Insider Threat Solution

Aug 4, 2023 | Cloud Computing

Unmasking the Shadow Within:
Insider Threat Solutions in Cloud Security

As our digital world increasingly moves towards cloud-based operations, businesses must consider various threats that can undermine their security efforts. One of the most underestimated yet damaging threats comes not from external hackers, but from within the organisation itself – insider threats.

Understanding the Insider Threat Solution

Insider Threat Solutions refer to potential harmful actions towards the organisation taken by individuals who are, or were, authorised to access the system and its data. These could be employees, contractors, or business partners. These threats pose a significant risk because these insiders often have legitimate access to sensitive data and a comprehensive understanding of the organisation’s infrastructure.

Insider threats can broadly fall into four categories:

Malicious Insiders: These are employees who intentionally cause harm to the organisation, often for personal gain or due to disgruntlement.
Accidental Insiders: These are employees who unknowingly contribute to a security breach, often through careless behavior, such as falling for a phishing scam.
Exploited Insiders: These individuals have their credentials or access rights misused by external attackers.
Third-party Insiders: These can be vendors, suppliers, or partners who have access to your systems and unintentionally or intentionally cause a breach.

The expansion of the cloud environment has brought about a significant increase in the surface area for these insider threats. However, by employing effective insider threat solutions, organisations can safeguard their cloud infrastructure.

The Solution to Insider Threats

Insider threat solutions involve a combination of technology, processes, and people. Technologies like User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) play a crucial role in identifying and neutralizing potential threats.
UEBA monitors and analyzes user behavior to detect anomalies, while DLP helps prevent data leaks, and SIEM provides real-time analysis of security alerts. Alongside these, a robust cybersecurity culture and stringent access control policies are crucial.

Preventing Insider Attacks

The following steps are recommended for organizations to prevent insider attacks:

1. Strict Access Control: Limit access to sensitive data and apply the principle of least privilege (PoLP) – i.e., provide the minimum level of access needed for employees to perform their duties.

2. Continuous Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring of user activity to quickly detect and respond to anomalous behaviour.

3. Regular Training: Conduct regular cybersecurity awareness training to educate employees about potential threats and the importance of following security procedures.

4. Strong Security Culture: Foster a security-centric culture that values transparency, ethics, and proper handling of data.

Insider Threat Detection Process

The process to detect insider threats involves a cyclical, four-step process:

1. Data Collection: Accumulate data from various sources like log files, network traffic, and user activities.

2. Analysis: Use advanced analytics tools to examine the data, looking for patterns and anomalies.

3. Alert: Based on the analysis, generate alerts for suspicious activities that need further investigation.

4. Response: Once a threat is identified, take appropriate action, which could range from further monitoring to immediate lockdown of resources.

Mitigation of Unauthorized
Information Exploitation

Although unauthorized exploitation of privileged information is typically associated with illicit activities in the financial sector, the ethos of observation, identification, and prohibition of harmful activities holds relevance here. By implementing strict access control measures, constant supervision, and analytical procedures, anomalous behaviors indicative of such misuse can be identified. Regular audit processes and an efficient whistle-blower program significantly contribute to curtailing these practices.

Managing Threats

Threat management involves identifying potential threats, assessing the damage they could cause, and implementing measures to prevent, eliminate, or minimize the damage. A comprehensive threat management program includes a wide range of activities such as risk assessment, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, incident response planning, and continuous monitoring.

In conclusion, insider threats represent a significant risk to cloud security, but with robust solutions, vigilant monitoring, and a strong security culture, organizations can effectively manage these threats.

Cloud security is a journey, not a destination. As your organization grows and changes, so will your security needs. Stay agile, stay informed, and stay secure.

The Crucial Role of
the Human Element

The technology to prevent and combat insider threats is important. But the most effective security strategy also accounts for the human element. Behavioural changes can signal a potential threat, and identifying these can allow an organization to respond appropriately.

Establish an open-door policy for employees to communicate issues. Emphasize the importance of reporting unusual behaviour or suspicious activities by colleagues. This promotes a proactive culture of security, where every individual feels a shared responsibility for the safety of the organization’s data.

In the context of third-party insiders, ensure you thoroughly vet all partners, contractors, and vendors before granting them any level of access to your system. Regularly review and update these access privileges to minimize potential threats.

The Importance of
Regular Audits

Regular audits are an essential tool in preventing insider threats. They provide an opportunity to ensure all security measures are working as intended and to identify any gaps or weaknesses. Audits should not only cover your technological defences but also your organisation’s policies and employee behaviour.
During audits, check if access rights given to employees are appropriate for their job roles, verify that leavers’ access rights have been rescinded, and look for any anomalies in data access or user behaviour.

Adopting a Zero
Trust Approach

While trust plays a crucial role in every organisation, it is paramount to adopt a ‘zero trust’ model when it comes to security. This means that no user or system should be automatically trusted, whether inside or outside the organisation.

In a zero trust model, every access request is thoroughly vetted, regardless of where it originates from. This model applies the principle of least privilege at all times, continuously verifies and authenticates user identities, and maintains strict access controls.

Response and Recovery
from Insider Attacks

Despite the best preventative measures, a determined insider might still cause a security incident. Hence, organisation’s need to have a comprehensive incident response plan in place.
This plan should include steps to contain the damage, investigate the incident, communicate with stakeholders, and recover from the attack. Also, learning from such incidents is key.

Analyse what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. Implement changes based on these learnings to strengthen your organisation’s security posture.

Final Thoughts

In a world increasingly operating on cloud, insider threats present a real and significant risk. However, with a comprehensive approach that includes advanced technology, regular audits, proactive culture, and constant vigilance, organisation’s can effectively protect themselves.

Remember, the battle against insider threats is not a one-time event, but a constant effort. Stay updated with the latest best practices in cloud security and continuously review and improve your security measures. After all, in the realm of cybersecurity, complacency is the true enemy.

EPP vs EDR

Jul 12, 2023 | Cloud Computing

In our increasingly digitized world, the endpoints, or terminal devices, have become critical for businesses necessitating advanced surveillance and protection against threats. The last couple of years, marked by the pandemic and the ensuing work-from-home policy, witnessed an unprecedented surge in security breaches and threats globally.

These experiences have undoubtedly necessitated a reform in threat intelligence and incident response capabilities. But a key dilemma among network security professionals remains—should the primary focus be on prevention or response? This brings us to two popular terms in endpoint security solutions: Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).

What is EPP?

The Primary Defence Mechanism

Defined by Gartner, EPP is a solution that is deployed on endpoint devices to prevent malware attacks, detect malicious activity, and provide the necessary capabilities for investigating and addressing dynamic security incidents and alerts.

EPP traditionally relies on a proactive approach that detects emerging threats and prevents attacks at the device level. Modern EPP solutions, however, offer an array of advanced protection capabilities, acting as the first line of defence against cyber-attacks. They consist of multiple security solutions including antivirus capabilities, anti-malware, data loss prevention (DLP), intrusion detection and prevention, personal firewalls, and data encryption.

The EPP suite encompasses several features:

Antivirus and anti-malware protection
Firewall for managing network traffic
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
Application and device control
Mobile device management (MDM)
Centralized management console
Compliance reporting
Advanced threat protection
On-premises or cloud-based deployment

What is EDR?

For Continuous Vigilance

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a cybersecurity technology designed to identify, investigate, and address security incidents on endpoint devices. EDR solutions work by continuously monitoring endpoint devices, collecting data on system activity, and analyzing this data in real-time to detect suspicious activity. Once detected, EDR solutions can quarantine the endpoint, alert security teams, and provide data for incident investigation.

EDR’s key features include endpoint agents, real-time monitoring, advanced threat detection, incident investigation, forensic data, automated response, centralized management, and compliance reporting.

EPP vs EDR: The Distinction and What’s Next?

While some managed security service providers offer EPP and EDR as a combined solution, these two do have distinct capabilities. EPP requires no active supervision and primarily prevents known threats, while EDR offers active threat detection and launches immediate incident response. EPP lacks endpoint visibility which EDR provides, allowing security teams to aggregate event data across endpoints.

Here is the comparison between EPP and EDR:

Feature	EPP	EDR
Primary Objective	Prevention of threats by identifying and blocking them before they infiltrate.	Detection and response to threats, providing deep visibility into the system to identify and analyze anomalies.
Operation	Primarily operates independently without much active supervision required.	Requires active oversight and management by security professionals.
Protection Scope	Protects against known threats and some unknown threats through predictive methods.	Can identify, investigate, and contain security breaches, covering both known and unknown threats.
Endpoint Visibility	May lack detailed visibility into the endpoint activities.	Provides granular visibility into endpoint activities across the organization.
Incident Response	While it prevents attacks, its incident response capabilities are typically limited.	Specializes in incident response, allowing for rapid detection, investigation, and remediation of threats.
Application	Ideal as a first-line threat prevention mechanism.	Works best as a second-line incident response mechanism following threat detection.

Therefore, for an all-encompassing cloud and endpoint security, partnering with a managed security services provider for both EPP and EDR services would be beneficial. The best approach to cybersecurity typically involves utilizing both EPP and EDR in a layered security strategy, to achieve comprehensive protection. EPP can act as the first line of defence, and if any threat manages to get through, EDR can then detect and respond to it effectively.

The key to staying protected lies in triaging security events, identifying any security breaches via threat hunting mechanism, and having a foolproof endpoint threat detection and response system coupled with an advanced incident management solution.

How Epacts can help?

Epacts Managed Security Services offer such a combination. As one of the leading managed cybersecurity companies, Epacts has dedicated years to develop a robust, futuristic, and highly intelligent end-to-end managed cybersecurity services for your assets.

With Epacts, you can enjoy 24/7 automated monitoring, predictive alerting, deep analytics, and cybersecurity consulting services and support. Embrace the innovative Self-Healing Security to identify potential risks, investigate, and mitigate them automatically. Transform your entire security strategy with Epacts’s AI-driven Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offerings. Explore our overall cybersecurity capabilities to know more.

Maximizing Your ROI: How Cloud Computing Can Help Your Business Save Money

May 5, 2023 | Cloud Computing

In today’s digital age, businesses of all sizes are leveraging cloud computing to streamline their operations, increase agility, and reduce costs. Cloud computing enables businesses to access computing resources and services over the internet, allowing them to scale their infrastructure up or down depending on their needs.

One of the primary benefits of cloud computing is cost savings. By moving IT infrastructure and services to the cloud, businesses can avoid the high upfront costs of purchasing and maintaining hardware and software. Cloud providers typically charge on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning that businesses only pay for the resources and services they use.

Here are some ways in which cloud computing can help businesses save money and maximize their ROI:

Reduced IT infrastructure costs: By migrating to the cloud, businesses can eliminate the need to invest in and maintain costly hardware and software. Cloud providers handle the infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, freeing up IT staff to focus on more strategic tasks.

Increased Operational Efficiency: Cloud computing provides businesses with access to advanced tools and services that can help streamline their operations. For example, cloud-based collaboration tools can improve communication and collaboration between team members, while cloud-based analytics tools can help businesses gain insights into their operations and identify areas for improvement.

Improved Scalability and Agility: With cloud computing, businesses can quickly scale up or down their infrastructure and services to meet changing business demands. This means that businesses can avoid the costs associated with over-provisioning their infrastructure to accommodate peak demand.

Lower Energy Costs: Cloud providers are often able to achieve economies of scale and operate more energy-efficient data centres than businesses can achieve on their own. This translates into lower energy costs and a reduced carbon footprint for businesses.

Reduced Downtime and Data Loss: Cloud providers offer robust disaster recovery and business continuity services, ensuring that businesses can quickly recover from disruptions and avoid costly downtime and data loss.

In conclusion, cloud computing can help businesses save money and maximize their ROI by reducing IT infrastructure costs, increasing operational efficiency, improving scalability and agility, lowering energy costs, and reducing downtime and data loss. As more businesses continue to adopt cloud computing, it’s clear that cloud technology will play an increasingly important role in driving business growth and success.

The Future of Cloud Computing: Trends to Watch and How They Will Impact Your Business

Apr 25, 2023 | Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has revolutionized the way businesses operate, providing them with unparalleled access to computing power and storage resources. In recent years, the cloud has become an essential tool for organizations of all sizes, enabling them to scale their operations, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. As we move into the future, the cloud will continue to evolve and transform the business landscape. Here are some trends to watch and how they will impact your business.

Multi-Cloud Strategies : One of the most significant trends in cloud computing is the adoption of multi-cloud strategies. Rather than relying on a single cloud provider, many businesses are choosing to spread their workloads across multiple providers. This approach offers several benefits, including improved reliability, increased flexibility, and reduced risk. It also allows businesses to take advantage of the strengths of each provider and avoid vendor lock-in.

Serverless Computing : Serverless computing is another trend that is set to shape the future of cloud computing. With serverless computing, businesses can run applications and services without having to manage or provision servers. Instead, they rely on cloud providers to handle the infrastructure and scale resources as needed. This approach can help businesses reduce costs, improve scalability, and increase agility.

Edge Computing : As more devices become connected to the internet, the demand for real-time data processing and analytics is increasing. Edge computing addresses this need by processing data closer to the source, rather than sending it to the cloud for processing. This approach can improve response times, reduce latency, and reduce the amount of data that needs to be sent to the cloud. It also allows businesses to collect and analyse data from remote locations that may not have reliable internet connections.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning : Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are becoming increasingly important in cloud computing. These technologies enable businesses to process vast amounts of data and extract insights that can drive better decision-making. Cloud providers are offering a range of AI and ML services, including natural language processing, image recognition, and predictive analytics. As these technologies become more sophisticated, they will continue to transform the way businesses operate.

Security and Privacy : Security and privacy are always top concerns for businesses that rely on the cloud. As more sensitive data is stored in the cloud, the need for robust security measures is increasing. Cloud providers are investing heavily in security and offering a range of tools and services to help businesses protect their data. At the same time, privacy regulations are becoming more stringent, and businesses must ensure that they comply with these regulations when storing and processing data in the cloud.

In conclusion, cloud computing will continue to play a significant role in shaping the future of business. By adopting multi-cloud strategies, embracing serverless computing, leveraging edge computing, harnessing the power of AI and ML, and prioritizing security and privacy, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and reap the benefits of the cloud. The future of cloud computing is bright, and businesses that embrace these trends will be well-positioned for success.

Choosing the Right Cloud Computing Provider: What to Look for and Why It Matters

Apr 2, 2023 | Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become an integral part of modern businesses, allowing Business to store and access data and applications from anywhere with an internet connection.

However, choosing the right cloud computing provider can be a daunting task, with so many options available. In this article, we’ll look at what to look for when choosing a cloud computing provider and why it matters.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs):

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are a crucial aspect to consider when choosing a cloud computing provider. They define the level of service that the provider guarantees to deliver and set out the consequences if they fail to meet those guarantees. A good SLA should include uptime guarantees, response times, and resolution times for any issues that may arise.

Security:

Data security is a top priority for any business, and choosing a cloud computing provider with robust security measures is essential. Look for providers that offer encryption for data at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication, regular backups, and disaster recovery options. The provider should also have a track record of compliance with industry regulations and standards, such as HIPAA, PCI, and GDPR.

Scalability:

Scalability is a critical factor when choosing a cloud computing provider. Your business needs will inevitably grow and change over time, so you need a provider that can easily accommodate those changes. Look for providers that offer flexible plans that can scale up or down as required and have the ability to quickly add or remove resources to meet demand.

Pricing:

Pricing is always a consideration when choosing a cloud computing provider. While it’s tempting to choose the provider with the lowest prices, it’s essential to look beyond the initial costs. Some providers may offer low prices but have hidden fees or charge for add-ons that are necessary for your business. Look for providers that offer transparent pricing with no hidden costs and offer flexible payment options.

Support:

Finally, support is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a cloud computing provider. You need to know that you can get help when you need it and that the provider has knowledgeable support staff available to answer your questions and resolve any issues that arise. Look for providers that offer 24/7 support, multiple contact methods, and a reputation for excellent customer service.

In conclusion, choosing the right cloud computing provider can have a significant impact on your business’s success. By considering factors such as SLAs, security, scalability, pricing, and support, you can make an informed decision that meets your business needs and ensures the smooth operation of your IT infrastructure.