Letting Cybercriminals Through the Front Door

It seems like every day brings us new horror stories about cyberattacks against businesses and other organizations. Of course, many of these high-profile attacks originate in foreign countries that hold antagonistic relationships with the United States. However, the unsexy truth is that the greatest cyber risk for businesses still comes from inside the building.

As Forbes contributor Louis Columbus writes in the article linked below, “Businesses make themselves easy to hack by not protecting their privileged access credentials.” For all the time and effort that companies spend securing their IT perimeter, not enough companies focus on securing the interior. This leads to privileged credential abuse, one of the most difficult breach tactics to stop.

According to the 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon, phishing, stolen credentials and privilege abuse account for the majority of “threat actions in breaches.” In other words, cybercriminals do not need to perform the online equivalent of picking your lock and sneaking in the back door. Instead, they perform the online equivalent of swiping your security card and walking through the front door.

Machine Learning and Threat Analytics

Fortunately, machine learning is enabling threat analytics to deliver greater precision regarding the risk context of privileged users’ behavior. It can create notifications of risky activity in real time, while also actively responding to cyber security incidents.

Machine learning algorithms enable threat analytics to immediately detect anomalies and non-normal behavior. Meanwhile, we can cut off sessions, add additional monitoring or flag something for forensic follow-up. That’s important, as one stolen credential could impact millions of people and cost you millions of dollars.

With Microsoft 365 Advanced Threat Protection, Capital Network Solutions can bring these capabilities to your Sacramento area organization. Call CNS at (916) 366-6566 to find out how we can improve security within your organization.

In the meantime, check out this Forbes article from Louis Columbus to learn how machine learning and threat analytics stop privileged credential abuse.