Enterprise-Centric Attack Path Discovery Through Machine Learning and Behavioral Analytics in Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure

Abstract

The increasing adoption of hybrid cloud infrastructure has introduced complex security challenges for enterprises managing interconnected on-premises systems, private clouds, and public cloud environments. Traditional security mechanisms often struggle to identify sophisticated attack paths because of distributed identities, interconnected workloads, misconfigured permissions, and continuously changing network relationships. This research proposes an enterprise-centric attack path discovery framework that integrates machine learning, behavioral analytics, and graph-based security intelligence to identify potential attack routes across hybrid cloud environments. The proposed framework collects security information from identity management systems, network traffic, cloud configurations, endpoint activities, and application logs to construct a unified representation of enterprise infrastructure. Machine learning algorithms analyze historical and real-time security events to identify abnormal access patterns, suspicious privilege escalation, lateral movement, and unusual communication behavior. Graph-based analytics establish relationships between users, devices, applications, workloads, and infrastructure resources to discover potential attack sequences and vulnerable connections. Behavioral analytics continuously evaluate deviations from established activity patterns, enabling early identification of emerging threats. Furthermore, risk-scoring mechanisms prioritize attack paths according to vulnerability severity, accessibility, privilege exposure, and potential business impact. The proposed approach aims to improve threat visibility, strengthen security monitoring, and support proactive risk mitigation. By integrating intelligent analytics with continuous security assessment, the framework provides enterprises with an adaptive approach to discovering and managing attack paths across dynamic hybrid cloud infrastructure.