The Complete Guide to Identity Threat Detection and Response

Let’s face it. Today’s threats are more sophisticated than ever. Traditional threat detection and incident response tactics are no longer enough. Case in point? More than half of the vulnerabilities we see now are related to initial access. And that’s just one of the reasons why organizations need a much better means to protect their networks and data.

Enter identity threat detection and response (ITDR)—a cybersecurity framework that detects, investigates, and mitigates identity-based attacks in real time. The framework continuously monitors user activity, analyzes access patterns, and responds to identity-based threats. It can address credential compromise, privilege escalation, and lateral movement.

If you’re still in a bind as to what ITDR is for and whether you need it or not, read on.

What Are Identity-Based Attacks?

ITDR, as mentioned earlier, specifically addresses identity-based attacks. But what, exactly, are they?

Identity-based attacks target user credentials like usernames, passwords, and authentication tokens, to gain unauthorized access to systems or data. They exploit identity security weaknesses attackers exploit through phishing, credential stuffing, multifactor authentication (MFA) bypass, and session hijacking. These methods let attackers impersonate legitimate users and move laterally within a network.

Experts believe identity-based attacks are on the rise due to the use of adversarial artificial intelligence (AI), the transition to cloud-based identity security providers, and the widespread adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.

Now that you know what ITDR is meant for, let’s push on.

How Does Identity Threat Detection and Response Work?

The process involves six main steps:

1. Getting data from multiple sources (e.g., threat intelligence) and systems (e.g., security solutions)
2. Using machine learning (ML) and AI for activity modeling
3. Continuously monitoring for identity-based threats
4. Detecting anomalies in real time
5. Responding to incidents
6. Improving existing processes and systems

Implementing ITDR requires using systems to monitor identity-related activities and identify anything that could point to bad actors. These solutions collect identity-related logs and use special algorithms to detect strange behaviors.

ML and AI are critical to ITDR. They can help facilitate threat detection through adaptive learning. Algorithms can sort through massive datasets to find patterns and issue alerts regarding suspicious activity as they occur.

The ITDR process starts with monitoring identity-related anomalies and investigating them in real time. When a system flags suspicious activity, connected tools automatically generate and send alerts to the security team. These alerts let team members know what’s happening and kicks off a series of automated actions.

ITDR solutions are typically integrated with existing security frameworks like identity and access management (IAM) and endpoint detection and response (EDR), resulting in a layered security approach. This integration allows ITDR to create context-rich alerts and extend its capabilities across the IT ecosystem for more effective threat detection.

We mentioned a few other cybersecurity frameworks above, so you may be wondering how ITDR differs from each one. Let’s tackle that next.

How Does Identity Threat Detection and Response Differ from Identity Access Management?

IAM is the predecessor of ITDR. IAM refers to the processes and technologies that manage and control user access to information systems and applications. In effect, IAM solutions help ensure users have the appropriate permissions and access levels based on their roles and responsibilities. They minimize the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data and systems, thus reducing the risk of data breaches and other cyber attacks.

ITDR takes a more sophisticated approach to detecting, responding to, and preparing for security threats and vulnerabilities related to user identity and access. Instead of replacing IAM, however, ITDR complements IAM, extending IAM’s capability to control and monitor access to sensitive information and systems.

How do they work together? IAM logs user attempts to access resources they are not authorized to. ITDR alerts investigators to take a closer look.

How Does Identity Threat Detection and Response Differ from Endpoint Detection and Response?

While EDR monitors endpoints (e.g., laptops, workstations, and servers) to detect malware, exploits, and system-level attacks, ITDR monitors identity-related activity to detect credential abuse, privilege escalation, and unauthorized access attempts.

ITDR monitors and analyzes user activity and access management logs to flag malicious activity by collecting data from IAM sources. EDR, meanwhile, monitors and analyzes endpoint devices by collecting system logs and network traffic to detect malicious activity.

Just like ITDR complements IAM, it also enhances EDR. How? When EDR systems detect suspicious activity on an endpoint, ITDR helps determine if the threat originated from compromised credentials, lateral movement, or privilege misuse. This helps security teams fully understand the attack chain. ITDR provides deep insights by matching the credentials the attackers used with those of authorized users. This visibility helps the security team uncover the attack’s root cause so they can strengthen existing security measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Let’s sum it all up.

What Benefits Does Identity Threat Detection and Response Provide?

ITDR enhances an organization’s security posture. How?

• Proactive identity-based threat identification
• Address threats in real time
• Leverage AI to lessen false positives
• Get automated alerts and detailed analytics
• Better visibility and control over all external-facing assets

It works to proactively identify threats, which can significantly reduce the time security teams need to detect and mitigate attacks. By addressing threats in real time, ITDR keeps bad actors from escalating attacks or gaining deeper access to a network.

What’s more, unlike traditional detection tools that can issue too many false positives, ITDR leverages AI to distinguish between legitimate users and actual threats, leaving security teams open to deal with real issues.

Apart from real-time monitoring, ITDR can issue automated responses and provide detailed analytics. While real-time monitoring helps teams track activities across each environment, automated responses help mitigate risks by locking compromised accounts and using analytics to detect anomalies.

Finally, the reduction in identity-related incidents that ITDR provides is especially valuable in environments with growing attack surfaces that can result from activities like moving to the cloud. ITDR offers better visibility and control over how identities are used and managed, leading to fewer data breaches, faster incident response times, and better compliance.

What Specific Attacks Can Identity Threat Detection and Response Mitigate?

We talked about identity-based attacks briefly earlier. Now, it’s time to learn how ITDR addresses each one in greater depth.

Brute Force Attacks

In a brute force attack, hackers try to gain access to an account through trial and error. They use several login credentials until they find one that works.

Since ITDR monitors multiple login attempts, especially failed ones, it can alert the security team at once, preventing deeper access.

Privilege Escalation

Privilege escalation lets threat actors alter or elevate permissions in a system. For instance, they can move from a lower-privilege user account to a higher-level administrator account.

Since ITDR monitors changes in user access and privileges, it can detect such instances as anomalies.

Lateral Movement

Lateral movement is a tactic bad actors use to move deeper into an organization’s network after gaining unauthorized access.

Since ITDR specifically monitors unauthorized access, it can prevent lateral movement before attackers can gain a foothold.

Phishing

Phishing uses fraudulent emails, text messages, phone calls, or websites to trick people into sharing sensitive data or downloading malware. It is the most typical means by which bad actors take control of user accounts.

Since ITDR correlates user credentials with usual login times, working hours, and known user locations, it can detect unauthorized access even if threat actors use the correct login credentials.

What Should You Look for in an Identity Threat Detection and Response Solution?

We listed some ITDR solution must-haves for you.

Continuous Visibility

Real-time identity visibility is critical if you want to thwart identity-based threats before bad actors can establish persistence. As such, your ITDR solution must correlate authentication activity, user behaviors, and privilege escalation attempts across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments. It must continuously aggregate data from multiple sources and perform threat analysis. It should combine identity analytics, ML, behavioral analysis techniques, and anomaly detection. To pinpoint potential threats, your solution must let you perform quick analyses through a dashboard.

Behavioral Analytics and Anomaly Detection

An ITDR solution should be capable of behavioral analytics that establishes a baseline of normal identity behavior. It should leverage ML and AI to analyze patterns in user activity like login times, locations, device usage, and resource access.

Significant deviations from established baselines, such as an unusual login from a new country, an attempt to access highly sensitive data outside regular working hours, or rapid privilege escalation, should trigger an alert as a potential anomaly. This capability is crucial to identify sophisticated attacks that may otherwise appear as legitimate access.

Threat Intelligence Integration

An ITDR solution can be more effective if it is fed with extensive external and internal threat intelligence. This includes information on known attack techniques, indicators of compromise (IoCs) related to identity theft, and emerging identity-based threats. If your solution correlates observed identity activity with threat intelligence, it can more readily identify known malicious patterns and prioritize threats, enabling faster and more informed responses.

Identity Security Posture Management

Beyond detecting and mitigating identity-based threats, your ITDR solution must be able to assess and manage the security posture of your identity infrastructure. It should thus be able to continuously identify misconfigurations, excessive permissions, shadow IT identities, and other vulnerabilities that attackers may exploit. This is where identity security posture management (ISPM) comes in. ISPM helps proactively harden identity systems, reducing your overall attack surface and minimizing the likelihood of successful identity-based attacks.

Proactive Control

Identity-based threats evolve rapidly. As such, your ITDR solution must deliver automated, real-time enforcement. When it detects suspicious activity, it should immediately revoke access, terminate risky sessions, block lateral movement, or require step-up authentication based on a risk’s severity.

Risk-Based Control

Not all of the alerts security solutions generate are useful. Taking a closer look at everything can easily result in alert fatigue. That said, your ITDR solution should recognize false positives and prioritize threats according to associated risks. It must be smart enough to recognize attack types and classify threat levels accordingly. Without this guidance, it can only worsen alert fatigue.

Integration with Existing Security Ecosystems

To be truly effective, your ITDR solution should seamlessly integrate with your entire security stack. It should be capable of feeding high-fidelity identity alerts to your security incident and event management (SIEM) system for correlation with other security data. It must be able to share context with extended detection and response (XDR) platforms as well for holistic threat investigation. It should also work with your IAM system to enforce and update access policies based on real-time threat intelligence.

Conclusion

The number of identity-related breaches can only be expected to rise with time. Today, close to 80% of businesses have suffered an identity-related breach, making ITDR not just nice-to-have but a must-have.