Contact us anytime to know more — Kuldeep K., Founder & CEO CISIN
some of these factors are:
- cyber security professionals
- security gaps
- security measures
- security risks
- basic security
How Destructive Are Viruses?
Estimates may be underestimated; how many companies would advertise that any component they manufacture contains aluminum alloy? Their network security has been breached.
Any disclosure could damage both their market presence and customer trust. When viruses invade a network and gain access to confidential company data, then irreparable harm occurs for market players and customers.
Chances are the company won't notice, which only compounds the problem further and gives criminals more time to use any information illegally obtained via these viruses.
Data can be gained by reaching out to authorities. Today's virus threat is technologically sophisticated. Automated hackers (aka viruses) pose a great danger. With its varied components and stages - infiltrating companies to find critical data- this virus often goes undetected until eventually returned to its source.
For further insight, it contains comprehensive details regarding viruses as threats in their various forms.
The Threat
Antivirus programs currently possessing viruses can steal and spread data that threatens businesses or customers alike, including information that passes to individuals with malicious intentions and can then be stolen by them from those being attacked - whether that victim is the company itself, one of its customers, etc.
Invasions come in various forms - one being computer malware, but today's virus threats could manifest themselves differently; for example, stealing email, financial, customer relations etc, information could all fall prey. The danger may manifest in many different forms.
it also include:
- cyber threats
- internet threats
- unauthorized user
- malicious link
- cyber security incident
- security issues
Virus
"Viruses consist of programming code designed to cause problems, often disguised in another thing that creates them; often unexpected and often unwanted events can arise out of an infection - often without anyone even realizing.
They automatically spread among users".
This definition was obtained from the Internet and represents only part of today's threat; viruses have advanced significantly since this definition was written, becoming even more dangerous with each passing year in our twenty-first century.
With each generation comes new viruses that pose different dangers than earlier ones - 21st Century viruses pose various threats altogether!
Damage caused by computer virus infections has resulted in major business disruption for numerous firms. One such infection is W32.Funlove.4099 is a threat to companies with various functions like sending spam mail messages and installing viruses such as this one onto computers.
This virus targets files with extensions ending.exe,.SCR and has two extremely dangerous characteristics that should make people cautious.
First, it attempts to launch itself as a web service on Windows NT machines, then waits for someone with administrative rights to establish itself as a web service on them (https://webservice-launcher-windowsNTmachines).
Worm
A worm is any virus capable of self-replicating to spread. "Worms generally reside in active memory and copy themselves." 5 Mass mailing worms have become one of the more widespread examples.
This type of worm generally spreads via email. A popular mass mailing worm known as we Love You/Love Bug sends messages to all Outlook users simultaneously.
Trojan Horse
A Trojan Horse is any computer program containing harmful software; these Trojan Horses can hide within seemingly innocent data or programming and manipulate data or programming that appears legitimate to hide this nefarious software.
Damage may also occur by corrupting allocation tables on hard disks." 6Backdoor.SubSeven is an extremely sophisticated Trojan horse program.
It enables authors-need access to infected PCs via the Internet and gives hackers an avenue for entry.
At times this Trojan can operate undetectably on users' systems without their knowledge, performing various acts without their approval, such as installing FTP accounts and browsing files, restarting computers or hacking into them remotely.
Once it's been infiltrated with this malicious code, it becomes capable of doing almost anything to harm or compromise them, from installing FTP services and browsing files through to restarting machines altogether with malicious intent from hacking teams or intruding third-party hackers attempting to gain entry.
Hacker
Some journalists or editors use hacker as someone who attempts to break into computer systems illegally; 7 Crackers have similar connotations as defined on Aspiring hackers target computer networks by breaking passwords and bypassing license restrictions to gain entry and disrupt operations -
Typically forgetting passwords, license agreements and regulations within software applications that restrict the use, thus infiltrating their systems intentionally to breach security Hackers and Crackers differ primarily in their motivations for breaking security.
Hackers typically breach it to either test if they can do it themselves or point out deficiencies with its configuration.
Crackers have been accused of breaching security systems to cause damage or access confidential data without authorization, regardless of their motivations or intent.
Hackers pose an urgent security threat that must be managed. All necessary safeguards should be implemented against this threat to ensure optimal system operation.
Take steps to prevent viruses from infiltrating your network. This document primarily addresses virus activity; no extensive discussion on hackers or crackers will occur here; they're collectively known hereafter as 'hackers'.
Blended Threat
"Blended threats" refer to any combination of two or more previously listed threats used together as part of an operating system or application exploitation process, with this vulnerability being just one among many potential exploitable targets.
What has become one of the greatest security challenges over time is malware with multiple points of attack that is difficult to defend against.
It makes defense impossible when viruses exploit multiple entryways simultaneously to compromise systems and stealthily infiltrate data from various locations simultaneously.
W32.Bugbear represents one such threat to security; it acts like a mass mailing worm but includes other threats like keylogging Trojans that record keyboard strokes to gain information, password stealers and one which opens backdoors for Hacker commands - as well as some extra malware variants which record information through keyboard stroke recordings for theft purposes and steal information directly—more information on W32.
Bugbear can be found at: Now we understand more of the threats, their various forms, and ways of protecting against them, we can look at common defense mechanisms against such sources of attack.
Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!
Defenses
What can you do to combat the virus threat of today? Four main defenses are available against this threat.
- Antivirus Software
- Useful Content Filtering Software
- Intrusion Detection Systems
- User Education
Antivirus Software
Antivirus software has become standard equipment on most modern PCs and servers.
Antivirus technologies have rapidly advanced over the past decades. This type of protection software must be installed on every machine within an enterprise to maintain business integrity and productivity—the pace at which software technology advances continues to amaze.
Antivirus products today offer average coverage against viruses, with definitions for over 60,000 types (worms/Trojans).
Antivirus software now features many options to detect and eliminate viruses. Dealing with viruses requires many steps, from scanning files for infection by macro viruses (macro virus infections) and responding accordingly to settings as part of your protection strategy - monitoring activity that viruses would normally cause to adding extra security layers like this one! Your antivirus product does not yet include virus definitions.
When configured incorrectly, these options can consume substantial resources and lead to numerous false positive virus alerts.
Some important points are mentioned:
- anti-virus software
- Dark Web Monitoring
- approaches to cyber security
- cyber security company
- sophisticated security features
Content Filtering
Software that filters content can help filter or block specific items, from inappropriate emails to access to non-business websites.
Typically, this product will perform this action; message header scanning and other scans help identify 'non-virus type' material.
Antivirus software cannot yet detect exploits. While some antivirus products offer basic content filtering abilities (e.g., "keyword search"), vendors are increasingly adding antivirus capabilities to existing content management products.
The current trend is toward companies adding antivirus capabilities to existing offerings. Filtering products has always been an integral business component and should always be undertaken when seeking new supplies or parts for sale.
Intrusion Detection Systems
Intrusion Detection Systems are used to manage computer security. Network-wide monitors such as this one serve to keep an eye out for "unusual behavior".
"Unusual Behavior" covers many areas and should never be defined too narrowly.
Included herein are user/computer activities, file changes, policy violations, and more. The primary emphasis in this document will be on antivirus protection, while Content Filtering will also be discussed; Intrusion Detection Systems won't be addressed extensively herein.
User Education
In planning or implementing, user education may often go neglected - particularly with security-related products like antivirus and content filtering software, which have inherent user education requirements.
Such oversight could prove expensive.
Antivirus programs don't just protect users against external attackers - they also offer internal defense from themselves and virus threats.
With all the antivirus solutions out there today, viruses still lurk. When these situations arise, users need to make decisions.
Certain emails or attachments may contain viruses that antivirus software can't yet detect. Education about how to handle suspicious attachments could be protected at this stage.
Education of the user community comes into play here by teaching users to become more alert by being aware of virus threats and managing those at risk of infection more efficiently.
Points of entry
As in any defense system, the weakest link can also be the strongest, thus making its weakest points of entry for network traffic and making full use of antivirus protection.
To maximize effectiveness with antivirus security software solutions and make use of all available resources effectively. For optimum antivirus protection, use these guidelines.
As part of your defense deployment strategy, you must pay special attention to points of entry when creating reasons for the network.
Grouping similar components may make the task simpler while structuring network infrastructure into different tiers can further facilitate it - here is an outline of some major levels:
Computer perspective with antivirus recommendations:
- anti-virus configurations
- regular backups
- Email Security, Archiving, Backup
User Computers
Users occupying desktop, laptop and PDA computers generally make up the greatest proportion of total computer infrastructure and often receive information via emails, files and HTTP (web traffic), FTP transfers files transfers via CD-ROMs/floppy discs etc.
Antivirus Protection
This Tier, often referred to as multi-source devices, accepts data from multiple sources. They are highly susceptible to virus attacks as certain files/data types cannot be scanned for viruses before opening them up for users to use.
When users reach this hierarchy level, their Tier is opened for them.
User data could include encrypted information obtained via an SSL source and sent directly to an end-user computer for scanning purposes.
Once opened by their recipient, decrypted files become deciphered, requiring scanning before being decoded back by their recipient's computer and used. Performing regular scans will protect users and ensure a safe computing environment. Certain content filtering solutions allow users to specify all, none or some encryption emails as exclusionary content.
Local Servers
Tier two typically sits above user computers and contains user and/or application data and resources shared across networks.
There generally are three kinds of local servers: File Servers, Application Servers, and Printer Servers.
Antivirus Protection
Local servers store all networked data. With such protection in place, all new information from desktop computers or any other source must be kept safe from harm - an example that emphasizes how essential an effective plan can be.
Antivirus protection on both desktop computers and servers should be prioritized.
Without an antivirus solution installed on desktop PCs, if viruses infect a file from one desktop to another, they will quickly infect a server; after that, detection will ensue and action taken accordingly - creating the potential threat.
Having an antivirus installed can protect both servers as well as desktop PCs against viruses from spreading further - another scenario to consider can also prevent this scenario from arising in the event of data corruption from the desktop side being uploaded from one desktop to infected desktops as it moves faster - in this scenario, the virus will quickly find its way onto both platforms! Desktops detect viruses by applying the reverse order server approach.
Messaging Servers
This Tier is aligned with Local Servers and comprises user mailboxes. Email traffic from this Tier goes to internal and external addresses for delivery and storage purposes.
Antivirus Protection
All employee emails are stored on messaging servers or mailboxes, and due to today's email viruses, it can be hard to keep them protected; hence they must be regularly scanned with an effective antivirus program for optimal protection of employees' mailboxes on messaging servers/boxes/servers/servlets etc.
Email servers generally limit themselves to sending and receiving only email data between computers connected with them and email servers, with some notable exceptions being administrators of websites or hackers with access to email systems (who could gain shares in an email system through hacker attacks) as well as insiders with access to its server; antivirus protection should also be utilized on emails for added safety; file systems, operating systems and server operating systems all play roles here as well.
Installing antivirus on any server with any database is crucial to ensure its functionality and use. Antivirus products will scan files such as Microsoft databases for infections.
Exchange servers must be protected with antivirus software that is 'not email-aware. These databases should be excluded from scanning; unfortunately, this exclusion cannot be adjusted manually. Mail server databases may become severely damaged when exposed to antivirus products that do not understand email-specific security protocols.
Therefore, only products specializing in email protection should be allowed to scan them.
Gateway Servers
This is the outermost point of contact in an enterprise.
Antivirus Protection
Gateway servers equipped with appropriate products that detect viruses can provide several key advantages: Lower workload on local servers, email servers and user computers by eliminating viruses before they reach them.
Antivirus protection can significantly decrease the risk of virus infections by providing an extra layer of defense.
Antivirus can protect against potential failure scenarios - whether that means a virus scanner on an email server, user computer or both malfunctions and becoming outdated over time - by adding another line of defense.
Antivirus protection can be increased by layering multiple vendors' solutions together. Lab tests for antivirus have revealed instances where some products fail to recognize certain viruses; if in doubt, please ask your antivirus vendor.
If a product were used across all levels of an organization, viruses may have spread freely throughout. Access to all networks could have been avoided altogether; this will happen immediately if vendors supply additional items at any tier level.
Users
Defenses detail how users may play an indirect role in many crimes. Users need to make decisions regarding suspicious attachments that have an embedded link; many virus creators today put considerable thought and care into creating them.
Piquing user interest is key to virus creation; virus creators seek to engage them and make them curious, with curiosity often overriding commonsense and leading them down an unexpected path of behavior they would usually avoid taking (known as being "tricked") that binds their actions, prompting them to perform actions they wouldn't normally.
"Weaknesses in human nature" Social Engineering tactics used by viruses were being deployed against computers through social engineering scams to gain entry. By fooling users into feeling secure, Social Engineers exploit human interaction for maximum gain - opening doors into confidential company files that may otherwise remain locked away from public view.
Read more: Establish an Effective Antivirus and Antimalware Strategy
Why Use Layered Multi-Vendor Antivirus Protection?
Antivirus protection in an enterprise setting is always beneficial, whether using multiple vendors' antivirus products for different areas or one product which integrates all.
Scan engines provide an invaluable way of quickly finding what you're searching for.
Multiple scan engines may be included within one product.Antivirus gateways or products that send alert messages should utilize multiple vendors' approaches to combat antivirus threats effectively, increasing chances that even when threats appear rare and uncommonly, they won't go undetected.
At least one vendor should detect viruses before they spread across a business network in an ideal world. Still, in practice, this does not always occur.
More and more antivirus vendors rely on this strategy instead of providing just one product to each client. Nonetheless, in recent years several antivirus vendors have used this tactic.
Over time, products were developed which utilized two or more antivirus scanning engines simultaneously. Your vendor options vary, as can their quotes; click this link, for example, from one called GFi, and see how it feels.
No single antivirus engine can protect you against all threats - the world can change quickly enough! Tests conducted here indicate that certain antivirus (AV) products do not support scanning files with specific types of compression. The products do not offer support for such file scanning either.
Products may scan files but fail to detect viruses when these files use specific types of compression, according.
It was also not mentioned that when new viruses appear, not all antivirus vendors update their definition files immediately.
Even when dealing with viruses at once, any small time difference can create problems for enterprises and leave an opportunity for infection to strike.
It also gives viruses time to infiltrate your network and time to enter.
Plan Your Solution
Keep the previous information about multi-tiers and multiple vendors' protection in mind as we proceed. Now is an appropriate time for us to move on to planning our solution and proceed with its development.
As an illustration, we will use "The Wide Open Corporation." We will outline below each major step involved in planning our solution and break them down further for clarity.
Step 1: Identify What Your Company Needs From An Antivirus Solution
This step will explore all aspects of implementation and ease of management, with particular attention paid to product(s).
Inspect features and performance. Wide Open Corporation's basic requirements for antivirus security consist of network size consideration, entry/exit points that could allow viruses or malicious code to access, and detailed diagrams or their locations being established (if none are available).
Additional protection should also be implemented against possible virus threats, with firewalls acting as another layer.
Floppy disks and CD-ROM are among the standard entry points into computers; accordingly, your chosen antivirus software must be able to scan these files and others for viruses.
Consider including removable or fixed media in the implementation plan. Email, network connectivity and related email-related services provide computer users with possible entry/exit points onto and off the Internet.
Internet connectivity is one of the hallmarks of its existence.
Wide Open Corporation Offers Support For Its Antivirus Products
This section details various operating systems, email systems and protocols compatible with antivirus products. Antivirus solutions must support multiple data/protocol types; here is the complete list.
Information is of vital importance when purchasing antivirus software. Consequently, its purchase should always include as much detail as possible.
Hardware Is Required
Before selecting an antivirus product, it's essential to assess if its performance will meet or surpass requirements set by desktops and servers currently in operation.
By knowing this beforehand, time and money are saved during the implementation of such solutions. Implementation issues. This will enable us to determine whether upgrades to hardware or servers may be needed before implementation begins.
Project timelines could become delayed without upgrades, and costs could increase considerably.
Step 2: Review The Company's Current Antivirus Policies
Staff involved in managing an antivirus system should be aware of their responsibilities; any truly effective antivirus solution must include clear policies with documented requirements covering at least the following items.
- Groups responsible for specific components of a solution.
- Manage different parts within the solution.
- Address and point of contact in case of virus issues.
- To respond effectively in case of a virus problem, follow these procedures.
- How to identify and address virus sources.
User Education
- At least the following should be included in any instruction to users on 'best practice'.
- Email and attachments: Sending/receiving emails Browse and download from the Internet.
- Handling files on removable media (floppy disk, CD-Rom, etc.)
- Whom to contact if a virus alert is displayed on your PC.
- This information can be distributed through an antivirus program used by the entire company policy.
Each of the four sections could be laid out in your policy, or you could write one for each item individually. Whatever method or format is used, it should be simple for employees to understand and read through; all employees should receive copies.
Step 3: Evaluate Your Existing Antivirus Solution
Examine and enhance the current antivirus software configuration, or, if necessary, opt for another product that better meets company needs (Wide Open Corporation has already been discounted as an option).
Antivirus product options should also be explored, as potential new product offerings are necessary.
Step 4: Research Available Antivirus Software
Once determined to be necessary, replacing existing parts is imperative. Once that decision has been made, create the foundation to evaluate potential market alternatives as part of this step.
Information for most products can be easily found online; indeed, most trial versions can even be downloaded for free. In-call testing and analysis services also often come at no charge to businesses. Even if you aren't a paying customer, their tech support number remains available if any questions arise.
Step 5: Test Your Product
Once your product list has been narrowed down to manageable proportions, the next step should be searching for suitable items in a "lab environment".
Note: To avoid potential major complications in the production environments of companies, they must be informed.
It is strongly suggested that software testing be completed in an off-line or "lab environment".
Step 6: Create A Plan Of Implementation
A detailed proposal must be created after selecting your product(s). Implementation plans play a vital role in the success of any new product.
These should cover every aspect - removal of old systems included! Names of individuals involved with the deployment and recovery procedures
Step 7: Install The Product Or Products
Implement the new products according to the plan.
Step 8: Review The Antivirus Solution Regularly
After software implementation, updating it regularly is vitally important. Revamp and revise products regularly so they may evolve over time; most tasks can be automated through antivirus tools such as the central admin console (CAC).
Mes While automating tasks may help simplify workflow for updates after deployment is important, be mindful that there may be several key points you need to remember post-deployment as you adjust and adapt products over time—implementation of an enterprise antivirus solution.
As discussed in this document, antivirus vendors regularly update and improve their products to keep pace with evolving virus threats and avoid falling behind their competition.
Certain vendors tend to do better at meeting those challenges than others. There may also be new products on the market which need to be introduced; therefore, businesses must find markets that meet their business requirements best; which market best suits the company's needs and requirements?
Review your antivirus software regularly in order to stay abreast of emerging virus threats and keep yourself protected against virus threats.Your living arrangements may also change as your company expands and grows! With time comes protection measures such as branch offices being opened in other cities or countries, and even this might still not suffice - which means more work for you.
As any business's growth rate can never be predicted accurately, antivirus software must be easily adaptable as the company expands or contracts.
As your organization changes in size or structure, it should also factor into any solutions for the protection chosen.
Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!
The Conclusion Of The Article Is
Antivirus protection should be an integral component of every enterprise security plan, as viruses require constant updates to stay effective, and this software could provide your business with adequate security if utilized effectively.
Choose wisely when making decisions regarding maintenance to save both time and reduce chances for human errors in antivirus configuration settings.
Planning is vital when deploying antivirus software or products, and an implementation plan must include all aspects of the project, with backup plans available in case any unexpected complications arise. A company-wide antivirus program must also be put into effect. Implementation is of central importance.
