In a world so heavily reliant on technology, security, and data, it’s no surprise that the threat of potential cyberattacks is greater than ever before. From external malicious attackers attempting to gain access to credentials, to rogue insiders leaking data for personal gain, a new threat appears every 39 seconds. As a defence, an influx of highly advanced security and analysis solutions have flooded the market.

However, these often require a highly specialised level of knowledge to operate, making them inaccessible for the modern business and leaving them open to potentially lethal attacks.

That’s why Exabeam’s pioneering UEBA software combines high-level security with a focus on ease-of-use, accessibility, and readability. The result; a professional, autonomous and adaptive level of data security that provides insight in a clear and digestible format.

What is UEBA?

User Behavioural Analysis (UBA) and User Entity Behavioural Analysis (UEBA) differ drastically from more traditional  security solutions, such as firewalls and anti-virus software. While these measures aim to prevent attacks from breaching the surface, UEBA aims to detect early signs of a much wider range of potential harmful attacks, alerting security teams on how best to counter such attacks in the future.

UEBA analyses user activity to establish a “normal” baseline, exploiting other entities like third-party tools and applications, networks and endpoints. By comparing activity against this baseline, UEBA can rapidly detect any indication of malicious activity before substantial harm is done, alerting analysts to eliminate the threat in its early stages and establish preventative measures for the future.

What can Exabeam UEBA do?

Due to UEBA’s advanced, intelligent analytical capabilities, users are safeguarded against many security issues. These range from detecting potential malware attacks to efficiently automating forensic data collection.

Some examples of UEBA’s capabilities include:

Detecting compromised credentials

Exabeam UEBA can detect if a specific user’s credentials have been compromised. After indications confirm a compromised account, UEBA can detect and safeguard against specific attacks, such as Pass the Hash (authenticating external servers to give the attacker access to networked systems) and Golden Ticket (granting the attacker access to any resource on a domain)

Detecting attacks on privileged user credentials

Privileged user credentials are much harder to analyse. Due to irregular patterns and activity, it can be difficult to establish a baseline. However, an attack on privileged user credentials is a valid and trending means to gain access to secure data. Exabeam UEBA can detect, identify, minimise, and reduce these attacks.

Later, we’ll see examples of how UEBA may detect potential external attackers.

Exabeam UEBA can help in the fight against potential rogue activity

Unfortunately, malicious external attackers aren’t the only threat to your system.

By detecting unusual internal activity outside the regular baseline, such as irregular logins, Exabeam UEBA can aid systems in the defence against potential insider threats and rogue activity.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Exabeam UEBA can aid security operations in a whole host of ways. Smaller operations are constantly and autonomously being performed in the background to give you peace of mind about your security. For example, monitoring dormant accounts – the reactivation of which could suggest a breach in old credentials.

For more real-world applications, read more here.

Specific Examples Within the Workplace

With so many tools open to UEBA users, teams can place full confidence in their security solutions. UEBA is compatible with almost every industry currently engaged in online operations, from entertainment to finance.

Demonstrating a false positive due to VPN’s

In the constant analysis of user activity, UEBA tools can flag a potential breach in credentials due to a single user logging into locations that are incredibly far apart in a very short space of time.

Having evaluated the possibility that this may be a malicious external user that has gained access through acquiring user credentials, the issue is rapidly flagged as a possible security breach.

Upon further enquiry, and communication with the credential’s user, it’s determined that instead it’s due to the use of a secure VPN while having never done so before – explaining the cause of concern for the anomaly. The issue is de-escalated, and the VPN IP address is added to the user’s network database, strengthening the UEBA’s intelligence and performance.

Entity Analysis to save lives

Exabeam UEBA is also extremely effective in entity analysis, particularly in industries that depend on a wide range of connected devices.

A key industry that operates with a fleet of connected devices is Medical. With devices containing critical information, any potential corruption of data could be life-threatening. That’s why it’s essential to ensure the network is protected by the best possible security solutions.

So Why Exabeam UEBA?

Exabeam UEBA has a wide range of benefits to users over other current UEBA solutions on the market. Exabeam UEBA is capable of:

• Stitching together relative security events into a digestible and accessible timeline.
• Automating data collection to save potential months of manual forensic work.
• Stringing together data from multiple sources to connect the dots and view the attacker’s journey through the network.

Exabeam UEBA is easy to control and use, requiring no heavy knowledge or set-up. Unlike other UEBA solutions, Exabeam promises digestible and approachable security solutions, ensuring that each and every business is secure against potential cyberattacks regardless of technical expertise or training.

By combining state-of-the-art security solutions with leading data visualisation, Exabeam UEBA users are guaranteed secure networks future-proofed against attack s.

For more information on Exabeam’s UEBA solutions and how they we can help to reduce digital threats, contact us here.