7 Examples of Real-Life Data Breaches Caused by Insider Threats
Employees know all the ins and outs of a company’s infrastructure and cybersecurity tools. That’s why the market witnesses hundreds of malicious and inadvertent insider
User Activity Monitoring (UAM) Software
Monitor insider activity. Detect anomalies. Respond to incidents. ALL-IN-ONE
Ekran System® is universal employee activity monitoring software that tracks any user action on:
Physical and virtual desktops
Remote laptops
Jump servers
Corporate servers
User activity monitoring software features
Ekran System® records on-screen user activity for all sessions in video format, indexed by accompanying text metadata.
Also, the user activity tracking software captures input and output audio streams on the endpoints.
It provides Citrix and Windows user activity monitoring on servers and workstations with local, RDP, and terminal session recording. It also provides Telnet SSH session recording for Linux/UNIX servers.
Each session record includes important details about remote connections and connecting users. You can also export it for further investigation and analysis.
Ekran System substitutes user logins and device names with aliases to make it impossible to link this data to a specific user. For instance, if someone were looking for the user John-Smith that works on John-Smith-PC in the activity monitoring results and reports, they might see user USR-880B1A and CLN-E0CB5E.
Unique aliases are assigned randomly, making it impossible to discover a pattern and link an alias back to a user.
Ekran System hides user data in:
- User activity monitoring results
- Reports on user activity
- Screenshots of user sessions
- The Ekran System Management Tool
The de-anonymization process allows you to quickly identify a user in case of a security incident. At the same time, users’ private data is protected from anyone who has access to the Ekran System Management Tool.
Ekran System’s core monitoring format is high-performance video indexed with multilayer metadata including names of active applications, titles of active windows, websites (URLs) visited, keystrokes types, commands and scripts executed, and devices connected.
Video recording is an efficient tool for logging and auditing user activity, as it’s all-inclusive and integrated, allowing for quick comprehension and reconstruction and providing the tools to respond to a security incident.
At the same time, multilayer text indexing makes video records searchable and allows for in-depth investigation.
Ekran System records are optimized to achieve exemplary performance.
Ekran System not only records user sessions but also monitors user activities in real time.
It includes an AI-based user behavior analytics subsystem that continuously checks user activity against a normal baseline to detect deviations and possible account compromise in a timely manner. The Ekran System UEBA module can help security officers better detect insider threats when employees act maliciously during short periods of time or when they inadvertently exfiltrate corporate data.
It also includes another alerting subsystem based on customizable rules that’s used to doubly secure the most critical assets and scenarios. You can use alerts from the template library – which cover the most typical insider threat signals – or build your own rules using a variety of parameters.
After an alert is triggered, everything is set up for quick incident response. Notifications include suspicious session details and links to the corresponding video episodes for quick inspection. If the session is still running, a security officer can connect to it in real time. For the most critical alerts, you can assign automated blocking and warning actions.
An important aspect of monitoring user activities is controlling the use of connected devices.
Ekran System user tracking software includes powerful USB device monitoring and management functionality for dealing with storage devices as well as any kind of USB equipment, including modems and keyboards.
The user activity monitoring system can track device connections and can be configured to notify your security team about them. Besides monitoring, Ekran System can be set up to allow or block devices according to rules, blacklists, and whitelists.
To add more flexibility, Ekran allows you to set up manual USB device approval for critical scenarios.
Software to monitor user activity will log thousands of user actions over a typical day. Solutions for monitoring computer activity of a number of privileged users should provide tools to make logging more focused.
To record user activity optimally, Ekran System gives you several filtering options. You can record a selected number of key applications or set up a list of private/non-critical applications or URLs you don’t wish to monitor.
A big requirement for any user activity tracker is ensuring uninterrupted user activity tracking under any conditions.
Software to track user activity includes an offline monitoring option. If the network connection on the client goes down, the Ekran System Client will continue to work, collecting monitoring data in secure storage on the client to then send to the central storage according to a performance-aware protocol once the connection is restored.
Ekran System Client and its data are protected from intrusion by monitoring users with any level of privilege. By enabling Protection from Client settings modification, you can prevent client uninstallation, process interruption, solution component editing, and other actions to block monitoring.
Record user activity. Analyze and audit
Ekran System is a powerful yet easy-to-use user activity monitoring software helping SMBs and big enterprises to detect insider threats and comply with regulations.
Being user activity monitoring software, Ekran System works on Windows and Linux servers recording all connected sessions, and also on Windows desktops monitoring local and remote users.
Why companies choose monitoring user activity with Ekran System®
Ekran System continuously monitors various endpoints, including both end-user machines and servers, within any network architecture. Being one of the best user activity monitoring tools for Windows, Ekran also works for macOS and is a powerful Linux/UNIX session audit tool. It even supports X Window and all popular virtualization solutions. Ekran allows agent-based and jump server-based deployments as well as any combination thereof.
Designed for tracking user activity on tens of thousands of endpoints, Ekran System demonstrates exceptional stability and performance. As for maintenance and reliability, the platform provides high availability and multi-tenant deployment, system resource and health monitoring dashboards, and automated maintenance tasks.
Besides tracking user activity, Ekran System provides enhanced incident alerting and response functionality. But that’s not all. Using Ekran System Client, you can set up access and identity management. Since Ekran System also provides server user activity monitoring, you always know what is happening in your network.
The unique licensing offered by Ekran System enables cost-effective deployments of any size, from small pilots to enterprise projects. Floating endpoint licensing enables license reassignment in a couple of clicks. For virtual environments, this process is automated.
Get the most value for your business with other Ekran System’s capabilities
Supported platforms
Ekran System integrations
Ekran System user activity monitoring software integrates with your existing infrastructure, including leading SIEM and ticketing systems.
Case studies
What our clients say
Dennis Fox II
CEO | President at ES Consulting
“What we like the most about the Ekran is how easy it was to get started. The communication with the team is both smooth and efficient. Also, the support received from Ekran System team, both informational and technical, has always been very prompt and helpful.”
Paul Maranzano
Technical Director at National IT Solutions
“We tried quite a few products before we came to Ekran System. The key factor that led me to Ekran was fast communication from sales to support. I’d highly recommend Ekran System to most colleagues. Within 30 to 40 minutes I had it up and running and it was recording. I was quite impressed by how quick and easy it was. I definitely recommend Ekran System!”
Egzon Sinanaj
Director of Support and Security at PECB
“We have a lot of data to protect. We are also very happy to have an ever-growing number of new customers whose data are processed only by authorized processes and employees. To keep everything in check, we must be able to identify potential internal or external threats in time and act accordingly to prevent any intentional or unintentional errors.”
Denis Gundarev
Senior Program Manager at Microsoft
“Ekran System provides a great solution for customers that need a session recording and activity audits, as well as incident response functionality to detect and prevent insider threats.”
Adrian Cragg
CTO of CNC Ltd
“As a Managed Service Provider we are responsible for our customers’ servers but aren’t the only ones with access and often well intentioned 3rd parties cause disruption with unauthorised changes. Ekran gives us peace of mind that all actions carried out on the server are recorded and we can quickly identify & rectify issues. It’s like having CCTV for your server and in these times of a need for heightened security and auditing this is perfect for the job.”
FAQ
User activity monitoring software allows you to track user activity within your corporate network, across devices, and throughout your entire IT infrastructure. With user activity tracking tools, you can identify which applications, sites, and data users access and how they interact with them.
With a user activity monitoring solution, you can strengthen your current cybersecurity, protect confidential data from malicious users, and enhance insider risk management.
The goal of implementing a user activity tracking application is to prevent insider threats. Using activity tracking software, you can identify suspicious activity and reduce the risk of a cybersecurity incident. You can also use user monitoring software to track employees’ active and idle time to monitor employee performance.
Main reasons to monitor user activities:
- Secure sensitive information
- Reduce the risk of insider threats
- Ensure that users stick to cybersecurity policies
- Increase employee productivity
- Comply with applicable cybersecurity standards, laws, and regulations
Yes. Digital user monitoring is legal, but it’s regulated by legislation.
To know how to monitor user activity legally, you should check with applicable laws within your jurisdiction. Typically, legislation requires businesses to inform users of monitoring and receive their consent.If your organization operates in the US, you should pay attention to both federal and state laws, as state laws can have their own requirements. For example, businesses that operate in Connecticut and Delaware don’t have to notify employees about email or internet monitoring. Meanwhile, employers in Colorado and Tennessee must create written email monitoring policies.
Ekran System is a powerful insider threat management platform that ensures comprehensive user activity monitoring.
In particular, Ekran System monitors user activities in real time and makes video and audio recordings of user sessions so you can watch them later if needed. All records are searchable. Thus, you can find out whether a user has accessed certain data, launched specific applications, or visited particular websites during working hours.
Also, Ekran System continues monitoring user activity in the network even if the internet connection goes down.
No. Ekran System does not influence the user experience. It monitors user activity smoothly without disturbing users.
However, Ekran may interrupt a user’s work if the user acts suspiciously. According to customizable rules, users can receive notifications explaining that a particular action violates cybersecurity policies. Also, your security admins can automatically or manually block suspicious sessions, users, and actions as needed.
When monitoring user activity on an organization’s network, Ekran System gathers the necessary data and stores it securely using military-grade encryption. Ekran System doesn’t store passwords entered by monitored users.
Ekran System offers more than just monitoring. Using this platform, you can:
- Know who accesses your sensitive data and how they handle it by arranging robust real-time user monitoring
- Prevent data leaks and breaches caused by insiders by detecting suspicious activity and instantly responding to it
- Enhance your cybersecurity by automatically sending notifications when users violate cybersecurity policies
- Evaluate employee efficiency by analyzing productivity reports
- Ensure compliance with various standards, laws, and regulations including GDPR, NIST, FISMA, HIPAA, and SWIFT
As a robust insider threat management platform, Ekran System can easily be adjusted to the specific needs of your organization.
For example, you can receive automatic custom reports on a convenient schedule. Also, in case an incident occurs, you can quickly export a full monitored session or a fragment of a session into an independent file.
Ekran System is UAM software that supports various deployment options. You can install Ekran System Client on each endpoint or install just one Ekran System Terminal Server Client on a jump server to ensure user activity monitoring of all sessions that come through your server.
Installation is easy and takes less than an hour. If you have any questions or doubts during the process, our 24/7 customer support team will be there for you.
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Let’s get the conversation started
Contact our team to learn how our insider risk management software can safeguard your organization’s data from any risks caused by human factors. Book a call with us at a time that suits you best, and let’s explore how we can help you achieve your security goals.
