Next-generation firewalls (NGFW) are the wave of the future for small businesses to large enterprises. So far, in 2023, they represent a 20% market share! These advanced firewalls improve the existing technology, enabling more security features than traditional ones.

Generally, firewalls can only grow as challenges advance. So security teams must rise to meet them with better protection. That’s where NGFWs come into play. They’re more effective than your traditional firewalls and are great for SMBs that don’t have a large dedicated security team. So let’s dig into why they’re great for SMBs and some of our top NGFWs.

Why Are Next-Generation Firewalls Important for Small Businesses?

Next-generation firewalls offer more than just port/protocol info and inspection. Newer protocols and rules provide robust security for constant monitoring and automatic threat detection and notification. This is important for SMBs, where most employees wear multiple hats. So besides network segmentation and multiple firewalls, you can have one firewall rule them all! 

9 NGFW Features to Look For

When buying next-generation firewalls, keep an eye out for essential features traditional firewalls don’t offer. Check out these 9 features and keep them in mind when shopping. 

1. Application and Identity Awareness

As mentioned before, it’s not just about analyzing ports and protocols. Next-generation firewalls also have new abilities to recognize identities that help administrators to enable access protocols. This access can be based on specific criteria. As a result, you’re able to give the right access to the right people without worrying about anyone breaking the rules. 

2. Centralized Management, Visibility, and Auditing 

Administrators need access to a user-friendly interface to view and adjust various security systems, like NGFW devices. NGFWs typically include features like log analysis, policy management, and a management dashboard. These features allow admins to monitor the network’s overall status, examine traffic patterns, and export firewall configurations.

3. Stateful Inspection 

Traditional firewalls generally inspect network traffic up to Layer 4 using stateful inspection. In contrast, NGFWs inspect traffic at Layers 2-7, providing a more comprehensive view of network traffic. This improvement allows NGFWs to perform the same packet-inspecting duties as traditional firewalls while also being able to identify safe and unsafe packets. Extending this to the application layer is extremely valuable as more and more important resources are located at the network edge.

4. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)

DPI takes packet inspection one step further by inspecting the content of the packets rather than just the headers. It performs this inspection by looking into both the data and header parts of the transmitted packets. DPI can identify, classify, prevent, or redirect packets that contain suspicious code or payloads that stateful inspection might miss.

5. Integrated Intrusion Prevention (IPS)

As cybersecurity technology has evolved, IPS has become an increasingly popular feature in next-generation firewalls. While the differences between these two types of products are becoming less distinct, this creates a challenge for buyers. They have to decide whether the IPS technology included in their NGFW is good enough compared to a standalone product. IPS plays a crucial role in preventing attacks like brute force, known vulnerabilities, and DoS attacks.

6. Network Sandboxing 

Depending on your NGFW, you may be able to use network sandboxing, a method of advanced malware protection. It allows IT professionals to send potentially malicious programs to a safe, isolated, cloud-based environment to analyze for security purposes.

7. Secured Traffic 

HTTPS is currently the norm for secure communication over the internet, utilizing the SSL/TLS protocol to encrypt traffic. As next-generation firewalls have become the leading network traffic inspection device, they have been adapted to decrypt SSL and TLS communications, frequently including features like remote access VPN. This type of monitoring ensures the infrastructure can detect and prevent any potential threats that may be under wraps.

8. Threat Intelligence and Dynamic Lists

Generally, next-generation firewalls offer some type of threat intelligence feature. As new cyber threats appear regularly, it’s unrealistic to expect admins to monitor and respond constantly. NGFWs can use threat intelligence feeds from external sources to stay updated on the latest threats and attack origins. They use this information to block or automatically eliminate malicious traffic or flag events requiring attention. With threat intelligence feeds and dynamic lists at their disposal, NGFWs make threat hunting more automated and less prone to human error.

9. Integration Capacity 

Regardless of their size, many businesses increasingly use third-party services to improve their operations and processes. This includes a wide range of popular and essential SaaS applications and APIs. As IT managers evaluate new products to incorporate into their organization’s infrastructure, these products must have the ability to integrate easily with third-party applications. For example, integrations include SIEM software, 2FA, Active Directory, and reporting tools. 

Without further ado, let’s dive into the top NGFWs on the market for 2023.

Top 9 Next-Generation Firewalls for 2023

After a thorough review of different key security aspects, we’ve arrived at our top picks for 2023!

1. Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks has a comprehensive set of next-generation firewalls. These include physical appliances, virtualized firewalls, and container firewalls. The firewalls are based on a consistent single-pass architecture and can inspect all types of traffic, including applications, threats, and content. 

In particular, they can link the traffic to a specific user, regardless of their location or device type. Their NGFWs can also secure businesses that use multiple clouds with their cloud identity engine and protect from the increasing use of SaaS applications with an integrated Cloud Access Security Broker. 

2. Fortinet

Fortinet offers a wide range of firewall products, suitable for different deployment use cases and available on public cloud platforms. They also continually develop their firewall services, providing customers with access to cutting-edge security tools necessary.

Their next-generation firewalls also come with high-performance appliances, adding intrusion prevention, application control, and anti-malware to traditional firewall-VPN combinations. So Fortinet gives you one platform for end-to-end security across your network.

3. Check Point

Check Point offers a wide range of features and capabilities, including stateful inspection, VPN support, and intrusion prevention. It also features a SmartConsole management console that allows admins to easily configure and manage firewall policies and view real-time security events and statistics. Check Point is well-known for being the solution of choice for several large enterprises and government organizations.

4. Barracuda 

Barracuda is a hardware-based firewall designed to provide comprehensive security for small and medium-sized businesses. One of the main advantages of the Barracuda firewall is its ease of management with a web interface that makes it easy for admins to set up and maintain firewalls. 

Additionally, Barracuda provides a cloud-based management and reporting platform to help admins manage multiple firewalls from a single console. Their firewall is a good option for SMBs as it’s relatively affordable and has a good balance of features and accessibility.

5. Cisco

Cisco offers a variety of firewall options that can scale from small branch offices to large carrier-grade data centers. These firewalls are also available in virtual form, which allows for security in both private and public cloud environments. 

Their Secure Firewall 3100 series is designed for hybrid work environments, providing remote workers with up to 17 times faster VPN performance. These firewalls use machine learning to passively identify user applications and potential threats in encrypted traffic without decrypting.

6. Forcepoint

Forcepoint offers a variety of network security solutions, including 9 different firewall series designed for different purposes. They include central management and extensive security features like VPN, IPS, encrypted inspection, SD-WAN, and more. 

Their NGFW intends to simplify getting a network running securely and efficiently and keep it that way. The Forcepoint NGFW is built around a unified software core that provides consistent capabilities, acceleration, and central management across all types of deployments.

7. Juniper

The on-premises devices provided by Juniper can collect and analyze data from any external firewall or data source. This allows companies to quickly respond to threats, detect malware and avoid being tied down to a single vendor. 

The Juniper ATP platform functions as an open ecosystem and can be used with any firewall and SIEM system. This makes it highly compatible and able to be implemented quickly in any environment. The platform’s ability to detect and analyze threats, as well as automate response actions, allows for one-touch mitigation of malware. It offers a unique approach to addressing advanced malware.

8. Sophos

Sophos offers next-generation firewall (NGFW) features that allow you to safeguard your network with an enterprise-class firewall while ensuring the safety of your web traffic. It protects against threats like drive-by downloads and botnets and enables secure communication by providing flexible VPN options. Additionally, it offers detailed reports to help you understand and analyze the network’s performance and protection and gives the insight to improve them.

9. KerioControl

KerioControl is a software-based firewall that offers many features, including stateful inspection, VPN support, and intrusion prevention. It also includes content filtering, bandwidth management, and real-time reporting.

One of the key features of Kerio Control is its flexibility and ease of deployment. You can install it on various hardware, including physical servers, virtual machines, and even on a cloud platform like AWS. Kerio Control also offers a comprehensive and intuitive web-based management interface that makes it easy for admins to set up and manage firewall policies.

Kerio Control is a solid firewall solution that is well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses and provides a good balance of features and accessibility. It can be easily deployed in a variety of scenarios making it a versatile option for different businesses.

Before we wrap up, I’ll quickly take you through some of the top firewall trends in 2023 that you should know about.

Firewall Trends in 2023

In 2023, we can expect that the industry will continue moving towards the cloud, which provides the same level of protection as traditional firewalls but is more cost-effective and easier to manage. Virtualization and software-defined networking will also be more widely adopted, allowing for scalability and flexibility. 

Growth Will Be in Demand for NGFWs

The market for next-generation firewalls is expected to grow in the coming years. Factors like the increasing adoption of cloud-based services, the growing use of mobile and IoT devices, and the rising threat of cyberattacks are all driving demand. Additionally, the growing use of virtualization and software-defined networking contributes to the NGFW market’s growth. The growing focus on compliance and regulatory requirements also drives the need for more advanced security solutions, like NGFWs.

Cloud-Built NGFWs 

The future of cloud-built next-generation firewalls is expected to be positive. More and more companies are moving their operations to the cloud, so the demand for cloud-based NGFWs is expected to increase. Cloud-built NGFWs offer many benefits over traditional on-premises NGFWs, including ease of deployment, scalability, and flexibility. Additionally, since the firewall runs on the cloud provider’s infrastructure, it can handle higher traffic loads and provide better performance than on-premises NGFWs.

Time for some quick final words as I wrap up this guide.

Final Words

The NGFWs are pretty revolutionary and are poised to be the market leader in the near term. They are also very beneficial for small businesses since they have a lot of automation, which is very helpful to smaller teams. As security threats become more advanced, so do the security tools that keep them at bay. It would only be wise to jump on the NGFW bandwagon to use the best firewall to secure your network. 

Want to learn more about NGFWs or have more questions? Read the FAQ and Resources sections below!

FAQ

What are next-generation firewalls?

A next-generation firewall uses advanced features to protect networks from cyber threats, like intrusion prevention, application control, and malware protection. NGFWs provide a higher level of security than traditional firewalls.

What are the benefits of next-generation firewalls?

NGFWs provide a higher level of security than traditional firewalls, including intrusion prevention, application control, and malware protection. Additionally, they offer better visibility into network traffic and allow you to control access to network resources based on user identity.

How do next-generation firewalls differ from traditional firewalls?

NGFWs differ from traditional firewalls because they provide additional security features like intrusion prevention, application control, and malware protection. Additionally, they offer better visibility into network traffic and allow you to control access to network resources based on user identity.

How are next-generation firewalls managed?

NGFWs can be managed in several ways, including through a web-based interface or a command-line interface. Some NGFWs also include support for APIs, which allows them to be integrated with other tools and systems.

What types of threats can next-generation firewalls protect against?

NGFWs can protect against a wide range of cyber threats, including intrusion attempts, malware, and malicious traffic. Additionally, many NGFWs also include features like intrusion prevention, application control, and malware protection, which can help to protect networks from a wide range of threats.

Resources

TechGenix: Article on Stateful and Stateless Firewalls

Learn about the differences between stateful and stateless firewalls and how they can benefit your organization. 

TechGenix: Article on VPN and Firewall Security 

Explore VPN and firewall security solutions for your business.

TechGenix: Article on 5 Firewall Best Practices 

Discover five firewall best practices you should implement in your business. 

TechGenix: Article on Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) Vendors

Get acquainted with some of the top FWaaS vendors. 

TechGenix: Article on Firewall Vendor Strategies 

Learn about the different strategies you can use with multiple firewall vendors. 

The post Top 9 NGFW Solutions for 2023 appeared first on TechGenix.

Beazley, a UK insurance company contracted with Lloyd’s of London, has launched the market’s first cybersecurity catastrophe bond, intended to protect insurers from massive cyber payouts. Risks of these crippling payouts have increased exponentially in proportion to the rise in cybercrime. The catastrophe bond will cover a total payout of USD 45 million (£37 million) for claims exceeding USD 300 million. 

A catastrophe bond covers major events that fall outside premium coverage. It’ll cushion the cyber insurance industry against an increasingly volatile cybersecurity environment that its clients find themselves in. The cyber catastrophe bond is the outcome of a three-year project involving multiple firms, including Gallagher Re and Fermat Capital Management. 

Speaking to the Financial Times, Beazley CEO Adrian Cox stated that the new financial instrument will give cyber insurance firms access to a wider pool of capital: “What that taps into is a pool that is trillions rather than hundreds of billions, and is a pathway for us to be able to hedge and grow.” 

Cyber Catastrophe Bond to Ease Insurance Burden

Last year, Lloyd’s announced a policy change that will leave catastrophic events, like cyberattacks, out of its coverage. Now, the Beazley catastrophe bond may help provide some protection from cyber risks. This is also the first time an insurer has established a liquid insurance-linked securities (ILS) instrument to cover cyber catastrophe incidents. 

Catastrophe bonds work much like ordinary bonds. Investors take out the bond on floating interest rates and pay back the principal sum at the end of the bond duration. Like all bonds, the rewards balance out the risks. But in certain events — like extreme weather events — investors could lose some or all of their investments.

The cyber catastrophe bond eases the pressures on insurers by adding more market actors to contribute to the capital pool. These kinds of bonds act as a form of secondary insurance or “reinsurance” for underwriters. Institutional investors looking for returns pour billions of dollars into these ILS instruments, providing large insurance companies with a form of reinsurance.

Cyber Insurance Industry Teetering in the Face of Cyberattacks 

The Beazley catastrophe bond, though much anticipated, is the first instrument to deal with the ever-evolving threat of cybercrime. Recently, Zurich Insurance CEO Mario Greco stated that cybercrime could soon become uninsurable. However, Beazley’s Cox doesn’t share Greco’s pessimism and says that the cyber insurance industry can be resilient enough to absorb shocks if adequate safeguards are implemented. 

To become more resilient, cyber insurance companies will need accurate risk assessments. While all insurance companies do risk assessments, it’s especially difficult for cybercrimes. This is due to the scale of recent attacks and their increasing sophistication. To make matters worse, many of these breaches go unreported, leading to a void in accurate statistical data. A miscalculation in premiums and risk assessment can mean bankruptcy for a large insurance firm. 

Cyber insurance is a global issue. Cybercriminals are finding ways to attack vulnerable networks and businesses with increasing confidence in an interlinked world. This has hurt cybercrime insurance. The US cost of cybercrime insurance doubled between 2016 and 2019. Despite this, the US Government Accountability Office has outlined the difficulties with cybercrime insurance, such as limited historical data and lack of standardized definitions. The result of this has been that cyber insurance companies are increasing premiums but lowering overall coverage. 

SMBs Hit the Hardest

A potentially overlooked commercial class in terms of cyber insurance is small to medium businesses (SMBs). These businesses need to help themselves by maintaining resilient network security. With mounting premiums for cyber insurance, business owners must decide between insurance, in-house cybersecurity personnel, or high-quality antivirus and malware toolkits. 

New research has indicated that cybersecurity budgets are stretched thin for small business owners. The research shows that, in 2023, business owners will cut back 50% on cybersecurity budgets, from €117,000 to €58,000. This is a concerning level of cutbacks for an area in dire need of resources, given that 79% of SMBs experienced a cyberattack in 2022. Since 32% of SMBs don’t even have a disaster recovery plan in place, a serious priority readjustment is needed in the industry. 

Even if SMBs have their priorities straight, they can’t afford to get the best insurance policies, in-house personnel, and software toolkits like large enterprises. They’ll have to be picky and choose cost-effective security precautions. These invariably include implementing multifactor authentication, conducting employee awareness training, and telling employees to maintain strong passwords.

For safer data storage, SMBs can look into cloud storage options. Despite many breaches, cloud storage services are cheaper and more secure than in-house storage. Additionally, cloud storage providers tend to have more powerful security precautions, and you can take advantage of this at a much better price than storing sensitive information in-house. Having said that, remember that the liability rests with the original data owner in case of a data breach.

Cyber Insurance Needs to Evolve—Quickly

The industry’s failure to standardize definitions has left insurers with no means of assessing business network security before issuing quotes. For example, the industry has no information regarding ransomware payments. This is a sorry state of affairs where insurance companies are at a loss to respond to the rise in cybercrime, which seems to be evolving at a clip faster than can be accurately quoted. 

With all this in mind, Beazley’s catastrophe bond couldn’t have come at a better time. 

The catastrophe bond serves the useful purpose of making cyber insurance more affordable for all business entities, providing a level of safety for insurers to issue better policies. Without these kinds of financial innovations, cyber insurance would continue its death spiral of lower and lower coverage accompanied by higher and higher premiums, potentially to the point where business owners may be forced to take a chance without it. 

Yet, this doesn’t leave the business owners off the hook. Given cybercriminals’ recent onslaught, SMBs will do better by allocating their budgets to cost-effective security protocols to defend against threats as soon as they arise. 

The post Lloyd’s Insurer Beazley Issues World’s First Cyber Catastrophe Bond appeared first on TechGenix.

Cyber threat actors have created a phishing site impersonating the official Zoom video conferencing application to deliver IcedID malware to installers, according to a report Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) issued. IcedID, also referred to as “BokBot,” is designed to steal user banking credentials and primarily targets businesses. The phishing site impersonates the original Zoom site, leading unsuspecting users to download the IcedID along with the application. 

Threat actors usually deliver IcedID via spam emails. But this time, they used a phishing website to carry the malicious load, breaking away from their known methods. IcedID malware steals login credentials for banking sessions using man-in-the-browser attacks. The attackers use multiple injection methods and frequently update their IcedID operations to evade detection from scanners. 

The IcedID Zoom Phishing Scam: Technical Specifications

The download URL for the latest IcedID phishing campaign is explorezoom.com, as opposed to the official Zoom.us. This highlights the importance of always checking domains before downloading anything online. Closely examining domain names or URLs can help reveal whether a download is legitimate. 

Upon download, the Zoom IcedID malware drops two files into the temp folder: ikm.msi and maker.dll. Ikm.msi is a legitimate Zoom file, put there intentionally to lull suspicion. Users downloading from the link may use the application unaware of the threat. The second file, maker.dll, is highly malicious. It’s initiated using rundll32.exe with the “init” parameter. When executed, it uploads the IcedID malware into the memory. 

The IcedID malware is a 64-bit DLL file that uses the following Windows API functions to gather user information and converts the output into numerical data:

• GetTickCount64()
• ZwQuerySystemInformation()
• RtlGetVersion()
• GetComputerNameExW()
• GetUserNameW()
• GetAdaptersInfo()
• LookupAccountNameW()
• CPUID

Later, in the final stage of malware execution, IcedID assigns an ID to the converted numbers and sends them to the C&C server as a cookie. The malware then deploys more malware strains in the %programdata% directory of the C&C server. 

IcedID Malware IOCs and Recommendations

CRIL has listed the indicators of compromise (IOCs), including the malicious link, SHA addresses, domains, and IP addresses. This is useful information for security researchers and network administrators, who can use it to avoid falling prey to the same threats. CRIL has also listed some security recommendations, which are often standardized after a cybercrime event. These include:

• Enforcing strong passwords and 2FA as much as possible
• Employing automatic software and patching updates across multiple devices and platforms
• Using a high-quality malware scanning tool in tandem with antivirus software
• Holding employee awareness training for suspicious URLs, particularly in email links
• Blocking known malware-distributing URLs

Out of all the recommendations, companies shouldn’t underestimate the importance of malware detection and antivirus tools. Even if these fail to prevent the initial breach, they reduce the detection time and, thus, limit the cost and severity of an attack. Early detection helps contain the threat within a few hours rather than weeks or months. This has major cost implications for businesses. 

In its report, CRIL has also detailed the methods of attack used in this latest IcedID malware campaign to help network administrators and business owners identify the attack patterns. These include T1071 and T1095 C&C tactics, which relate to application and non-application layer protocols. Execution tactics include T1204 and T1059, which relate to user execution and the command and scripting interpreter. 

Software Impersonations Becoming Increasingly Sophisticated

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, cybercriminals have increasingly sought to compromise remote work applications like Zoom. Two reasons that make such applications such prime targets for cybercriminals are their widespread adoption and that they serve as means to access more lucrative businesses outside a highly secured network. 

The issue here isn’t just the scale of these attacks — but that these are becoming increasingly adaptive and versatile with time. Cybercriminals are continually tweaking and adapting their models, leaving researchers a step behind in mapping their attack patterns and developing software that can fend them off. 

Commenting on the threat posed by IcedID, CRIL refers to it as a “highly advanced, long-lasting malware that has affected users worldwide.” Cybercrime groups, including Emotet, TrickBot, and Hancitor, have also deployed IcedID malware. Though it’s usually spread through email phishing, cybercriminals created a phishing site to carry the malware in this instance. This also marks the first time that threat actors have used such tactics for deploying IcedID malware.

Yet, despite their sophistication, such attacks are easy to mitigate. For instance, users only need to practice a little awareness and caution to discern the legitimacy of software applications. Email phishing attacks often contain grammatical errors, typos, and poor English. 

Moreover, some websites intentionally use incorrect URLs, known as typosquatting, to masquerade as the original website it’s impersonating. Hurried employees looking to download applications quickly may overlook these subtle signs and unwittingly invite trouble. 

While commercial and enterprise networks may prevent these downloads automatically, remote employees who can navigate any site may be more at risk from the IcedID variant. Since many businesses nowadays employ large remote staff, this could spell disaster for the safety and integrity of a company’s internal communication and sensitive information.

The Key to Staying Safe from Malware in 2023

The best way to remain safe from malware online is to take a pause before downloading an application from any site, as legitimate as it may seem. Cybercriminals are even exploiting Google Ads to rank their phishing site higher in the SERPs to assume legitimacy and trick users into downloading from malicious links. 

Aside from Zoom, other applications targeted through the MasquerAds campaign include AnyDesk, Dashlane, Grammarly, Malwarebytes, Microsoft Visual Studio, MSI Afterburner, Slack, Audacity, Teamviewer, Brave, and more. Under such circumstances, a user’s best defense is exercising vigilance online. A momentary pause and a closer look can reveal what even sophisticated software might fail to detect. 

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Malware is a serious threat to both individuals and enterprises. It can compromise your sensitive data, disrupt operations, and even cause physical damage to computer systems. That’s not the end of the rope, though. If malware infects your system, it could severely damage your company’s reputation in the case of a data breach. In addition, data breaches usually require a settlement to affected customers, which is very costly. As if regular malware wasn’t enough, we’ve got bigger, smarter, and worse malware out there. So, it’s important to have advanced malware protection in place to protect your enterprise. 

In this article, I’ll define advanced malware protection and its importance for your business. You’ll also gain a complete understanding of its 4 different types. So without further ado, let’s find out what advanced malware is. 

What Is Advanced Malware?

Malware includes many different types like viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, etc. Each type has its own unique characteristics and can cause different types of damage. For example, a virus might replicate itself and spread to other devices. Meanwhile, ransomware might encrypt important files and demand a ransom for their release. Advanced malware can also evade detection or act like a friendly file. We haven’t seen these actions before, and they require better protection. Clearly, you need to deploy the big guns to safeguard your enterprise. 

What Is Advanced Malware Protection?

Advanced malware protection (AMP) involves using specialized tools and techniques to detect, prevent, and respond to malware threats on a network or system. This can include a variety of approaches like antivirus software, firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and sandboxing. This also includes incident response plans and forensic analysis to help respond to and mitigate the impact of malware attacks. 

Advanced malware protection is critical for helping businesses protect their networks and systems against cyber threats. It’s also critical for preventing cybercriminals from stealing sensitive data. It also stays up to date with evolving threats and provides multiple protection layers to help defend against new and sophisticated malware attacks. 

So, employing advanced malware protection allows you to better protect yourself, your company, and your bottom line from cybercriminals. Malware has evolved so much, and you’ll need this advanced protection. 

Drawbacks of Regular Malware Protection 

One of the main drawbacks of common malware protection is that it may not be sufficient to better protect against sophisticated malware threats. For example, antivirus software relying on signature-based detection may not be able to detect new or unknown malware. On the other hand, advanced threats may bypass firewalls and intrusion prevention systems relying on rules-based approaches.

In addition, SMBs may face significant security risks if they rely on common malware protection while being attacked by advanced malware. Without advanced protection, they may be more vulnerable to data loss, downtime, and other negative impacts of malware attacks.

Now, let’s see why your business needs advanced malware protection.

5 Reasons Why Advanced Malware Protection Is Important

Advanced malware protection is important for many reasons, but most of all, it’s the prevention that counts. You want to ensure the safety of your data to avoid a costly settlement in case something happens to your data. Let’s look at how APM can benefit you: 

1. Protects against Malware Threats

Malware threats are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. This puts you at a higher risk of being attacked and losing valuable assets like data. So, it’s important to have protection that can adapt and stay up to date with new threats. Advanced malware protection uses different approaches to help defend against these threats. These approaches include machine learning algorithms and regular updates. You can think of it as artificial intelligence against malware.

2. Protects against Data Loss

Malware attacks can result in the loss or theft of sensitive data in your system. In return, this can result in serious consequences for your business and costly ones too. Advanced malware protection helps to prevent these attacks and protect against data loss. It also helps prevent the execution of malware on a network or system in the first place. 

3. Protects against Downtime

Malware attacks can also cause disruptions and downtime. This can be costly and disruptive for businesses and enterprises. Advanced malware protection helps to minimize these disruptions and protect against downtime.

4. Detects and Removes Unknown Threats

​​Advanced malware protection can detect and remove malware that is still unknown to the security community. Traditional malware protection involves identifying known threats based on their unique characteristics or “signatures.” But new malware is constantly being developed. This means it can take time to identify these signatures and add them to security software. Advanced malware protection, on the other hand, uses more sophisticated techniques, like machine learning and advanced AI, to identify potential threats even if they don’t match any known signatures.

5. Prevents Malicious Installations

Another important benefit of advanced malware protection is that it can prevent malware from being installed in the first place. Many malware threats make it to your network through phishing attacks or other forms of social engineering. In these cases, the victim falls into the trap of downloading and installing malicious software. Advanced malware protection can block these attempts and prevent the malware from being installed on the system.

Now that you know why advanced malware protection is a must, you may wonder what’s running under the hood. Let’s see. 

What’s Involved in Advanced Malware Protection?

Advanced malware protection is critical for helping businesses protect their networks and systems from cyber threats. As we discussed above, advanced malware protection involves 3 different approaches, including: 

1. Detection

Advanced malware detection involves using specialized tools and techniques to identify and detect malware. This includes different approaches like:

1. Signature-based detection, which looks for known malware patterns
2. Behavior-based detection, which monitors the behavior of programs and looks for anomalies indicating the presence of malware 

In addition, advanced malware detection systems may use machine learning algorithms to analyze data and identify potential threats. They also regularly update their databases with new malware signatures to keep up with evolving threats. Overall, advanced malware detection is critical for protecting businesses and enterprises and preventing sensitive data loss or theft.

2. Prevention

Advanced malware protection has many prevention methods like:

1. Antivirus software, which scans files and blocks the execution of known malicious software 
2. Firewalls, which block unauthorized network traffic
3. Intrusion prevention systems, which monitor network traffic for signs of malicious activity and block it before it can execute 

Advanced malware protection systems may also use machine learning algorithms to analyze data and identify potential threats. So, they help protect your business’s network and prevent the loss of sensitive data. 

3. Response

To effectively respond to and mitigate the impact of malware attacks on a network or system, advanced malware protection has several approaches to responding that include: 

1. Incident response plans, which outline the steps to be taken in the event of a malware attack
2. Forensic analysis, which involves analyzing the attack and determining how the malware was able to bypass security 
3. Containment and eradication measures like isolating infected systems or devices from the rest of the network or cleaning and repairing systems to remove any remaining traces of malware

Essentially, the response aspect is critical for helping businesses quickly and effectively respond to malware attacks. They also help minimize these attacks’ impact on the network or system.

Now, let’s take a look at the 4 different types of advanced malware protection. 

4 Types of Advanced Malware Protection

Here, we’ll take a look at the different types of advanced malware protection. Understanding these types allows you to better protect your email and systems, avoid costly data breaches, and more! 

1. Cloud-Powered Cybersecurity

Cloud-powered cybersecurity involves using cloud computing technologies to provide security solutions for your business. These solutions can include services like cloud-based antivirus and malware protection, firewalls, and intrusion detection and prevention systems.

Since it’s in the cloud, you can access and manage cloud-powered cybersecurity solutions remotely. This makes it easier for businesses to protect their networks and data from threats. The security solutions are hosted in the cloud. So, you can scale them up or down to meet the changing needs of your enterprise.

Cloud-powered cybersecurity solutions can also provide additional benefits like increased reliability and uptime. In addition, they provide reduced costs compared to traditional on-premises security solutions. For example, businesses can pay for only the security services they need rather than investing in expensive hardware and software upfront.

2. Rapid and Seamless Cybersecurity Deployment

Rapid and seamless deployment allows you to integrate new technologies, systems, or applications into a network or environment without disrupting normal operations. This can be particularly important in cybersecurity, where it’s often necessary to deploy new security controls or updates to protect against new threats.

AI or algorithm-based cybersecurity solutions often provide administrators with an abstraction layer to help with deployment, configuration, and management. This control layer sits between you and system settings allowing it to directly manage port blocking, web filtering, etc.

During deployment, you simply have to answer a few questions about your security goals, and the software does the rest. All connected network devices are mapped and security configured according to the administrator’s goals. This makes deployment to highly complex networks far easier and ensures you don’t miss vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity conducted as part of an automated deployment reduces the risk of human error during the implementation process. You often see this type of deployment in next-generation firewalls and integrated cybersecurity solutions. 

3. Automated Sandboxing

Automated sandboxing is a security technique that involves executing potentially malicious code in a controlled environment. Sandboxing helps determine the malware’s behavior and assess its potential risk. You can use it to detect and prevent the execution of malicious code on a network or system, helping to protect against cyber threats.

Automated sandboxing typically involves using specialized software to create an isolated and virtualized environment. This allows the execution of potentially malicious software without affecting the rest of the system or network. In return, security analysts can observe its behavior and assess its potential risk.

Using automated sandboxing as part of a cybersecurity strategy has several benefits. For example, it helps identify and prevent the execution of malware before it can cause harm, like the loss of sensitive data. You can also use it to evaluate the effectiveness of security controls and identify any weaknesses that need addressing. Finally, you can use automated sandboxing can analyze and classify new types of malware. This helps improve the overall security of a network or system and ensures the safety of your data.

4. Adding and Securing Multiple Entry Points

Multiple entry points refer to having multiple ways for users to access a network or system. This can be useful for several reasons, like providing backup access in case of a failure or outage. It also enables different groups of users to access the network or system from different locations.

You can implement multiple-entry points in a network or system in several ways. One common approach is a Virtual Private Network (VPN). It allows users to connect to a network or system remotely using an encrypted connection over the internet. This helps enable remote access from anywhere with an internet connection.

Another approach is Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It’s a protocol that allows users to remotely access and control a computer or device from another location. This helps enable remote access to specific computers or devices on a network or system.

In addition, you can add secondary routers to a network to increase the number of access points available. To improve wireless network coverage, you often see wireless routers added where signal dead spots occur.

Adding multiple entry points enables you to improve network availability to users. When adding these access points, you also add ways for bad actors to access your network and deploy malware. Advanced malware protection solutions can help reduce the risk of malware passing your perimeter and running riot inside your network.

Let’s recap what we’ve covered! 

Final Thoughts

Advanced malware protection is essential to any robust cybersecurity strategy. It protects your enterprise against many different threats. It also provides an additional layer of defense against sophisticated cyber attacks. This is important to succeed in combating cybercriminals and preventing costly data breaches. Whether you’re an individual concerned about protecting your data or an enterprise responsible for protecting critical infrastructure, advanced malware protection is an important investment in your security.

Do you still have some lingering questions? Would you like to read more about AMP and similar topics? Read the FAQ and Resources sections below. 

FAQ

What is malware?

Malware, short for “malicious software,” refers to any software designed to harm or exploit a computer system or network. Malware can take many forms, including viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, adware, and spyware. It can make it to your network and system through various means like email attachments, infected websites, or drive-by downloads. Once it does, malware can perform many harmful actions like stealing sensitive information, deleting or corrupting data, or using the system to attack other computers.

Can a firewall prevent a malware attack?

Firewalls block or limit incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules to prevent cyber attacks. A firewall acts as a barrier between a trusted network, like a private home network, and an untrusted network, like the internet. It can help protect against external threats by blocking traffic from known malicious sources, like known malware-infected servers or IP addresses. It can also inspect incoming traffic for signs of malicious activity. To be most effective, you should pair firewalls with other security measures. 

How does advanced malware differ from other types of malware? 

Advanced malware is typically more sophisticated and difficult to detect than other forms of malware. That’s because it’s designed to avoid detection by traditional security measures like antivirus software and firewalls. It may also use complex tactics to infiltrate a system, like zero-day vulnerabilities and spear-phishing attacks.

How do I know if my system has been infected with advanced malware? 

It can be difficult to detect advanced malware, as it’s designed to evade detection. That said, some signs may indicate a possible infection. Some of these signs are unusual system behavior or performance, strange network activity, or the presence of unfamiliar files or programs.

How long do advanced malware campaigns last before detection?

It’s difficult to determine the average time an advanced persistent threat (APT) campaign lasts before detection. This is because it can vary widely depending on several factors. Some APT campaigns have been active for years before detection. Meanwhile, others have been detected within weeks or even days of their inception.

Resources

TechGenix: News on Recent Android Malware 

Learn how a malicious piece of malware infected more than 300,000 users in December of 2022. 

TechGenix: Article on Types of Malware

Learn about the different types of malware and how to protect yourself against them. 

TechGenix: Article on Huawei’s AppGallery and Malware

Find out about the 9.3 million users affected by this malware. 

TechGenix: Article on Stateful and Stateless Firewalls

Learn more about stateful and stateless firewalls and which ones might be best for your needs. 

TechGenix: Article on Virtual Firewalls

Explore the world of virtual firewalls and what they can do to protect your cloud resources. 

The post What Is Advanced Malware Protection? appeared first on TechGenix.

If any security or compliance-related incident occurs in your Microsoft 365 environment, it’s important to find out the source of the issue. Fortunately, Microsoft provides a very nice audit interface within the Microsoft 365 Defender portal that can help you research any event in your Microsoft 365 environment.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can perform an audit using Microsoft 365 Defender. Let’s get started. 

Performing an Audit

I’ve broken down the process of performing an audit into 4 steps. Let’s start by accessing the audit interface.

1. Accessing the Audit Interface

As mentioned earlier, if you want to audit your Microsoft 365 environment, you’ll need to use the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. You can access the Audit interface by completing the following steps:

1. Log into Microsoft 365
2. Click on Admin to open the Microsoft 365 Admin Center
3. Click Security to open the Microsoft 365 Defender portal (depending on your Microsoft 365 license type, you may need to click All Admin Centers and then click Security)
4. Select the Audit tab

You’re now ready to perform an audit search.

2. Performing an Audit Search

Auditing events through Microsoft 365 Defender essentially involves querying Microsoft 365 audit logs. The Audit interface, which you can see in the screenshot below, includes numerous query options.

The first thing that you’ll typically want to do is specify a date and time range. Microsoft 365 can produce an overwhelming number of log entries, so specifying a date and time range can help you narrow down the results. This makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for.

Next, you need to specify the type of activity you’re looking for. The Activities drop-down, as shown in the screenshot below, contains dozens of activities you can choose from. You can select one or multiple, depending on your needs. You can also search for a specific activity using the handy search box.

Then, you can specify the users whose logs you wish to examine. Also, under the Users field, you can specify individual files, folders, or sites. Lastly, you can use the keyword field to search for any logs containing a specific keyword.

When you finish entering your search criteria, click the Search button. This will queue your audit as a job (as shown in the screenshot below). You can also click the Refresh button to get updates on the job’s status.

When the search completes, the Job Status column will indicate a status of Completed. Clicking on the word Completed will cause Microsoft 365 Defender to display the search results. You can see an example of a completed job in the screenshot below.

Let’s review your results!

3. Reviewing the Audit Results

As you review the audit report (as shown in the previous screenshot), you can click on any of the log entries to see additional details. These details vary widely in scope depending on the type of log entry that you click on. If you’re overwhelmed with the excessive number of entries listed, you can use the Filter button to narrow down the results.

You can also export the search results to a file by clicking on the Export button shown in the previous screenshot. Again, you’ll have to refresh the display before the download link appears.

One final thing to mention involves audit retention policies. Let me briefly explain this point before we wrap up.

4. Configuring the Audit Retention Settings

Audit reports pull results from Microsoft 365 audit logs. Due to this, you’ll only see a search result if whatever you’re looking for appears in a log entry. Therefore, it’s worth taking a moment to examine your audit retention policies.

At the top of the Audit interface, you can see the Audit Retention Policies tab. Clicking on this tab takes you to a screen (shown in the screenshot below) where you can create an audit retention policy. To create one, simply follow these steps:

1. Click the Create Audit Retention Policy link
2. Enter a name and an optional description for the new policy
3. Choose the users or the record types for which the policy should apply
4. Enter the policy duration (you can save logs for a minimum of 90 days and a maximum of 10 years)
5. Enter a policy priority (the priority is just a number that determines policy precedence in case you want to create multiple, contradictory policies; lower priority numbers have higher precedence)
6. Click Save

Alright, time to recap.

Final Words

In essence, a security or compliance-related issue can cause a lot of problems if not rectified immediately. Microsoft 365 auditing can help you identify the source of these incidents. Through the Audit interface, you can create detailed logs that can help you quickly identify the issues at hand. The interface itself is also comprehensive, offering a lot of criteria to help you in your search. 

Overall, I hope this article helped you out in some way. As always, feel free to save it as a point of reference for the future.

Do you have more questions about Microsoft 365 auditing or other related topics? Check out the FAQ and Resources sections below!

FAQ

What is the difference between New Search and Classic Search?

New Search is the preferred audit search method because it gives you a few extra options that Classic Search doesn’t. Specifically, these options include the ability to search by record type, keyword, or search name.

I can’t access the Microsoft 365 Defender Portal. Why not?

Microsoft 365 Defender isn’t included with all Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Generally speaking, you’ll need an enterprise subscription such as Microsoft 365 E5 or A5, or E3 with an add-on such as Microsoft 365 E5 Security, Enterprise Mobility + Security, or A5 Security. You can also get Microsoft 365 Defender with Windows 10 or 11 Enterprise E5 or A5, or as a separate add-on. You can find the full licensing requirements here.

How do I know which Microsoft 365 license I have?

If you want to know what Microsoft 365 license you have, log in as a global administrator or billing admin. After that, go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and click on Billing, followed by Licenses. 

I only have a vague idea of what I am looking for. What are my options?

It’s fine if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. Microsoft provides various query fields for your convenience, but you don’t need to use them in your search. You can populate as many or as few of the query fields as you like. Normally though, the more fields you populate, the fewer results you’ll receive.

What is the downloadable file format when I export an audit report?

The audit report file will be in comma-separated values (CSV) format. You can natively open it in Excel or any text editor. It’s also possible to write a PowerShell script to parse the contents of a CSV file.

Resources

TechGenix: Article on Internal Audits

Read more on how to conduct an internal audit for your organization.

TechGenix: Article on the Importance of Internal Security Audits

Find out why internal security audits are so important.

TechGenix: Article on Microsoft 365 and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Discover why MFA is now more important than ever for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft: Article on Searching the Audit Log

Educate yourself on how to search the audit log in the compliance portal.

Microsoft: Article on Managing Audit Log Records

Learn how to export, configure, and view your audit search results.

The post How to Perform an Audit Using Microsoft 365 Defender appeared first on TechGenix.