Forcepoint today announced user activity monitoring and risk-based data loss prevention capabilities are coming to its secure access service edge (SASE) platform early next year.

The user activity monitoring system, dubbed Dynamic User Protection, uses a lightweight endpoint application running on employee machines to monitor users for suspicious or malicious behavior. Based on these insights, users are assigned a risk score from which policy is automatically derived.

“In this next phase of cybersecurity, managing risk across the cloud, network, and endpoint will drive everything. With Dynamic User Protection, Forcepoint is changing the rules of the cybersecurity game by delivering global enterprises the ability to automatically enforce security policy across all control points tailored to a specific end-user based on the risk they represent,” said Nico Popp, chief product officer at Forcepoint, in a statement.

The new capabilities, which are delivered as a service, come at a time when record numbers of employees are working remotely and cyber attacks are on the rise.

VMware last month reported that the number of destructive cyber attacks surged amid the pandemic, and the FBI reports that attacks are up by more than 400%.

Dynamic User Protection seeks to address this surge by automating the process of identifying internal threat vectors, and using a risk score to assign data loss prevention policies and automate security response.

The ability to understand user risk in real time and without the need for complex configuration is a "game changer," according to Forcepoint.

“Dynamic User Protection is the heart of our new converged cloud security platform with integration into Forcepoint Data Loss Prevention available today with future integration planned across the entirety of the Forcepoint portfolio," said Popp, adding that these capabilities will make their way into Forcepoint's Cloud Security Gateway SASE platform during the first quarter of 2021.

Forcepoint pinned its future on SASE back in late July with the launch of two products under the company's Dynamic Edge Protection suite, which apply security based on whether the user is accessing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application or a private application running in a data center.

Cloud Security Gateway bundles secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, malware detection, and data loss prevention into a single cloud-managed platform designed to secure SaaS apps.

Private Access, a service that pairs Forcepoint's zero-trust network access platform with its cloud-based firewall, enables users to access internal applications in the corporate data center without the need for a VPN.

Once integrated, Forcepoint's Dynamic User Protection offering will provide another layer of security, enabling enterprises to apply additional policy based on risk.