In the context of cybersecurity, "Compromised Employees" refers to individuals within an organization whose accounts or devices have been compromised by malicious actors. This compromise can occur through various means, such as:

• Phishing Attacks: Employees falling victim to phishing emails and divulging their login credentials.

• Malware Infections: Employees' devices being infected with malware, such as infostealers or keyloggers, which capture sensitive information.

• Social Engineering: Employees being manipulated into revealing confidential information or granting access to systems.

• Weak or Reused Passwords: Employees using weak or easily guessable passwords, or reusing passwords across multiple accounts.

Compromised employees pose a significant security risk to organizations as they can lead to:

• Data Breaches: Attackers gaining access to sensitive data through compromised accounts.

• Financial Losses: Attackers initiating fraudulent transactions or stealing funds.

• Reputational Damage: Loss of customer trust and negative publicity.

• Operational Disruptions: Disruption of critical business processes and systems.

Organizations need to take proactive measures to mitigate the risks associated with compromised employees, including:

• Security Awareness Training: Educating employees about cybersecurity threats and best practices.

• Strong Password Policies: Enforcing strong and unique passwords for all accounts.

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Implementing MFA to add an extra layer of security.

• Regular Security Assessments: Identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities that could lead to employee compromise.

• Incident Response Plan: Developing and practicing an incident response plan to address compromised employee situations effectively.

By addressing the risks associated with compromised employees, organizations can strengthen their overall security posture and protect their valuable assets.

ThreatNG offers a comprehensive solution for identifying and mitigating risks associated with compromised employees, primarily focusing on detection and proactive measures.

1. External Discovery and Assessment:

ThreatNG employs multiple methods to discover and assess compromised employees without needing internal network access:

• Dark Web Monitoring: ThreatNG continuously scans dark web marketplaces, forums, and paste sites for any mentions of employee credentials or compromised accounts. This includes monitoring for leaked credentials, access tokens, and other sensitive information that could indicate employee compromise.

• Data Leak Analysis: ThreatNG analyzes publicly reported data leaks and breaches to identify any compromised employee information. It uses advanced techniques to correlate information from different sources and assess the severity of the compromise.

• Social Media Monitoring: ThreatNG monitors social media platforms for any mentions of employee compromise or security incidents related to the organization. This helps identify potential phishing campaigns or social engineering attempts targeting employees.

• OSINT Gathering: ThreatNG leverages open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques to gather information about potential employee compromise from various online sources, such as public code repositories, paste sites, and social media platforms.

2. Reporting and Continuous Monitoring:

ThreatNG provides detailed reports on compromised employees, including the source of compromise, types of data exposed, severity of risk, and recommended mitigation actions. These reports can be customized for different audiences, such as executives, security teams, or compliance officers.

• Alerts: ThreatNG continuously monitors for new signs of employee compromise and provides real-time alerts to security teams, enabling them to take immediate action to contain the breach and mitigate the impact.

3. Investigation Modules:

ThreatNG offers various investigation modules to delve deeper into employee compromise incidents and understand the extent of the exposure:

• Sensitive Code Exposure: This module analyzes exposed code repositories for any sensitive information, such as API keys, access tokens, or internal credentials, that may have been leaked due to employee compromise.

• Online Sharing Exposure: ThreatNG investigates online code-sharing platforms and other online services for any signs of leaked data related to the organization that may have resulted from employee compromise.

4. Intelligence Repositories:

ThreatNG maintains extensive intelligence repositories that include information on data breaches, compromised credentials, and threat actors. This data is used to enrich the analysis of employee compromise incidents and identify any potential connections to malicious activities.

5. Complementary Solutions:

ThreatNG integrates with various complementary security solutions to enhance its capabilities and provide a more holistic approach to addressing compromised employees:

• Threat Intelligence Platforms: ThreatNG ingests threat intelligence feeds from other platforms to gain additional insights into employee compromise and potential threats.

• Security Awareness Training Platforms: ThreatNG integrates with security awareness training platforms to provide targeted training to employees, educating them about phishing, social engineering, and other threats that could lead to compromise.

• Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solutions: ThreatNG integrates with IAM solutions to enforce stronger password policies, enable multi-factor authentication, and provide additional security controls to protect against employee compromise.

Examples of ThreatNG Helping:

• Early Detection: ThreatNG detects an employee's credentials being offered for sale on a dark web marketplace and alerts the security team. This allows the organization to take immediate action to reset the employee's password, revoke access tokens, and investigate the extent of the compromise.

• Targeted Training: ThreatNG identifies a group of employees who have exhibited risky online behavior, such as visiting suspicious websites or clicking on phishing links. It triggers targeted security awareness training for these employees, educating them about the risks and how to avoid compromise.

Examples of ThreatNG Working with Complementary Solutions:

• Threat Intelligence Integration: ThreatNG receives a threat intelligence feed indicating that a specific employee's email address is being targeted by a phishing campaign. This allows ThreatNG to prioritize monitoring and mitigation actions for that employee.

• Security Awareness Training Integration: ThreatNG identifies an employee who has fallen victim to a phishing attack and automatically assigns them a targeted phishing awareness training module through the integrated security awareness training platform.

• IAM Integration: ThreatNG detects suspicious login activity on an employee's account and automatically triggers a password reset and enables multi-factor authentication for that account through the integrated IAM solution.

By leveraging its powerful capabilities and integrations with complementary solutions, ThreatNG provides a comprehensive approach to addressing compromised employees, helping organizations protect their sensitive information, maintain compliance, and preserve their reputation.