Implementing Data Exfiltration Defense in Situ: A Survey of Countermeasures and Human Involvement

Mu-Huan Chung, Yuhong Yang, Lu Wang, Greg Cento, Khilan Jerath, Abhay Raman, David Lie, Mark H. Chignell

Abstract: In this article we consider the problem of defending against increasing data exfiltration threats in the domain of cybersecurity. We review existing work on exfiltration threats and corresponding countermeasures. We consider current problems and challenges that need to be addressed to provide a qualitatively better level of protection against data exfiltration. After considering the magnitude of the data exfiltration threat, we outline the objectives of this article and the scope of the review. We then provide an extensive discussion of present methods of defending against data exfiltration. We note that current methodologies for defending against data exfiltration do not connect well with domain experts, both as sources of knowledge and as partners in decision-making. However, human interventions continue to be required in cybersecurity. Thus, cybersecurity applications are necessarily socio-technical systems that cannot be safely and efficiently operated without considering relevant human factor issues. We conclude with a call for approaches that can more effectively integrate human expertise into defense against data exfiltration.