Skip to main content

Behavior-based security

Behavior-based security is a proactive approach to security in which all relevant activity is monitored so that deviations from normal behavior patterns can be identified and dealt with quickly. As machine learning continues to improve, this approach to security management is expected to play an important role in securing computing at the edge of the network.

Traditional security software is signature-oriented: the software monitors data streams and compares data in transit to signatures in an anti-virus vendor's library of known threats. Behavior-based security programs work a little differently -- they monitor data streams too, but then they compare data stream activity to a baseline of normal behavior and look for anomalies. Behavior-based security products use applied mathematics and machine learning to flag events that are statistically significant.

While there may still be instances where an organization needs to choose between signature-based and anomaly-based security software, there is a broad range of intrusion detection and prevention products that combine both approaches.

Advantages of behavior-based security

In general, signature-based tools are best at identifying and repelling known threats, while behavior-based are best for fighting zero-day exploits that have not yet made it onto a list of known threat signatures. Most behavior-based security programs come with a standard set of policies for which behaviors should be allowed and which should be considered suspicious, but also allow administrators to customize policies and create new policies.

Behavior-based security software

Depending upon its capabilities, a behavior-based security software product may be marketed as a network behavior anomaly detection (NBAD) product, a behavior-based intrusion detection product, a behavior threat analysis (BTA) product or a user behavior analytics (UBA) product.  Some behavior-security products are sophisticated enough to apply machine learning algorithms to data streams so that security analysts don't need to identify what comprises normal behavior.  Other products include behavioral biometrics features that are capable of mapping specific behavior, such as typing patterns, to specific user behavior. Most products have sophisticated correlation engines to minimize the number of alerts and false positives.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a computer chip that performs rapid mathematical calculations, primarily for the purpose of rendering images. A GPU may be found integrated with a central processing unit (CPU) on the same circuit, on a graphics card or in the motherboard of a personal computer or server. In the early days of computing, the CPU performed these calculations. As more graphics-intensive applications such as AutoCAD were developed; however, their demands put strain on the CPU and degraded performance. GPUs came about as a way to offload those tasks from CPUs, freeing up their processing power. NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and ARM are some of the major players in the GPU market. GPU vs. CPU A graphics processing unit is able to render images more quickly than a central processing unit because of its parallel processing architecture, which allows it to perform multiple calculations at the same time. A single CPU does not have this capability, although multi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's the difference between two-step verification and 2FA?

  The two terms, two-step verification, and two-factor authentication are synonymous, though the former is now being used more widely by the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Apple as it better conveys how the actual authentication process works. In the past, two-step verification was used to describe processes that used the same authentication factors, while two-factor authentication described processes that involved different factors, such as entering a password on a website and receiving a numerical code on a mobile device. Today, the two terms are both used to describe authentication that involves a secondary factor that is different from the first. Authentication is a vital element of access control and data security because users can be assigned access rights and be authorized to perform certain actions only after successful authentication is performed. The ways in which someone can be authenticated fall into three categories based on what is known ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Black Swan Event

A black swan event is an incident that occurs randomly and unexpectedly and has wide-spread ramifications. The event is usually followed with reflection and a flawed rationalization that it was inevitable. The phrase illustrates the frailty of inductive reasoning and the danger of making sweeping generalizations from limited observations. The term came from the idea that if a man saw a thousand swans and they were all white, he might logically conclude that all swans are white. The flaw in his logic is that even when the premises are true, the conclusion can still be false. In other words, just because the man has never seen a black swan, it does not mean they do not exist. As Dutch explorers discovered in 1697, black swans are simply outliers -- rare birds, unknown to Europeans until Willem de Vlamingh and his crew visited Australia. Statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb uses the phrase black swan as a metaphor for how humans deal with unpredictable events in his 2007...
Post a Comment
Read more