Antivirus and firewalls are the backbone of any security program, used to gain visibility across the network for inward attacks. However, it’s not informed use them because the only solutions to guard your organization against threats. Why?
Let’s take a look at however companies can strengthen their defenses with the correct set of protections.
Employ an inside-out Approach to Malware Protection
Security, like an onion, consists of many layers designed to guard its innermost elements. While the outer layer of an onion is intended to protect it from disease and pests, pathogens get smarter over time and figure out ways to penetrate that layer. And once the infectious agent is inside the onion, the onion isn’t prepared to fight against it and kick it back out, therefore it proceeds deeper and deeper until the onion is considered broken product.
Our adversaries work the same method. Once they notice a way to avoid traditional defenses (firewalls, antivirus, etc.), they’re in—with not a lot of else standing in their method. Malware is particularly tough in that, once it’s in, its job is to maintain outgoing communications with its sender so on complete its mission. For example, consider an email that creates its thanks to your pc. That email isn’t blocked by a firewall, thus you open it, click on a apparently harmless link or attachment, and the malware unfolds. It begins its attack by “phoning home” back to its sender to receive details about executing the attack.
This means that not solely do companies got to be ready to stop malware attacks once they’re inside the network, they additionally want the simplest thanks to prevent it from communicating outward, and, ultimately, to remove it. This is where a purpose-built malware protection solution comes in, and at strong arm we’ve designed ours to be light-weight and automatic, for a fraction of the price of enterprise solutions.
Taking this into practice, let’s examine the effects of malware protection (or a lack thereof) by exploring a few recent examples.
Learn From the most important Attacks
Small and midsize businesses face many of constant issues with malware as huge companies — they just don’t have the resources or budget to take care of them. This puts smaller businesses progressively at risk because cyber criminals are well-aware of their lack of defenses.
Here are the results of a few recent malware attacks:
Infiltrating the Network: DNC Hack
Earlier this summer, Russian government hackers hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) computer network with the goal of gathering intelligence on policies, practices, and strategies of the U.S. government, one among Russia’s biggest perceived adversaries.
It is suspected that hackers gained access by way of “
” emails sent to DNC employees — emails that appear legitimate but contain links and/or attachments that, when clicked, deploy malicious software that takes control of the system. This activity bypassed all antivirus and firewall controls that had been installed on the network. In fact, it was discovered that there were a pair of separate teams concerned within the attack unrelated to one another.
One of these teams flew completely under the measuring system, gaining access to the DNC network over a year ago, but it was the group who additional recently arrived whose actions tipped off officers with suspicious network activity. This group with success acquired a pair of key systems via spear phishing, which gave them access to the computers of the DNC’s staff. Hackers were ready to browse all email and chat traffic across the DNC’s network, demonstrating the very determination of Russian hackers to penetrate strategic targets so as to gain intelligence. While the Russian government is an elite adversary, these same techniques are employed by most attackers looking to steal data.
How to protect yourself:
Having the right malware protection, firms will automatically notice and remove malicious software installed from spear-phishing attacks like these. this could are available in the form of being able to isolate so direct malware from your network and block outgoing communications so company IP and other sensitive data can’t be compromised, because it was within the DNC attack. Strong arm, as an example, not only sounds the alarms once an infection is detected, it actually takes management of the malware so no harm is completed.
Encrypted Malware Schemes: Yahoo
The same encryption technology companies use to protect their own communications is increasingly being used by attackers. Yahoo was exploited once attackers took advantage of SSL/TLS to hide their malware from antivirus and firewalls by encrypting communications with command and management systems. By doing this, attackers were able to direct 900 million Yahoo users to a malicious website hosting the Angler exploit kit. Similar “advertising” attacks have hit many other major websites, as well as Match.com, AOL, and more.
Post-attack, Yahoo analyzed their data and discovered a sharp increase in SSL/TLS encryption activity in 2015. In the fourth quarter in particular, they discovered that just about 65 you look after all internet connections had been encrypted, resulting in a spike in under-the-radar attacks. Partner predicts that 50 you take care of all network attacks can benefit of SSL/TLS by 2017, up from 5 you uninterested in 2013.
How to protect yourself:
Strong arm is specifically designed to not only block malware, but speak to that as well. What meaning is that sturdy arm automatically quarantines the malware and then initiates communication back to the command and management servers to be told the maximum amount as possible about the target and the intended severity of the attack so that businesses like Yahoo will both neutralize the attack and effectively formulate a plan to fully eradicate it from all systems before it can do any harm.
The types and samples of cyber attacks are endless, but the conclusion is the same: in order to stop malware from doing hurt, companies need protection designed specifically for it