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Category: Antivirus

What every business has in common?

Every modern business has one thing in common – the internet.

Businesses are using computers, smart phones, tablets, etc. to connect to the internet for research, shopping, advertising, or any number of things. With a connection to the internet comes the need for routers, switches, wireless, and other network hardware to distribute internet connectivity across the company. There are malicious people on the internet that are setting traps and trying to break into companies which necessitate the use of tools like antivirus, internet filtering, spam filtering, and other protective measures. There are also people who work from their homes and need to have a way of tunneling safely into the network to use the resources there. 

All of this has to be managed by someone in the company or you can contract with a managed IT service provider. 

If your company needs help managing all the things connected to your internet, then contact us for assistance.

Zero Trust – Application Whitelisting

This is the eighth in a series about the concept of Zero Trust, which means in the IT sense that you trust nothing and always verify everything surrounding and connected to your network. Today’s discussion will be on Application Whitelisting. 

Application Whitelisting

Application Whitelisting is a process of determining which software programs the company absolutely needs to do business, marking them as safe, and blocking any other program that tries to run on company computers. This methodology has the distinct advantage of blocking almost all forms of malware on computers. Pairing this with a good next-gen antivirus creates an impenetrable wall against malware threats. It also prevents users from accidentally or intentionally running something that should not be on company computers. Here are some questions to ask:

  • Do you know all software on your computers?
  • Do your users spend time on company computers listening to music?
  • Have any of your users ever downloaded software without asking?
  • Do you have a computer use policy? How is that enforced?

If your company is wanting to lock down what is running on company computers, then contact us for assistance.

Zero Trust – Endpoint Security

Endpoint Security - Clackamas, OR

This is the sixth in a series about the concept of Zero Trust, which means in the IT sense that you trust nothing and always verify everything surrounding and connected to your network. Today’s discussion will be on endpoint security. 

Endpoint Security

Endpoint security is a fancy term used to describe how the computers on the network are protected. This used to be done by antivirus but due to the complexity of the attacks hackers are using to compromise networks these days, the definition has expanded greatly. This now includes things like Enhanced Detection & Response software, Security Operations Centers, DNS Filtering, employee train and more. Here are some questions that you should be asking yourself:

  • Are your endpoints protected by antivirus or enhanced detection & response?
  • Is website traffic being monitored? Restricted?
  • Are your employees being trained in cyber security?
  • Are computer logs being monitored for malicious activity?
  • Would unusual or suspicious activity on a computer be noticed? Alerted on?
  • Do you have security permissions set on all file shares?
  • Do you have least privileged access configured on those shares?
  • Do you keep track of what software is installed on all workstations?
  • Do you block access to unauthorized software?
  • Are files encrypted on servers and workstations?
  • Are your mobile devices managed? Can you wipe them remotely?
  • Are USB ports blocking removeable storage devices?
  • Are endpoints set to automatically log-out?

If your company is going to use full disk encryption or has compliance requirements that you need consulting for, then contact us for assistance.

US Takes Action Against Russian Cyber Threats

We caught wind of two separate actions the US has taken against Cyber Threats from Russia over the weekend:

Kaspersky

The first is news that the US Federal Communications Commission has added Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to its list of entities that pose an “unacceptable risk to US national security,” according to a report from Bloomberg. This company has been banned from use by government agencies since 2017 when a bill was signed due to the companies ties to the Kremlin. 

Russian Hackers

The second article was a press release from the FBI stating that:

“The Department of Justice unsealed two indictments today charging four defendants, all Russian nationals who worked for the Russian government, with attempting, supporting and conducting computer intrusions that together, in two separate conspiracies, targeted the global energy sector between 2012 and 2018. In total, these hacking campaigns targeted thousands of computers, at hundreds of companies and organizations, in approximately 135 countries.”

This hacking activity should be another wake-up call to American businesses to harden their defenses and remain vigilant against cyber security threats. These people are nationally sponsored criminals and we must protect ourselves. 

If your company is currently using Kaspersky or any other Russian based vendors, then it is time to carefully consider whether to continue being connected with them and contact us for assistance migrating to a trusted source.

Hackers Penetrate 93% of Company Networks

Hacked - Grants Pass, OR

Security researchers performed penetration testing on the networks of 45 various mid-sized companies and found that in real life scenarios 93% of those networks were able to be compromised to the point of business disruption. Here are the details:

The Target

The 45 companies were polled to determine what would be an unacceptable business interruption. They decided that the following met that criteria:

  • Disruption of production processes
  • Disruption of service delivery processes
  • Compromise of the digital identity of top management
  • Theft of funds
  • Theft of sensitive information
  • Fraud against users

These became the target for the penetration testers. 


The Process

In order for the penetration tester to achieve their target, they followed the following process:

  • Breach the network perimeter – This was done by the use of compromised passwords found on the Dark Web and know vulnerabilities on devices that were directly connected to the internet
  • Obtain maximum privileges – In 100% of the networks, once an attacker was inside the network
  •  Gaining access to key systems – With maximum privileges, the testers are able to gain access to other areas of the network including databases, executives computers, and production servers
  • Develop attacks on target systems – Once key systems are compromised the testers then figured out how to create the unacceptable business interruption. Although they could have created these interruptions, they only gathered proof that they could to present the data to the companies. 


How to Defend 

There are a couple main ways to defend against these kinds of attacks:

  • Security Controls / Segmentation – Creating least privileged access to key systems and segmenting the network will keep hackers from traversing the network once inside
  • Enhanced Network Monitoring – Modern cyber security tools watch activity and traffic on the network to find indicators of compromise. They pool this information into an attack history that can be used to remediate and further protect. 


Your company is not as safe as you think, so contact us for free initial cybersecurity evaluation and risk report.  .

Did I see your Indicators of Compromise?

Nobody wants to be hacked, breached, compromised, or whatever else they are calling it now. Here is a quick list of things to think about to keep your company safe:

Compromise Prevention

  • Keep track of your inventory, both software and hardware.
  • Make sure to properly dispose of these things (recycle or responsible destruction)
  • Scan your network for vulnerabilities
  • Patch or remediate everything you find
  • Manage your antivirus & keep it up-to-date
  • Keep your passwords complex & safely stored
  • Remove all users / accounts when no longer in use
  • Look at best practices to harden your computers / network to attacks
  • Monitor your network for strange activity (indicators of compromise)

If your company is concerned about security, then contact us to take care of it for you.

How is Malware Delivered?

Malware

Read a recent study on the origins of malicious software aka malware. Here are the highlights:

Current Malware Statistics

29% – Malware is previously unknown to security vendors due to the continued efforts of malware creators to hide the software or make it undetectable.

88% – Malware is delivered to people’s inboxes and some of it bypassing normal SPAM filters.

8.8 Days – Time before regular antivirus vendors have discovered the malware and added it to their lists for detection.

$50 – The cost of a pre-fabricated malware kit that can be bought currently on the dark web.

“The most common type of malicious attachments were: documents (Word – 31%), archive files (ZIP & RAR – 28%), spreadsheets (Excel – 19%) and executable files (EXE – 17%).”

What can be done?

A multi-tiered approach to security remains the best solution:

  • Moving from traditional antivirus to Enhanced Detection & Response (EDR) software to go beyond lists of know infections to behavior tracking of software
  • Moving from traditional SPAM filters to Email Advanced Threat Protection which scans each email and opens each attachment to see if there is any malicious activity cause by them
  • Moving from traditional router to a business class firewall with Intrusion Prevention System to monitor traffic for suspicious activity
  • Employee training is also key to keep your staff aware of immerging trends and threats 


If your company is looking to enhance your network security posture, then contact us for assistance.

A newly discovered serious vulnerability – dubbed “BootHole”

There has been information released by a security research firm called Eclypsium that there is a vulnerability dubbed Boothole in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Secure Boot that would allow an attacker to completely take over a workstation, laptop, or server and be nearly undetectable. All hardware vendors will have to send out updates in the near future to patch the UEFI code to secure it against this “BootHole” vulnerability. Due to the difficulty in designing and testing these types of updates it will be some time before they are released. We will keep you posted as to the release of these updates as they become available. 

If your company is concerned about security, then contact us for assistance.

FBI Cyber Defense Best Practices

A recent briefing from the FBI’s Internet Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) detailed current best practices and industry standards for cyber defense. Here is a summation:

Cyber Defense Best Practices

  • Backups – Regularly back up data and verify its integrity. Backups are critical in ransomware; if you are infected, backups may be the only way to recover your critical data.
  • Training – Employees should be made aware of the threat of ransomware, how it is delivered, and trained on information security principles and techniques.
  • Patching – All endpoints should be patched as vulnerabilities are discovered. This can be made easier through a centralized patch management system.
  • Antivirus – Ensure anti-virus and anti-malware solutions are set to automatically update and that regular scans are conducted. Centrally managed is even better.
  • File Permissions – If a user only needs to read specific files, they should not have write-access to those files, directories, or shares. Configure access controls with least privilege in mind.
  • Macros – Disable macro scripts from Office files transmitted via email.
  • Program Execution Restrictions – Implement software restriction policies or other controls to prevent the execution of programs in common ransomware locations, such as temporary folders supporting popular internet browsers, and compression/decompression programs.
  • Remote Desktop Protocol – Employ best practices for use of RDP, including use of VPN, auditing your network for systems using RDP, closing unused RDP ports, applying two-factor authentication wherever possible, and logging RDP login attempts.
  • Software Whitelisting – Implement application whitelisting. Only allow systems to execute programs known and permitted by security policy. This one takes careful planning.
  • Virtualization – Use virtualized environments to execute operating system environments or specific programs. No physical access to servers makes hacking harder.
  • Network Segmentation – Implement physical and logical separation of networks and data for different organizational units. Keep guest traffic out of your business network.
  • No Saved Passwords – Require users to type information or enter a password when their system communicates with a website. Better yet use a password management tool.

If your company is going to use full disk encryption or has compliance requirements that you need consulting for, then contact us for assistance.

Anatomy of a Breach

Read an amazing article published by Microsoft detailing the roadmap a hacker uses to breach a computer network. You can read the full article here:

https://cloud-platform-assets.azurewebsites.net/anatomy-of-a-breach/

Summary of a Breach

Phase 1: Break-In: Hackers are still using phishing emails, bad passwords, social media links, and poorly patched systems to make their way in with the initial infection. Employee training is the first step towards preventing breaches for 9 out of 10 companies now (and it is included in the price for all our monthly clients).

Phase 2: The Inside Man: Once inside the hacker will scan the network for further vulnerable systems, employees with more access rights than they need, and systems that allow access into other parts of the network. Having systems in place that detect strange or malicious activity are key to stopping an infection in its tracks.

Phase 3: Spread Out: This is where the hacker has all the access they need and start to find the data that is worth selling. Hackers will usually start moving data to places it doesn’t belong on the network then downloading it to their computers for resell. This is where strong access policies that are clearly defined and enforced make the greatest impact to protect sensitive data. 

Phase 4: The Long Con: Once a hacker has taken all they need for the short term payout, they will setup remote access back doors to allow for future access whenever they want to. It almost pays to assume that a breach has already occurred and continually scan the network for these kinds of activity to catch the hackers in the act.

Take the time to read this article, it is a wake-up call on security.

If you would like to learn more about creating an effective cyber defense strategy and mitigating risk, then contact us for assistance.

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