how the alerting mechanism will function in the event of a breach. Plan and define the criteria for generating alerts, establish who will receive the alerts, and determine what action needs to be taken when suspicious behavior is detected.
Do not mistake non-privileged user accounts as harmless. Hackers take control of standard accounts and slowly escalate privileges to carry out attacks. Keeping track of all user activity enables the UBA system to detect even the slightest deviations from standard accounts that merit a closer look.
When implementing a UBA system, ensure that your security team is trained to use, maintain, and improve the system to strengthen your organization's security posture. Organize cybersecurity awareness training and promote best practices among employees to keep up with the security trends.
Using native tools to audit and monitor your AD can burden your security teams with overwhelming volumes of log information and false alarms. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus,a real-time change auditing and UBA solution, uses advanced machine learning techniques to detect, investigate, and mitigate threats like malicious logins, lateral movement, privilege abuse, data breaches, and malware.
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