Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)

Attackers increasingly use stolen credentials and credential based attacks to gain unauthorized access to systems, networks, devices, and data. Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) focuses on detecting unauthorized identities and user access to mitigate risks arising from these cloud-based attacks.

Flare and Identity Threat Detection and Response

How Does Flare Answer ITDR Needs?

Flare’s platform provides identity threat intelligence by continuously monitoring clear, deep, and dark web as well as illicit Telegram channels to identify leaked customer and employee information, including:

• Names
• User IDs
• Email addresses
• Passwords
• Active session cookies

This data supports the organization’s overall ITDR objectives with insight into risks arising from leaked information. 

How Does Flare Streamline a Security Team’s ITDR?

Flare’s platform integrates into a security teams’ workflows, including their security incident and event management (SIEM) or security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) tool. By incorporating threat intelligence about leaked or stolen credentials, security teams can correlate this real-time information with corporate credentials for enhanced detection and response. This threat intelligence enables security teams to improve response times by providing insight into risky credentials so they can terminate account access faster.

What are the key benefits of the Flare TEM solution?

• Proactive continuous monitoring across various locations where credential leaks can occur, like login information hardcoded in source code or posted on sites like Pastebin.
• Visibility into risks outside the organization’s perimeter by detecting data leaks across an increasingly expansive attack surface. 
• Conducting reconnaissance across the organization’s extended attack surface to reduce cybersecurity blindspots

Overview of Identity Threat Detection and Response

What is Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)?

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) focuses on detecting and responding to threats specifically targeted at user identities, credentials, and access privileges. Identifying and mitigating potential risks and attacks helps reduce the likelihood that attackers can gain unauthorized access to sensitive information or steal an individual’s identity. 

ITDR includes the following:

• Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Monitoring user activities
• Detecting suspicious behaviors
• Identifying potential breaches
• Revoking access privileges
• Blocking suspicious activity

What Security Challenges Does ITDR Address?

ITDR addresses security challenges arising from identity-based attacks that often target sensitive information or seek to disrupt business operations. ITDR enables organizations to implement proactive security measures to mitigate risks arising from:

• Vulnerability exploits that allow attacker to impersonate legitimate users
• Malicious insiders seeking to steal sensitive information
• Compromised credentials bought on the dark web or through illicit Telegram channels
• Leaked credentials, like credentials in source code stored in GitHub repositories

What Is the Difference Between ITDR, IAM, and EDR?

While ITDR may incorporate different aspects of both IAM and EDR, it takes a broader approach to managing security:

• Endpoint detection and response (EDR): monitors and collects data related to endpoint devices, like laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and servers
• Identity and Access Management (IAM): manages and controls user identities and their corresponding access privileges within an organization’s network, systems, and applications by policies that govern user authentication, authorization, and accountability
• Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR): detects and responds to threats across a rand of systems, applications, and network components to minimize the impact of a disaster or disruptive incident and ensure the uninterrupted functioning of critical systems and operations

Identity signals are critical to understanding and mitigating cybersecurity threats. By combining ITDR, IAM, and EDR, organizations can correlate identity alerts across various endpoints, email, collaboration tools, and cloud applications for enhanced security.

Why Is Identity Threat Detection and Response Important in Today’s Cybersecurity Landscape?

How Does ITDR Protect Hybrid Identity Environments?

As organizations add more cloud-services and integrate them with on-premises assets, ITDR helps detect and mitigate potential threats to hybrid identity environments by combining:

• Advanced analytics: Establishing a baseline of “normal” user behavior and identifying abnormal activity that may indicate potential threats 
• Threat intelligence: Threat intelligence feeds with up-to-date threat and trend information from various sources, including industry reports, security feeds, and anonymized incident data
• Timely Incident Response: Real-time alerts and notifications to security teams, facilitating rapid incident response

How Does an ITDR Fit Into an Organization’s Security Program?

An ITDR system focuses on protecting identities and identity systems. 

By employing identity-centric security controls, organizations can bring these technologies and risks within the larger umbrella of their security program by engaging in:

• Configuration analysis: assessing the identity system’s security configurations and identifying any potential vulnerabilities
• Impact analysis: analyzing the potential consequences of an identity-related incident
• Risk analysis: assigning risk scores to identities and access attempts based on various factors such as previous behavior, location, and device information
• Real-time monitoring: continuously monitoring identity-related events and activities for faster detection and response, minimizing data breach or unauthorized access risks
• Enhanced Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) alerts: incorporating ITDR data into SIEM alerts reduces the number of false positive and improves security team response times

What Are the Must-Have Capabilities for an ITDR Solution?

To enhance security with ITDR, organizations should look for solutions that include the following critical capabilities:

• Continuous monitoring: visibility into credential and access privilege use to understand typical user access to networks, applications, and data as a way to identify abnormal access that indicates a potential incident
• Proactive controls: ability to set and enforce strict controls that limit user access according to the principle of least privilege
• Real-time threat intelligence: ability to detect emerging threats and take proactive mitigation actions
• Threat detection: identifying identity-based threat through user behavior that triggers an automated response
• Access blocking: Terminating a suspicious user’s access to reduce impact and mitigate risk

Identity Threat Detection and Response with Flare

Flare provides the leading Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution for organizations. Our technology constantly scans the online world, including the clear & dark web, to discover unknown events, automatically prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security. Flare’s platform continuously monitors for data leaks and mentions of the organization on the dark web and illicit Telegram channels to help organizations gain visibility into risks outside their perimeters. 
Our solution integrates into your security program in 30 minutes to provide your team with actionable intelligence and automated remediation for high-risk exposure. See it yourself with our free trial.