Sameer Malhotra is cofounder and CEO of TrueFort, a former Wall Street tech exec and an expert in IT infrastructure and cybersecurity.
In the wake of the Ticketmaster breach earlier this year, which affected more than 500 million customers, it’s clear that cyber threats are evading most traditional security measures. And according to the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 68% of all breaches involve the human element, whether through social engineering, errors or misuse.
To keep up, organizations need more advanced threat detection techniques like behavioral baselining, which is quickly becoming one of the most valuable tools in the cybersecurity arsenal. Behavioral baselining defines and understands what “normal” environment activity looks like, making it possible to detect anomalies early—before an attack can spread to more valuable assets.
How It Works
Behavioral baselining involves monitoring the behavior of users, devices and applications within the network and establishing a clear model of normal behavior. With this baseline in place, any deviation—no matter how subtle—can be quickly flagged as suspicious.
For example, imagine an employee who typically accesses a specific set of applications during work hours but suddenly begins downloading large amounts of data from a sensitive internal server at an unusual time, like late at night. Behavioral baselining would immediately flag this as suspicious activity.
Security teams can then step in to investigate, minimizing the window of opportunity for an attacker to be inside the environment. This proactive approach enables organizations to move beyond reactive security measures, providing real-time insights that help identify potential threats before they escalate.
In a world where the average breach costs millions, behavioral baselining provides a critical line of defense. Here’s how:
• Early Detection Of Anomalies: Behavioral baselining excels at identifying deviations from normal activity that could signal a compromised server. This is especially important in large organizations with complex networks. Whether it’s an employee suddenly accessing sensitive data they don’t normally handle or a spike in network traffic from an unexpected source, early detection of these anomalies can prevent an attack from spreading.
• Combating Insider Threats: Insider threats continue to be a major concern for organizations. Whether intentional or accidental, employees with legitimate access can pose significant risks. Behavioral baselining helps security teams detect when an insider’s behavior deviates from the norm. By identifying these irregularities early, security teams can intervene before serious damage is done.
• Protection Against Ransomware: Ransomware is often deployed after other attacker actions, such as an increase in file modification activity or unusual network communications. Behavioral baselining can detect these early signs and provide security teams with the chance to isolate the infected systems before ransomware is deployed. The ability to recognize abnormal behavior is a critical advantage when defending against fast-moving threats.
• Application Security Insights: Beyond user and network behaviors, behavioral baselining can also be applied to applications. By defining what constitutes normal application activity—such as typical data access patterns and communication between systems—security teams can detect when an application’s nonhuman identities begin behaving unexpectedly. This layer of security is particularly important for protecting complex application ecosystems, which are often targeted by attackers seeking to find customer data.
But although behavioral baselining can offer significant benefits, implementing it effectively requires careful planning. A key challenge lies in defining what “normal” looks like for each user, server and application. In large enterprises, where employees and systems vary widely in their usage patterns, it can be difficult to establish accurate baselines without generating false positives or overlooking threats. Continuous updating and tuning of baselines are necessary to reflect changes in business processes, user behaviors and evolving threats. A static baseline that isn’t refreshed frequently will quickly become ineffective.
Best Practices
To maximize the effectiveness of behavioral baselining, organizations should adopt these best practices:
• Continuous Monitoring And Adaptation: Behavioral baselining isn’t a one-time activity. Continuous monitoring and regular updates are critical to adapting to the changing landscape of user behaviors and evolving cyber threats. Routinely refreshing baselines helps reduce false positives and ensures that anomalies are identified accurately.
• Integration With Broader Security Measures: Although behavioral baselining is powerful on its own, its effectiveness is multiplied when integrated into a broader security strategy. Combining baselining with micro-segmentation and automated threat response systems creates a more comprehensive defense. By isolating suspicious activity through application-layer segmentation, security teams can contain potential threats more quickly.
• Employee Education: Employees play a key role in keeping an organization secure. Educating them about cybersecurity risks and security hygiene can significantly reduce accidental breaches. A well-informed workforce is more likely to follow security protocols and less likely to engage in risky behaviors that could jeopardize your systems.
In a world where a cyberattack can cripple operations, investing in behavioral baselining is no longer a luxury—it’s essential for maintaining a strong security posture. Although breaches may be unavoidable, embracing this approach can limit the blast radius of a security incident and prevent it from spiraling out of control.
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