Page 28 - Cyber Warnings

A foreign adversary: Even governments are not immune to cyberattacks from foreign state-
sponsored adversaries. Government employees may visit certain websites frequently
to collaborate with employees from other departments or with their citizens.

Malware placed on these sites could exploit vulnerable endpoints and compromise the
devices of any visitors. Malware can also morph into more serious advanced
persistent threats (APTs) that can lurk in the victim’s system for a long time.

This way, these adversaries could secretly keep a tab on issues of national security
and international policy. When governments can face such threats, businesses are all
the more at risk.

To fight data breaches and defend their business, organizations must protect all entry points.
Here are few ways in which organizations can defend against each of the threats identified
above.

- Guarding the door: Application white listing, a method of checking applications against
an approved list, is effective against criminals in disguise looking for an entry point. If an
unknown program tries to run, it will be barred.

This is very effective against spear phishing attacks. In addition, a log management
system would help to collect logs on failed access attempts and decipher whether or not
they are attacks.

- Guarding from inside: A privileged password management process can help
organizations protect against insider threats.

All privileged identities and passwords are stored in a centralized vault and only
approved devices are allowed to access information from remote locations.

Furthermore, companies can video record all sessions, whether on-premise or remote,
for a complete record of all actions.

- Defending against international threats: Software applications that analyze packet flow
can detect malicious traffic hitting the network in real time.

In case of a sophisticated attack, the company can immediately view the offender’s IP,
the severity of the attack and the time of the attack.

A detailed forensic investigation will enable the company to detect patterns and identify
the source of unwanted intrusions.

28 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – August 2016 Edition
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