User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) is a cybersecurity solution that uses algorithms and machine learning to detect anomalies in the behavior of not only the users in a corporate network but also the routers, servers, and endpoints in that network. UEBA seeks to recognize any peculiar or suspicious behavior—instances where there are irregularities from normal everyday patterns or usage. For example, if a particular user on the network regularly downloads files of 20 MB every day but starts downloading 4 GB of files, the UEBA system would consider this an anomaly and either alert an IT administrator, or if automations are in place, automatically disconnect that user from the network.

Benefits of UEBA: Why Companies Need It The rise of UEBA has been driven by the fact that traditional security products, such as web gateways, firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention tools, and encryption products like virtual private networks (VPNs) are no longer able to protect an organization against intrusion. Sophisticated cyberattackers will find a way to enter a system in some way, and detection even of the seemingly smallest anomaly is crucial.

Social engineering and phishing are also on the rise. These strategies do not attack an organization's hardware but rather its people, convincing employees to click on links, download software, and send passwords. Infecting one computer is only the start of a potentially large-scale cyberattack. UEBA seeks to detect even the tiniest of unusual behaviors and prevent a small phishing scheme from escalating into a massive data breach. Indeed, UEBA can have a tremendous impact on the security posture of an organization. Let us take a closer look at the benefits of UEBA and why companies need to consider adopting it.

Addresses a wider range of cyberattacks The primary benefit of UEBA is that it allows enterprises to detect a much wider range of cyber threats. Brute-force attacks, DDoS, insider threats, and compromised accounts are just a few categories of threats that UEBA can detect. This is possible because the UEBA system is monitoring not only human activity on devices but also the devices themselves, including servers, routers, endpoints, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Cyberattacks have grown in breadth and sophistication, and malicious attackers may find it more advantageous to simply compromise a device rather than to extract passwords from a human user.

Reduces costs Further to the previous point, if an organization now requires fewer analysts to do the work that the UEBA system is carrying out, then there will be a reduction in IT spend. However, as indicated, this does not mean that the entire security analyst staff needs to be let go once the system is up and running. Machine learning in any environment still requires human intervention. Additionally, stopping a ransomware attack in its tracks can be considered a cost saving of sorts. The UEBA would have prevented the enterprise from paying cyberattackers to restore a system or losing money in the hours or days of lost productivity because a malware attack rendered a server unavailable.