The Pitfalls of Technologist-Designed Data Leakage Prevention and Insider Risk Platforms

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, organisations are increasingly turning to Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) and Insider Risk platforms to protect their sensitive information. However, a critical flaw in many of these systems is that they are often designed by technologists who lack a deep understanding of business risk and people. This disconnect leads to flashy dashboards filled with metrics that, while visually impressive, are largely non-actionable and often irrelevant. Worse yet, these platforms tend to focus disproportionately on detecting malicious activity, despite the fact that most unsanctioned data leakage is the result of inadvertent actions, driven by a lack of awareness or the pressure to get the job done.

The Real-World Challenges

Many organisations using traditional DLP and Insider Risk platforms encounter several common issues that severely hinder their effectiveness:

• Huge Volumes of Alerts: Organisations are inundated with an overwhelming number of alerts, many of which are false positives.
• Alert Volumes Never Reduce: Over time, the volume of alerts does not decrease, leading to alert fatigue among analysts.
• Analyst Alert Fatigue: The sheer volume of alerts results in analyst fatigue within just a few days, reducing their ability to effectively respond.
• Detection Rules Descoped: Detection rules often need to be descoped shortly after implementation due to the impracticality of managing the vast number of alerts.
• All Alerts Ignored: After a few weeks, the constant barrage of alerts leads to many of them being ignored entirely.
• Only Broad-Brush Rule Changes Available: The platforms typically allow only broad, sweeping rule changes, which lack the nuance needed for effective risk management.
• No Understanding of the Business: These platforms often fail to incorporate a deep understanding of the business, leading to irrelevant or inappropriate alerting.
• No Incorporation of Intelligence from the Business: Critical business intelligence that could inform and refine detection rules is frequently not integrated into the platform.

A Different Approach: ShadowSight

ShadowSight represents a significant departure from the traditional approach to DLP and Insider Risk management. Unlike other platforms, ShadowSight is designed with a clear understanding of both the technical and business aspects of risk management, leading to a more balanced and effective solution.

Key Features and Capabilities

Alert Management:

• Noise Reduction: ShadowSight eliminates the typical alert noise by addressing systemic failures and large-scale policy awareness issues, leaving only a small number of residual alerts that genuinely need attention.
• Known Good Activity Filtering: With a simple one-click process, ShadowSight filters out known good activities, reducing the need for costly professional services and allowing analysts to focus on genuine risks.
• Enhanced Monitoring: ShadowSight provides tools to enhance monitoring of known risky activities, ensuring that the organisation can proactively manage its risk exposure.
• Built-In Workflow: ShadowSight’s workflow integrates seamlessly with business processes, ensuring that alerts are actionable and relevant.

Detection Features:

• Contextual Analysis: ShadowSight uses both event data and collective intelligence to assess and score risks more accurately.
• Behavioral Analysis: By analysing multiple activities, ShadowSight can understand staff behavior patterns, leading to more nuanced risk detection.

Data Leakage and Insider Risk Prevention:

• Comprehensive Detection: ShadowSight provides robust detection capabilities across email, USB & NAS devices, cloud uploads, and external networks, ensuring sensitive information is protected.
• Rapid Implementation: Integration with existing log sources is quick, often only taking a day rather than weeks.
• Enhanced Data Sovereignty and Compliance: ShadowSight ensures that data is stored and managed within the organisation’s geographic region, adhering to local data protection regulations.

Scalability:

• Global Reach: ShadowSight’s scalable infrastructure and built-in workflow features make it suitable for organisations of any size, anywhere in the world.

Support and Training:

• Minimal Professional Services Required: After initial implementation, most issues are resolved with a short phone call, minimising the need for ongoing professional services.
• Efficient Training: Analysts can become proficient in the ShadowSight platform with just one or two hours of training.

Results:

• Culture Change: ShadowSight fosters a dramatic culture change in the organisation’s security posture, reducing risks associated with non-compliant activities.
• Immediate Changes in Staff Behavior: Since most undesirable activity is not malicious, staff behavior changes quickly with very few repeat violations when notified.
• Systemic Risk Reduction: ShadowSight helps identify and mitigate systemic risky organisational processes within the first few weeks of implementation.
• Real-Time Security Awareness: Unlike traditional security awareness campaigns, ShadowSight offers near real-time, relevant awareness campaigns that are timely and impactful.

Cost Efficiency:

• Subscription-Based: ShadowSight’s subscription model is based on the number of staff in the organisation, making it cost-effective.
• Transformative Impact: By consolidating data leakage prevention and SIEM tools, ShadowSight significantly reduces costs while enhancing security effectiveness.
• Rapid ROI: Organisations typically see a return on investment within a month of implementing ShadowSight.

Compliance:

• ShadowSight enhances compliance with a wide range of regulations, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Australia), GDPR, PCI DSS, and many others, ensuring that organisations meet their regulatory obligations effortlessly.

In Summary

In a world where the majority of DLP and Insider Risk platforms fail to deliver actionable insights and instead burden organisations with unnecessary alerts, ShadowSight offers a refreshing alternative. By addressing the root causes of data leakage and focusing on real-world behaviour rather than just malicious activity, ShadowSight provides a platform that is not only technically robust but also deeply integrated with the business needs of an organisation. For companies looking to enhance their security posture without drowning in a sea of irrelevant alerts, ShadowSight is the solution that delivers real results, quickly and efficiently.