6 Ways CISOs Can Stay Ahead of Threat Actors

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As a CISO, safeguarding your company’s data is a top priority. The threat landscape is more volatile than ever, with threat actors becoming more intelligent. Traditional security measures are no longer enough to protect your enterprise from potential breaches.

Whether you're managing a small company or a large enterprise, vulnerabilities exist everywhere. A recent report by Verizon revealed that 80% of breaches involved misused privileged credentials, highlighting the dire need for robust security strategies.

You must implement advanced methods to detect potential threats and secure your systems. Fortunately, there are effective strategies that can strengthen your defenses and protect your company’s valuable data. Let’s take a look at them.

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TL;DR

• Use AI for Proactive Threat Detection – Generative AI analyzes user behavior to detect and prevent security threats before they escalate.
• Implement Adaptive Authentication – AI-driven authentication adjusts security measures in real-time based on risk factors, preventing credential abuse.
• Strengthen Endpoint Security – Continuous monitoring, automated updates, and access controls protect enterprise devices from cyber threats.
• Adopt Zero Trust Security – Never trust, always verify—strict access controls ensure only authorized users and devices gain entry.
• Automate Access & Privileged Account Management – AI-driven workflows streamline provisioning, enforce Just-in-Time access, and prevent insider threats.

How CISOs Can Stay Ahead of Bad Threat Actors

1. Leverage Generative AI for Proactive Threat Detection

Today’s security systems are more reactive, focusing on responding to known threats after they occur. This leaves your enterprise vulnerable to zero-day exploits and sophisticated tactics that change faster than static defenses.

For example, FIN11 was responsible for the 2021 zero-day targeting Accellion’s outdated File Transfer Appliance, which was used in attacks on numerous high-profile organizations.

With Gen AI, you will have a proactive approach to identifying potential risks before they escalate. Generative AI continuously analyzes vast streams of data, such as login attempts, file access patterns and endpoint activities.

Thus, it creates baseline behaviors for users and systems. It then tracks deviations from these patterns in real-time, indicating phishing attempts or credential abuse.

Cybersecurity is like going to the gym; you have to exercise it every day - Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

What makes generative AI unique is its ability to connect these dots across multiple layers of security. For instance, it doesn’t just flag suspicious activities; it predicts them based on behavioral trends and historical attack data.

Let’s talk about phishing attempts for example. Instead of reacting after a user clicks a malicious link, generative AI could recognize the threat during an email’s delivery. It could flag abnormal sender behaviors, detect unusual attachments, and alert your team before any damage is done. Statista revealed in September 2024 alone, more than 366 brands faced phishing attacks.

2. Implement Adaptive Authentication Across Systems

Static authentication methods, such as relying solely on usernames and passwords, are no longer effective. Threat actors exploit weak or stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access.

Adaptive authentication addresses these vulnerabilities by adjusting authentication requirements based on real-time risk assessments.

Key Benefits of Adaptive Authentication

• Dynamic Risk Assessment: Continuously evaluates contextual factors, such as user behavior, device type, and log in location, to determine the level of authentication required.
• Improved User Experience: Reduces unnecessary friction for low-risk activities while enforcing stronger measures for suspicious behaviors.
• Seamless Integration: Works across multiple systems and applications to provide consistent security.

In 2020, Nintendo suffered one of the most severe credential-stuffing attacks, where hackers used previously compromised login credentials and specialized crimeware tools to gain unauthorized access to 160,000 accounts.

How Adaptive Authentication Works

• Behavioral Analysis: Tracks user activities, such as login patterns, device usage, and geographic locations. If anomalies arise—like a login attempt from an unfamiliar device or an unexpected country—adaptive authentication intervenes.
• Contextual Decision-Making: Considers factors like time of day, IP address, and access requests. For instance, a login attempt during off-hours might trigger multi-factor authentication to verify the user’s identity.
• Granular Policies: System-wide authentication rules tailored to your enterprise's security needs, ensuring sensitive applications require higher levels of verification.
• Real-Time Adjustments: Dynamically escalates or reduces authentication steps based on the assessed risk, preventing unnecessary delays for legitimate users

“One of the main cyber-risks is to think they don’t exist. The other is to try to treat all potential risks. Fix the basics, protect first what matters for your business and be ready to react properly to pertinent threats.” ― Stephane Nappo, VP global CISO

With an adaptive authentication system, you can prevent attacks like Nintendo from happening with your enterprise. Even if users fall for phishing scams, adaptive authentication can block access when login attempts deviate from normal behavior.  

3. Strengthen Endpoint Management

Endpoints, including laptops, desktops, smartphones, and IoT devices, are critical entry points for your enterprise's network. Attackers often target these devices to exploit vulnerabilities and gain unauthorized access. Strengthening endpoint management ensures that every device connected to your systems remains secure and monitored.

Key Components of a Robust Endpoint Management Strategy

• Comprehensive Inventory Management: Keep an up-to-date inventory of all devices accessing your network, including employee devices, corporate assets, and third-party connections.
• Regular Updates and Patches: Automate updates and patches to address vulnerabilities in operating systems, applications, and firmware.
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Use EDR solutions to monitor and analyze endpoint activities, detect anomalies, and respond to potential threats in real-time.
• Access Control and Segmentation: Restrict access to sensitive resources based on user roles and endpoint security posture.

Without proactive endpoint management, devices may run outdated software, leaving them exposed to malware and exploits. A failure to update and patch endpoints regularly creates opportunities for attackers to target known vulnerabilities.

In October 2016, the largest-ever DDoS attack hit service provider Dyn, causing major outages for sites like Twitter, Netflix, and Reddit. The attack used an IoT botnet created by the Mirai malware, which infected devices like cameras and DVRs by exploiting default usernames and passwords.

4. Implement Zero Trust Security Approach

The Zero Trust security approach will assume that no user, device, or system should be trusted by default—whether inside or outside the network. This model enforces strict access controls and continuous verification, ensuring that only authorized users and devices can access sensitive resources.

“Zero Trust is not a technology; it’s a security philosophy that rewires how we think about access.” ― Neil MacDonald, EVP & senior distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Unlike old security models that rely on implicit trust for internal users, Zero Trust demands explicit verification for every access request. This verification process considers multiple factors, including user identity, device health, location, and the sensitivity of the resource being accessed. Even after a user gains initial access, the system continues to monitor their behavior for anomalies that could indicate a compromised account or malicious intent.

For example, Perimeter 81 leverages identity-based access rules, two-factor authentication (2FA), traffic encryption, and monitoring to enhance security. The company claims its Zero Trust Network Access ensures the protection of data and critical infrastructure.

Identity and Access Management plays a pivotal role in a Zero Trust strategy. With IAM solutions, you can authenticate users through multi-factor authentication (MFA) and enforce role-based access controls. Additionally, endpoint security is crucial for evaluating device compliance before granting network access.

5. Automate and Streamline Access Management

Automating and streamlining access management allows you to effectively control who accesses your enterprise's systems and data. This approach not only improves security but also enhances operational efficiency by reducing manual effort and minimizing errors.

“A breach alone is not a disaster, but mishandling it is.” – Serene Davis, Global Head of Cyber - QBE Insurance.

An automated access management system provides a structured and dynamic way to handle permissions, ensuring timely updates to user access while maintaining strict security controls. Here’s how automating access management can benefit your enterprise:

• Role-Based Access Provisioning: Automatically assign access permissions based on user roles and responsibilities. When new users join, the system provides them with the appropriate access levels aligned with their designation.
• Continuous Monitoring and Auditing: Automation enables real-time tracking of user activities. Suspicious behavior, such as unauthorized access attempts or unusual data transfers, triggers alerts for immediate action.
• Seamless Offboarding: Ensure that access permissions are promptly revoked when users leave the enterprise. Automated systems remove inactive accounts and reduce the risk of lingering permissions, which could otherwise be exploited by threat actors.
• Reduced Human Error: As you can remove manual access management processes, you lower the chances of misconfigurations or delays that can introduce security vulnerabilities.
• Enhanced Response Time: Automated systems quickly identify and respond to access-related anomalies, such as login attempts from unrecognized devices or locations, reducing the potential impact of security incidents.

In April 2022, a former disgruntled employee accessed and downloaded personal data belonging to Cash App users. Following their termination on December 10, 2022, the employee stole sensitive customer information from the mobile payment service.

6. Monitor Privileged Access and Insider Threats

Privileged accounts serve as gateways to your most critical systems, and their misuse can result in severe security breaches. Regularly monitoring these accounts is essential to detect and mitigate risks from both external threats and potential insider attacks.

Strengthen Your Privileged Account Security

• Track Unusual Activities: Monitor privileged accounts for anomalous behavior, such as unexpected login attempts, changes to sensitive settings, or access from unrecognized devices or locations. Detecting these activities early helps prevent unauthorized use or malicious intent.
• Apply Just-in-Time (JIT) Privilege Management: Provide users with temporary, role-specific elevated access only when necessary. This approach minimizes the window of opportunity for misuse while ensuring operational continuity.
• Flag Suspicious Behavior: Use advanced monitoring solutions to automatically detect and alert you to potential threats. Examples include unauthorized data modifications, attempts to escalate privileges, or access to restricted areas of your systems.
• Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Strengthen access control by requiring privileged users to verify their identities through multiple authentication steps. MFA reduces the risk of credential-based attacks.

As per Grand View Research, the global Privileged Access Management (PAM) market is expected to grow from USD 2.9 billion in 2023 to USD 7.7 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 21.5% during this period.

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How CloudEagle.ai Can Help CISOs Enhance Access Management

CloudEagle.ai is a SaaS management and procurement platform designed to help you discover, govern, renew, and optimize your SaaS licenses.

With over 500 integrations, including finance, SSO, and HRIS systems, CloudEagle.ai enables seamless visibility into your entire tech stack and efficient management of access at a granular level, making it an ideal solution for streamlining identity and access management.

Its powerful integration tools provide comprehensive insights into user access, allowing you to effectively manage and analyze access from a single platform.

Self-Service App Catalog

CloudEagle.ai simplifies app access requests for both employees and administrators with a self-service app catalog. Administrators receive notifications via Slack and email whenever an employee submits a new access request.

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Employees can easily check their current app access and request additional apps directly through Slack. If a similar app is already available, they are redirected to use it, reducing the need for duplicate procurements.

Just-in-Time Access

CloudEagle.ai allows you to provide temporary access to critical systems for a set period. After the task is finished, access is automatically revoked, preventing unnecessary exposure by ensuring it doesn’t last longer than needed.

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This feature also lets you set time-based access for contractors, freelancers, or temporary workers, tailoring permissions to their specific requirements. It helps maintain strong security without the need for manual access revocation management.

Seamless Access Control

CloudEagle.ai provides full visibility into who accesses your applications, why they have access, and how they use them. With centralized control, managing access becomes seamless, covering everything from intake to provisioning and deprovisioning, all in one platform.

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The platform also simplifies compliance and security audits by making application logs easily accessible. Through the CloudEagle.ai portal, you can quickly export detailed records of access for each application.

Privileged Access Management

CloudEagle.ai effectively manages privileged accounts by automating the assignment of appropriate access levels. This ensures only authorized individuals receive elevated access to critical systems like AWS and NetSuite, minimizing the risk of unauthorized use.

The platform continuously monitors and manages these accounts, supporting security and compliance while simplifying access management. Its automation also reduces the chances of human error, protecting sensitive systems without adding administrative complexity.

Automated App Access Reviews

CloudEagle.ai allows you to automate your SOC 2 and ISO 27001 access reviews, eliminating the need to log into each app to review access or scramble to provide deprovisioning proof.

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All the tools you need are available on a single, streamlined dashboard, making compliance easy and stress-free.

Automated Onboarding and Offboarding

CloudEagle.ai simplifies access management through auto-provisioning workflows, enabling you to assign application access to new users based on their roles and departments. This ensures new employees can start using the required tools immediately, enhancing productivity from day one.

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The platform also offers robust automated user offboarding, reducing the security risks tied to manual access revocation. It can automatically revoke access for inactive accounts after a specified period, helping maintain stronger security.

Automated triggers instantly grant or revoke access as team members join or leave. Additionally, Just-In-Time Access ensures permissions are provided exactly when needed, minimizing delays and enhancing operational efficiency.

For example, Remediant used CloudEagle.ai to implement smooth automated user provisioning and deprovisioning.

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Managing Compliance

Non-compliance with the latest security regulations can result in significant penalties and data breaches. Additionally, using non-compliant SaaS applications can lead to:

• Fines and legal consequences
• Data and privacy issues
• Reputational damage
• A weakened competitive position
• Security vulnerabilities

Ensuring SaaS compliance is essential, but managing it manually can be challenging. CloudEagle.ai streamlines this process by collecting the necessary data and automating compliance tasks, making it easier to stay compliant and secure.

In conclusion, leveraging CloudEagle.ai simplifies the complexities of SaaS compliance, helping you avoid risks while maintaining strong security and operational efficiency.

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Conclusion

CISOs need more than just security measures to protect their enterprise data. You need to have a mindset of continuous vigilance and adaptability. Security is an ongoing process, and by consistently refining your approach, you ensure that your company remains strong against bad actors.

Whether you need to manage access effectively or protect privileged accounts, you can use CloudEagle.ai. With its automated access management features, real-time monitoring, automated provisioning, and deprovisioning, CloudEagle.ai ensure your company can manage and control user access with precision and efficiency.

Make sure you book a demo and the experts will showcase how the platform can help your business with access management.

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