ITDR Part #3: From Reactive to Resilient: Responding to Identity Threats in Real Time

In our first two blogs in this ITDR series, we laid the groundwork for understanding identity as the new security perimeter and exposed how identity-based threats (especially insider risks) manifest in SaaS environments. 

We looked at how attackers bypass traditional defenses by exploiting trusted identities, and how visibility into behavior, access, and context is critical to surfacing real risk.

But visibility alone isn’t enough.

‍ And in today’s SaaS-driven world, where data moves fast and identities change constantly, slow or manual responses leave organizations dangerously exposed.

This final part of our series is all about execution. We’ll explore how organizations can move from detecting identity-based threats to actually stopping them in real time – using identity signals to drive policy-based enforcement actions: automated, precise, and built for the pace of SaaS.

The Anatomy of an Identity-Based Attack in SaaS

Big breaches are happening left and right these days. Think of the recent Coinbase identity-based attack. Hackers are getting scrappier and smarter by the second. 

To understand why fast, contextual response is essential, let’s break down how a typical identity-based attack unfolds in a SaaS environment by using a common example that happens to a lot of organizations today:

1. Initial compromise: An attacker phishes a user, steals a session token via a compromised browser or device, or bribes an employee for login credentials.
   

2. Access and making contact: The attacker logs in using valid credentials. Since the access is technically “legitimate,” and coming from an employee domain, it often goes undetected.
   

3. Privilege abuse: They escalate permissions, connect third-party apps via OAuth, or exploit over-provisioned access.
   

4. Data exfiltration: Sensitive files are downloaded, shared externally, or synced via unsanctioned integrations.
   

5. Persistence and spread: The attacker installs additional backdoors or pivots to other SaaS apps connected via the user’s account.
   
   

In many cases, this entire sequence can occur within a matter of hours, or less! And because most SaaS apps lack centralized identity correlation, these behaviors often appear isolated: just a login here, a download there, with damage everywhere.

Key Signals That Demand Immediate Attention

So what should security teams be watching for? Identity-based attacks leave behind signals, The key is knowing which ones matter, when to act, and how to act.

Some of the highest-priority identity signals that should trigger immediate response include:

• Unusual login behavior: Logins from suspicious or anomalous locations, IP addresses, devices, or at abnormal times.
  
  
• Mass data access or downloads: A user suddenly accessing or exporting hundreds of files they’ve never touched before, bonus points if it's outside their department.
  
  
• New or excessive OAuth app grants: Unexpected third-party apps connected to a user’s account, especially if not previously approved, bonus points here if this app isn't relevant to their jobs’ duties.
  
  
• Out-of-scope permission changes: A user elevates their role, or accesses files outside their department or function with no solid business justification.
  
  
• Post-offboarding activity: A former employee had shared work documents to their personal Gmail. Even after offboarding, they could still access those files - no company login needed.

So how do security teams get tripped up over this? These actions seem so obviously suspicious. 

Surprisingly, they're not. These actions may appear benign in isolation. Only by correlating them with identity context – such as role, department, historical activity, and access levels – can you determine whether something is routine or a real threat.

That’s where detection workflows and smart response automation become essential.

Contextual Monitoring & Response Across SaaS Apps

In SaaS environments, identities don’t operate in one app, they move across dozens. One moment a user is collaborating in Google Drive, the next they're sharing in Slack, syncing files in Salesforce, or granting access to a third-party marketing tool. This is why we use context for everything. 

DoControl connects the dots between what's happening in your environment, ties it to the user, and then reacts accordingly.

Our ITDR platform correlates identity activity across your SaaS stack to provide the full picture, not just symptoms in isolation. 

We integrate with your HRIS and IdP systems to enrich every signal with user context: who the user is, their department, role, tenure, and more. This context ensures accurate risk detection.

Contextual User Risk Scoring

Who is doing what in your environment – and can you trust it? We know that 95% of cybersecurity incidents occur due to human behavior and actions, yet most teams still struggle to pinpoint which users actually pose a risk. 

That’s where DoControl comes in. Our platform uses dynamic, aggregated risk scoring to help you identify and prioritize the users who require attention - so you can focus on real threats, not assumptions.

We combine contextual data - including access permissions, business roles, leadership levels, department nuances and behavioral baselines - to evaluate both current and potential future risk. Our platform detects high-risk behaviors such as:

• Unusual data sharing with external users or personal email accounts
• Large-scale exfiltration attempts
• Connectivity to third-party shadow apps
• Out-of-pattern SaaS activity by department or role

This score isn’t static, it evolves with user behavior and business context, helping security teams surface who poses the greatest threat at any given time.

DoControl also allows teams to place users on watchlists, enabling continuous monitoring of identities that exhibit suspicious behavior over time. This enables security operations teams to stay one step ahead of insider threats, compromised accounts, or negligent activity before it becomes a breach.

Contextual Event Monitoring 

Isolated alerts don’t work. A login from an unusual IP might seem harmless. But what if it’s followed by mass file downloads, a new OAuth connection, and external sharing – all within an hour?

Consider this sequence:

• A user authorizes a new app via OAuth
  
  
• That app accesses sensitive files in Google Drive
  
  
• Those files are then shared externally to unknown domains

Individually, these might seem routine. Together, they tell the story of data exfiltration in progress. 

DoControl stitches these signals together, compares them against behavioral baselines and access scopes, and enables you to respond with confidence – not guesswork.

On the other hand, not every anomaly is a threat: 

→ A spike in file-sharing activity might trigger an alert, but if it’s a manager onboarding a new hire, that could be completely normal. 

→ A user accessing multiple departmental resources might initially raise concern. But if HRIS data shows they were just promoted into a cross-functional role, the activity aligns with expected behavior. 

False positives like these slow down security teams and drain productivity. By tying identity data to behavioral context, we help you distinguish real risk from routine activity.

Detection Workflows in Action

By now, we’ve established how DoControl uses contextual identity intelligence (like user behavior, role data, and access patterns) to identify who poses a risk and why. The next step? Acting on it, with precision and speed.

DoControl’s workflows turn those insights into action with automated workflows that empower organizations to move from reactive investigation to proactive policy enforcement, without drowning in false positives or alert fatigue.

You can define custom detection policies that reflect how your organization actually operates. For example:

• Set behavioral thresholds by role or department 
• Flag anomalous OAuth activity that deviates from a user’s historical behavior
• Trigger alerts when offboarded or inactive users attempt to re-authenticate

These workflows are powered by real-time identity intelligence, drawing from HRIS systems, IdPs, SaaS activity logs, and DoControl’s behavioral analytics. They help detect:

• Malicious insiders (like data hoarding or mass downloads before resignation)
• Compromised accounts (like lateral movement across departments)
• Negligent users (like sharing sensitive data outside the organization)

Because these workflows are grounded in identity context, they filter out noise and prioritize what matters, enabling security teams to respond before exposure becomes escalation.

Workflows That Prevent, Scale, and Strengthen

Effective response isn’t just about solving the threat in front of you, it's about building resilient, repeatable processes that adapt as new risks emerge.

In traditional security models, alerts are funneled into analyst queues, slowing response and allowing threats to linger. DoControl eliminates this lag by enabling real-time, identity-level enforcement through automated or manual workflows.

With DoControl’s workflows, security teams can design automated, policy-driven responses that align with identity context, behavioral baselines, and business rules. 

These aren’t one-size-fits-all playbooks. They’re fine-tuned, context-aware actions that evolve with your environment.

Examples of these proactive policies include:

• Auto-restricting file sharing when a high-risk user attempts external distribution
• Suspending access for shadow apps for users who attempt to engage risky  SaaS apps
  Limiting OAuth use when unapproved apps are granted access by low-trust users
• Triggering MFA or additional review when admins perform actions outside business hours

…and more – virtually anything you can think of, you can build a custom workflow for it!

These workflows help teams prevent future incidents, reduce reliance on manual review, and allow lean security teams to scale protection across fast-growing SaaS environments.

Most importantly, they operationalize identity security, turning ITDR from a passive alerting layer into an active defense system that functions at the speed of SaaS.

Conclusion: Reactive to Resilient with DoControl

Security teams don’t need more alerts, they need smarter, faster ways to act on the ones that matter. That’s the real value of ITDR when it’s fully integrated into your operations.

DoControl doesn’t just surface identity threats, it provides the mechanisms to respond, the context to understand, and the automation to keep you ahead of evolving risks.

DoControl’s ITDR solution bridges that gap: transforming raw identity signals into clear, contextual alerts and automated enforcement that stops threats before they escalate.

With complete visibility, dynamic risk scoring, and customizable workflows, your security team can go from reactive to resilient – without scaling headcount or sacrificing speed.

See For Yourselves!

How Sisense Uses Our Workflows to Protect their SaaS

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