End User Security Posture Management.

Nov 30, 2021. By S V Aditya

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End User Security Posture Management

End User Security Posture Management with AIOps

Security Posture Management began its growth with the cloud. When cloud operations started becoming all the rage, security concerns for cloud environments were the key concern for most SecOps teams. And software vendors responded to these concerns with a suite of tools targeting Cloud Security Posture Management. These tools handled misconfigurations and other security risks and improved security with strong standards.

Now we have a new trend at hand - that of the remote work environment. And as cloud security was key during CloudOps, End User Security Posture Management becomes key in a world that works from home.

Why End User Computing Security Posture Management matters

Everyone knows security is important - but there is a wide variety of opinions on how good security controls should be implemented. Some organizations prioritize VPNs and Multi-factor Authentication, while others are happy to let their users connect using personal devices. Organizational change does not come overnight. Even if these issues are addressed, there remains the biggest problem: End-user issues.

Most end-users are apathetic towards secure practices. At best they see it as a necessary evil and at worst as a chore that prevents them from getting work done. And they are not entirely wrong - security practices create a barrier and obstruct smooth workflow. It is hard to convince end-users to follow them when they are thinking about their next deadlines. Many will even admit to bypassing protocols because it interferes with their productivity. For example, a user can install an unsafe application just to enable faster downloads or data transfer to another colleague. They can use USB drives that can have serious risks of infecting systems with malware. They can disable their antivirus to enable computing performance or never update their virus signatures. SecOps teams do not have the bandwidth or the ability to every user's adherence to protocol.

In addition, misconfigurations are as frequent in End-user computing as they are in cloud operations. Most end-users do not know or care about security policies like firewalls, network discovery, file sharing controls, or accessing important data from insecure public wifi networks, or the plethora of other issues that IT security teams are worried about. Misconfigured settings put the end-user at high risk of data theft, hacking, and leaking of corporate data without them even realizing the risk they are in. At the same time, IT security teams do not have an adequate mechanism to control these configurations without raising privacy concerns or affecting system performance adversely. However, there is an alternative option for IT Security Compliance teams.

AIOps for Compliance Management

Algomox AIOps is now equipped with a full-fledged Compliance Management Portal integrated into its Cognitive Enterprise Dashboard that provides monitoring and enforceability. SecOps and IT security teams can now use Algomox AIOps to monitor compliance across their IT assets - including End-User devices. Compliance monitoring includes system configurations like network settings, USB policy, antivirus configurations, or tracking information like software licenses and license types. IT teams can track all this information with the help of workflows powered by Algomox Cognitive Automation Engine. These checks can be scheduled to run regularly and update the compliance portal or they can be triggered manually by the SecOps team - e.g. during a monthly review. With Enforceable Policies, users can also enable automated remediation of compliance problems based on the need of the hour. Such auto-remediation workflows are powered by models that can react to different states of the monitored IT asset.

End-User Computing Security Posture Management with AIOps

Let's consider a scenario where unsafe applications have to be removed from an End-User system. There may be a case with installed applications that are important for one user but must be removed from another because it is not essential to their role. The model will be customized enough to distinguish these scenarios and selectively uninstall applications. It can also be used to manage misconfigurations like network discovery, public/private networks, firewalls, file-sharing settings, and so on. All of these actions are done by a single, lightweight agent with a low memory footprint that is controlled remotely using the automation engine. Consequently, there is no adverse effect on system performance from the agent. At the same time, it is powerful and flexible enough to react to complex states because it is controlled by a model that reacts to these states. It does not collect any private or business data and securely transmits information to the underlying AIOps ecosystem.

Algomox AIOps allows IT Compliance and security teams to monitor and enforce policy remotely, without inconveniencing the user with burdensome or privacy-violating software. To learn more about Algomox AIOps for Compliance, visit our Cognitive Enterprise Dashboard

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