What do you do if you suspect an insider threat in network security?

Insider threats in cybersecurity encompass the risks that individuals within an organization, whether intentionally or unintentionally, might exploit their authorized access to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of sensitive information or systems. To address potential threats from malicious insiders, compromised insiders, and third-party insiders suspected of insider activity, precautionary measures such as altering passwords, limiting access, and isolating suspicious systems from the network are advisable. Additionally, for careless or negligent insiders, implementing user awareness initiatives and enforcing consequences for any actions that contravene acceptable usage policies are crucial steps.

If you suspect an insider threat in network security, immediately isolate the suspected user's access privileges to limit potential damage. Conduct a thorough investigation to gather evidence and identify the source of the threat. Notify relevant authorities and implement necessary security measures to prevent further breaches.

9 out of 10 times it's a false positive. Don't panic, don't hit the alarm button before you are 80% sure it's a real incident. Crying "Wolf, wolf" for suspected incidents is something you will bitterly regret after a few months.

Definitely, clear identification of insider threat would be a bit difficult because it is time consuming activity and requires concrete evidence in terms of logs. For identification of such actors, baseline of the security and business operation activities can play a major role. We can develop use cases like non-business hour access, file transfer with huge size, Number of emails from a single user, classified data shared/transfer, changes in access level without any audit trail(ticket record) etc.

making sure it is not a false positive and once confirmed need to conduct analysis to understand the impacted assets and stage of the threat, once all evidence are in place that supports the suspension immediate action in isolation/ remediation post raising the incident and afterwards continue monitoring to the identified IOCs

Run Nmap and get adequate information to be sure the suspicion is not from a false positive event trigger, be sure the threat is real enough and intentional. Then isolate suspected user(s) account and monitor activities to gather more evidence, you may need to review their access control and personally I will redirect them to my honeypot system to mitigate threat to live production network. After gathering enough evidence of malicious activity then it is time to involve the security team and activate your incidence response plan. If actors are found culpable then invite law enforcement agencies.

Garantir a segurança da rede requer uma abordagem cuidadosa e estratégica para reunir evidências sem causar danos desnecessários. Isso implica em monitorar de forma discreta, porém vigilante, as atividades do indivíduo suspeito, conduzindo investigações meticulosas. Além disso, é crucial envolver as partes interessadas adequadas, para lidar com a situação de maneira eficaz e responsável.

Depending on what information you have with the suspected event, I think one of the first things to do is to establish a channel of communications with the relevant stakeholders. This should be well defined in your incident response plan. Whether it is legal, compliance, HR or any other units, folks should be made aware of the potential situation that may be unfolding.

When consulting with clients, I pose a question: "What does your incident response plan and playbooks say to do?" Often, teams struggle to effectively answer. Experience shows that in an actual crisis, unprepared teams can mentally shut down. A solid IR plan should cover general protocols applicable to all incidents and detailed playbooks for specific threats, like DDoS versus insider threats. As people contribute to this article and provide valuable information for each of the below areas, use this to create your incident response program. But don’t stop there. An incident response plan is only good if it has been tested. Conduct periodic exercises to ensure that your plan addresses the unique needs of your organization.

In my experience, negligent insiders are the most significant vulnerability available to threat actors to exploit. In either scenario, negligent or intentional, the first step is to isolate the compromised resource from network and strip all authorizations. In a controlled environment, scan the machine to understand if it is a false positive or indeed something that needs further digging. Look for instances of trying to access (and majorly failing) a huge number of resources in a short time window, removable storage plug in/out, access to Internet based storage or SCM portals.

As opposed to assessing the impact of the insider threat, I believe the second step should be to mitigate further damages by disabling the insiders accounts and suspending all access to company systems. Ensure you are disabling the users accounts and suspending access, not outright deleting accounts and logs as these will be used in the following steps to assess damages and remediate.

La evaluación de impacto debe estar acompañada de un proceso de contención, ya que si bien esta de por medio la NO ocultación o destrucción de pruebas, también esta de por medio la reputación, operación y cumplimiento de la organización. Por lo que, una vez que se determinó la afectación se deben generar estrategias que permitan tomar decisiones de implementación de controles disuasivos y de corrección como limitar y segmentar el proceso de ataque y mantener la trazabilodad del ataque.

La evaluacion de impacto debe estar intimamente relacionada con la Gestion de Riesgos de la organizacion. Una correcta evaluacion nos permitira tomar las contramedidas adecuadas a la situacion

Attacker isolation and containment The top priority is to minimize potential damage. Initiate containment measures to isolate the suspected user(s) access and prevent further unauthorized activity. This might involve disabling their network access, resetting credentials, and isolating any potentially compromised systems. Log Analysis: Insider attacks take days to sometimes weeks to manifest. Time series logs with proper correlation and enrichment is very useful to figure out how long the attack has been ongoing and if so what were the TTPs employed and the impact radius.

Confirmed an insider threat? It's time to assess the damage. Imagine a jewel heist – figure out what data (the jewels) were compromised and the potential impact (financial loss, reputational damage). Understand how sensitive the data is and how much access the insider had. Tread carefully - you don't want to alert the suspect and risk them hiding more evidence! #InfoSec #InsiderThreat #AssessTheImpact

Obviamente es importante evaluar el impacto, pero en muchas ocasiones no sabemos el origen del mismo. Las soluciones NDR (Network Detection and Response) permiten tener vigilada nuestra red tanto de todo lo que llega del exterior, como de lo que se mueve lateralmente. Es decir, estas soluciones trabajan en tráfico espejado o inline y ya con la tecnología que llevan entre IoCs, reglas de correlación, casos de uso, sandboxing, detección de vulnerabilidades, y largo etc. nos da una visibilidad casi completa de todo lo que está ocurriendo en nuestra red. La visibilidad que nos permita ver dónde está ese agujero de seguridad que ocasionó la exfiltración.

If the organization has a mature information security risk management process (ISO27005 or NIST SP800-30 or...) and business impact analysis, assessing what is possible will not take much time. Otherwise, you will have to go through this path all over again.

In order to assess any part of an organization, one must have a baseline assessment of what the business looks like during normal working hours. This involves having at least one current data flow exercise to understand the data types your business is responsible for and where they are supposed to be stored. Having accurate roles and permissions defined, along with the security controls properly configured, half of your work for protecting business intellectual property is already completed; since these steps limit the surface area a malicious user has to exploit if they are unable to access it. It is difficult to assess compromised data when you do not have measures in place to record or monitor user activities.

Assessing the impact is extremely necessary, because we can get a sense of how critical the threat is, what data has been affected, quantify the threat within the environment, analyze the risk both immediately and in the long term and already think about continuous improvement so that it doesn't happen again or at least has a smaller impact.

Never assume that a fraud or cyber attack has been perpetrated. People are very quick to assume, which then has a direct bias impact on the evidence collection process.

Collecting evidence is indeed the most crucial aspect of identifying insider threats. The objective must remain clear: gathering evidence to pinpoint the insider threat based on critical factors such as IP addresses, user IDs, and precise timestamps. Any oversight or error in this process could have significant consequences. It might result in the insider threat slipping through undetected or, conversely, lead to the misidentification of innocent individuals.

It's important to gather evidence discreetly while minimizing potential damage. This involves closely monitoring the suspected individual's activities, conducting thorough investigations, and involving appropriate stakeholders, such as HR and legal teams, to address the situation effectively.

Es de utilidad el acompañamiento legal en el proceso de recolección de evidencias, ya que esto permite conocer los alcances de los procesos internos en la organización y, a su vez, visibilizar los límites que la legislación aplicable prevé. Tener presente que los hallazgos técnicos generados a través de medios electrónicos o de otro tipo de tecnologías requieren un cuidado específico, desde la obtención, identificación y preservación previa a su análisis es fundamental, ya que la falla en esas fases invalida los hallazgos y se debilita o pierde la evidencia como tal. Integridad y disponibilidad son clave, así como la atribución de las acciones y de los activos de información, adicional a validar la confiabilidad del proceso

Building a case against an insider threat requires a delicate touch. Think forensics, not detective drama! Gather evidence like logs from servers and security devices, but make sure everything is legal and within your company's policies. Remember, this evidence could be used in court, so maintaining its integrity is key. #InfoSec #InsiderThreat #GatherEvidenceCarefully

People from the finance team are looking at sensitive customer info at odd times. This seems fishy, right? To check things out properly, you need to gather evidence carefully. Make sure you follow the rules and laws about this stuff. Get records from the servers, computers, and security systems to see what's been going on. You've got to do this in a way that keeps the evidence safe and reliable. This way, if things get legal, you've got solid proof. This example shows why being careful with evidence is super important when dealing with insider threats.

Para reunir pruebas, puede ser importante hacerlo acompañados por la justicia de cada pais para garantizar que la evidencia servira en un posible juicio. Es tamien muy importenta garantizar la integridad de las pruebas y la mantener de forma adecuada la cadena de evidencias.

Collect and secure logs, access records, and any other forms of evidence that could help in the investigation. It's important to maintain the integrity of the evidence to ensure it can be used in any disciplinary or legal action.

El concepto “control” es, sin dudarlo, el mayormente utilizado en temas de seguridad de la información. Sin embargo, es de importancia tener claro que co-existen los controles detectivos, correctivos y preventivos. Identificar en qué fases del proceso se implementan es toral, ya que dependiendo el control se detonarán acciones correspondientes, ya sea para prevenir un incidente de seguridad, para reencauzar un proceso relacionado con el manejo de información y, en el peor de los escenarios: activar el protocolo de atención a incidentes. Tener monitoreados los controles, permitirán evaluar la idoneidad y efectividad de estos, con el fin de someterlos además a un proceso de mejora.

To prevent further unauthorized actions, enforce additional controls immediately. This could include changing passwords, restricting access permissions, or isolating suspect systems from the network. These measures should be temporary and targeted, aimed at containing the threat without causing undue disruption to business operations. Remember, it's about containment, not punishment, until a full investigation is completed.

Um a vez tiamos um ataque de ransomware e para que nao se propagassem nas maquinas a primeira ação que tomei foi ir nos swithers e desliga-lós para que nao chegassem as demais maquinas e servidores.

Getting to know your environment is important, taking control of assets, creating Information Security policies for the entire environment, access rules, logical and physical access control, health-checking your environment's security solutions, data classification and up-to-date access profiles are the main controls to undergo.

Caught an insider threat in the act? Stop the bleeding! Change passwords, restrict access, and isolate suspicious systems from the network. But act swiftly and precisely – like a surgeon, not a bulldozer. These are temporary measures to contain the threat until a full investigation is complete. Remember, you're aiming to stop the damage, not punish someone prematurely. #InfoSec #InsiderThreat #ContainTheThreat

There are two tracks to pursue when there is an active insider threat or even a suspected threat. Track One: Lockdown and Secure Sensitive Data Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Implement or tighten DLP controls to prevent unauthorized data exfiltration. This might involve: - Monitoring network traffic for suspicious data transfers. - Blocking unauthorized uploads to external cloud storage services. - Enforcing data encryption for sensitive information at rest and in transit. - Privilege Review and Segmentation: Evaluate and potentially reduce user access privileges, especially for high-risk roles with broad access. Consider network segmentation to limit access to sensitive data to authorized personnel only.

Timing is everything. You should begin an investigation the moment you have received significant information that causes suspicion. Because there are ways co-workers could use a reporting process against others they do not like just to cause disruption and embarrassment. Try to not wait until the end of day to investigate, as you may need to detain any devices the suspected user(s) have in their possession before they leave for the day. A lot can happen to destroy evidence in 5 minutes, let alone between the time the user(s) get home until their return to work the following day.

When such is encountered, the following should be enforced. 1. You should immediately isolate the compromised user account from the rest of the network to prevent further unauthorized access or data breaches, either by restricting access or changing the password. 2. You then determine the extent of the breach, the methods used by the insider, and the potential damage caused so as to counter further access. 3. You then Implement measures to contain the threat and also prevent it from spreading further within the network. 4. Troubleshoot to know the vulnerabilities and weakness and also Continue to monitor the network for any signs of suspicious activity and add more security measures to prevent future insider threats.

Gather evidence like computer logs, Tell your bosses what you found, Make sure the suspect can't do more harm, Investigate what happened, Talk to the person you suspect, Check if your security rules need fixing, Fix any damage caused, Keep watching for more problems, Teach everyone about security, Tell the police if needed.

With the help of the IT security team, HR, and legal (if necessary), conduct a thorough investigation. This might involve interviews, forensic analysis, and reviewing access logs to understand the extent of the potential threat.

Un asesoramiento legal apropiado requiere de un abogado que conozca desde una perspectiva tecnológica el cómo funciona la organización, los procesos y el ciclo de vida de la información; con esas bases entenderá el impacto que un incidente tiene y, por ende, podrá asesorar el manejo de un incidente conforme a las necesidades que en ese momento crítico existan, ya sea, continuar con la operación a la par de atender el incidente, detenerla para evitar una afectación mayor o, simple y sencillamente documentar lo sucedido y no realizar ninguna acción reactiva.

It's essential to remain calm and focused during a cyber-attack, prioritize actions based on the severity of the situation, and work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to mitigate the threat effectively.

Today, in Brazil, we have the LGPD that must be implemented and followed within companies, to guarantee not only the rights of employees, but also to ensure that, in the event of a threat or data breach, the company is in order. Of course, we can't just be guaranteed by the LGPD, but having internal policies, compliance and security training is extremely important.

In my experience, implement Zero Trust by verifying every user, device, and network transaction, irrespective of location. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure user identity, encrypt data both at rest and in transit, and segment networks to minimize lateral movement. Regularly audit and monitor access rights, applying least privilege access to limit exposure. Educate employees on security protocols and the rationale behind Zero Trust to foster compliance and awareness. This holistic approach drastically reduces insider threats by not assuming trust solely based on internal status.

Addressing item 7. My websites which cater to Uganda recently got hacked. It has been horrible. Here is what my IT team is doing. Install a sniffer. Event logging Change passwords frequently. Minimum every 90 days. What is strange is whoever is hacking us has a back window with Admin privileges.

When detecting an insider threat, the first step is to assess the situation calmly and thoroughly. This involves gathering evidence, analyzing the potential impact, and determining the nature of the threat. Once you have a clear understanding of the situation, you can then take appropriate actions, such as notifying relevant authorities, implementing security measures, and mitigating risks to prevent any further harm. It's crucial to handle the situation discreetly and professionally to minimize damage and maintain trust within the organization.

- Faire en sorte de minimiser l’impact le plus possible : Enlever les privilèges immédiatement aux comptes suspects et débrancher les ressources non impactées.

Many companies have their own third party business ethics advisor, which helps arbitration in the event of an insider threat. Having a professional body deal with the investigation helps build the credibility of the case against a co-worker, and remove bias from the investigation

Just an example: Dave(not their real name), your average office worker, innocently clicks on an email titled "Look at this Capybara!" hoping for a cute distraction while at work, only to fall victim to a joke ransomware attack. Essentially, he got Rick Rolled by the IT department doing a routine phishing test. This highlights the importance of employee awareness training, robust email filtering systems, endpoint protection, regular data backups, and two-factor authentication. These solutions help organizations can mitigate the risk of falling prey to phishing attacks and ransomware threats, ensuring their data remains safe and secure.

Ensure you work with HR. HR can help ensure the investigation and other actions are in line with policies and regulations. Insider Threats are a team effort and will encompass several business partners. Establishing relationships with the other groups also helps to create a team when these events happen. Last thing you want is to learn who the HR rep is for the first time during an incident.

1. Using SIEM tools to Gather data, Assess impact and establish evidences against any ongoing insider threats in the system . 2. Implement Zero Trust Model:In case of any insider threat,Each user accessing the network should be verified if he is legit or not. 3. Using MFA is also a possible way to prevent unauthorised users to access the network. 4. Using Principle of Least Privileges to provide only the minimum required roles or privileges so that users able to complete the task assigned to him. 5. Implement Server Hardening to establish rules for password aging and complexity,PAM authentication rules 6. Use RBAC model (role based access control)to assigning only required permissions to users based on their role in the organization.

Confidentiality: Keep the investigation as confidential as possible to protect the privacy of all involved and to maintain the integrity of the investigation process.