{"id":14268,"date":"2019-08-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syteca.com\/blog\/en-blog-5-levels-user-behavior-monitoring\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T08:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:24:08","slug":"5-levels-user-behavior-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syteca.com\/en\/blog\/5-levels-user-behavior-monitoring","title":{"rendered":"5 Levels of User Behavior Monitoring and Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monitoring user behavior is an effective practice for early detection and prevention of insider threats. Identifying suspicious user behavior can help eliminate potential threats, data breaches, and policy violations. Thus, your organization will better meet the requirements of many industry standards such as NIST<\/a>, HIPAA<\/a>, PCI DSS<\/a>, and more<\/a>. But to get the most out of user behavior monitoring, you need to better understand its principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we explain what user behavior analytics (UBA) and user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA)<\/a> are and what roles they play in cybersecurity. We also reveal the benefits user behavior monitoring and analytics can bring to your organization at different levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is user behavior monitoring and analytics? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UEBA in cybersecurity is a process of tracking, analyzing, and interpreting user interactions within a network. User behavior monitoring and analytics can help you gain insights into how your employees engage with your systems and data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cUser behavior analytics helps enterprises detect insider threats, targeted attacks, and financial fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n Gartner Market Guide for User Behavior Analytics<\/a> (subscription required)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

UBA and UEBA are two main approaches to user behavior monitoring and analytics. Solutions based on either of these approaches help you monitor and analyze user behavior within an organization’s network. Thus, you can detect potential insider threats like compromised accounts, malicious activity, lateral movement, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, UBA and UEBA have some differences. Let’s explore them in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UBA vs. UEBA: What\u2019s the difference?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UBA solutions monitor the patterns of human behavior and apply algorithms to detect anomalies in those patterns. They analyze event logs to detect unusual activity and identify human actors that may pose threats to your organization’s security. User behavior analytics is most effective when used as part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy<\/a> that includes other security measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UEBA is the technology for profiling both user and entity behavior and detecting anomalies. While UBA solutions only analyze user behavior, UEBA extends the scope of user monitoring to activities performed by non-user entities: applications, servers, and devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UEBA is based on machine learning, algorithms, statistics, and analysis to observe and interpret how individuals and devices interact with your assets and critical data. UEBA software goes a step further and provides more complex reporting options than UBA systems, allowing for more comprehensive threat detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"UBA<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Further down in this article, we explore the levels of user behavior monitoring and analytics offered by most UEBA solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How UEBA enables effective threat detection <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UEBA can spot insider security threats (whether intentional or accidental) that traditional, rule-based security tools can miss. UEBA adapts to the dynamic nature of insider threats by analyzing user and entity behavior over time, understanding context, and employing advanced analytics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UEBA solutions use a high-fidelity risk scoring system and don’t necessarily report all anomalies as risky. If there is a deviation from the normal baseline, UEBA increases the risk score of the suspicious user or device \u2014 the more unusual the behavior, the higher the risk score. As suspicious activities accumulate, the risk score rises until it reaches a set threshold. Then, user behavior monitoring software alerts security officers about suspicious activity, allowing them to take further actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since UEBA reduces false positives and provides more accurate actionable risk intelligence to security teams, it helps to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n