THE NEEDLES IN THE HAYSTACK
Cybersecurity professionals face an ever-greater number of challenges in today’s landscape. As solutions and technology advance, threat actors keep pace. In fact, according to the Clark School Study, a cyber-attack takes place every 39 seconds. Not only are CISOs burdened by making sense of an enormous volume of data from a web of disparate systems, they are now expected to report on this data, justifying how their strategies align with corporate KPIs. The pressure is increasing, while cybersecurity talent is harder to find. There will be a shortage of 1.5 million jobs in the industry by 2019. CISOs aren’t the only one feeling the strain. Admins’ valuable time is being taken by time-consuming password reset cycles, frustrated end users, and a growing struggle to understand what is really going on in their systems.
VULNERABILITIES IN CURRENT SOLUTIONS
Even with stringent security solutions in place, organizations are left vulnerable. Key cards can be stolen, fingerprints can be faked, and you’re only as good as your last password. Studies show organizations who continuously monitor their network for suspicious behavior were more likely to detect data breaches internally, and more likely to have zero data exfiltrations but, administrators’ blind spots still pose a major problem. How can you be certain what is really going on out there?
IDENTITY ASSURANCE IS KEY
Currently, the end user is only verified at the beginning of a session. What if they walk away from the workstation, or their station is taken over remotely? How can you verify who was where, and when, after an incident occurs? Stop trying to create barriers for the ever-adapting threat actors, and instead focus on the human (preferably, without making them jump through hoops.) What if you could authenticate the user with something more unique than a fingerprint – something that cannot be faked?
BEHAVIORAL BIOMETRICS PROVIDES ULTIMATE VISIBILITY
Behavioral Biometrics, the study of uniquely identifying and measuring patterns of human activities, sounds like something from a science-fiction film. But, this burgeoning field might well be the holy grail of cybersecurity. Sometimes referred to as Proof of Presence or Continuous Authentication, this artificial-intelligence technology harnesses the power of behavioral biometrics using keyboard or mouse dynamics (or both) to create a biometric profile for the end user. Once this profile is created, the system can regularly verify that the end user at the workstation is the end user that matches the profile.
REMOVE BLIND SPOTS EFFICIENTLY AND SECURELY
BioTracker, by Plurilock™, uses this technology to create a user profile in as little as 30 minutes. The software authenticates the end user every 3-5 seconds, ensuring they are the authorized user on the workstation. Admins can configure what action is taken when suspicious behavior is identified: send the user another form of authentication (such as an SMS), challenge them to re-enter their password, stop them from entering sensitive areas of the system, or just log the event in the background for forensics. With BioTracker’s frictionless user experience, end users aren’t hassled with remembering unique, complicated passwords, and admins can focus on more important things than resetting them. The increased visibility into your network allows you to catch suspicious behavior before a breach occurs.
To learn more about BioTracker, head to: www.plurilock.com/continuous-authentication
Resources
- https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/87787-hackers-attack-every-39-seconds
- http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/12/prweb13125956.htm
- https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/whitepapers/grand-theft-data-data-exfiltration-study-actors-tactics-detection-w-2464#dynamic-popup
- http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/behavioral-biometrics
