Why Your Network Isn't Ready

Professionalization of Malware – Why Your Network Isn’t Ready

Elite hackers have widened the gap between their offensive capabilities and current defensive measures. In this article, you will learn about the professionalization of malware. It’s an important topic because there still exists a stigma that hackers are just kids who are doing it for fun. What you're going to see is that hacking has become big business with no room for child’s play.

Organized Hacking Enterprise

What started this trend is the monetization of malware. Once Tor and Bitcoin became popular, malware writers realized that they could leverage these anonymous technologies to turn their hobby into a money making career. It wasn’t long before malware developers started partnering with spammers and botnet creators, and soon various criminal organizations started funding these groups. Now we have a well- funded and well-organized network of cash and cyber criminals all working together. But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to just one minute of this interview with Mikko Hypponen, a well-known security expert. This interview is from the documentary ‘Zero Days – Security Leaks for Sale'.

So while hackers were busy organizing themselves and developing new strategies for their attacks, businesses around the world operated with the same old security solutions, which quickly became outdated and vulnerable to attack. This is a major contributing factor as to why so many high profile hacks have occurred. Hackers have changed the way in which they operate, so doesn’t it make sense to change the way you defend?

Don’t Confuse Activity with Progress

Ask yourself the question, did I modernize my defenses? Or did I just upgrade my defenses? The difference between the two is key, and it will separate those who are hacked from those who aren’t. Upgrading your defenses implies that newer versions of the same outdated solution were implemented, such as a new firewall, or new anti-virus. Those solutions cannot protect against the sophisticated and well-organized hacking we see today. Modernizing your defenses means you’ve deployed a solution that is different than before and capable of stopping all of today’s threats, and it goes beyond the capabilities of firewalls and anti-virus.

WatchPoint Data Partnership with CarbonBlack

WatchPoint Data can guide companies of any size down the path of modernized security. Our strategic partnership with CarbonBlack gives our clients a modern solution that is capable of stopping all of today’s threats.

What makes CarbonBlack different is that it’s a forensic gathering tool. Imagine if you will, that you’re a detective. You enter a crime scene, and the only tool you have available to solve a crime is fingerprint recognition software. You’d better hope that you find a match otherwise your investigation is over. No detective in their right mind would conduct an investigation that way, yet that’s the type of security that a lot of businesses still use. So what would a detective really do? They’d use Carbon Black because it has the tools necessary to conduct a thorough and complete investigation.

Conclusion

They say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time to plant a tree is now. Modernize your network now - before it’s too late.