Tag: malware

Cybersecurity tactics for small teams – Hardware Device Security – part 2

October 14, 2021 /

As you can see from the previous paragraphs, there are multiple ways to penetrate your devices. In the following sections, I shall list some methods of making your devices more secure. You can find the previous part – here.

Hardware Security

There are multiple options for physically securing your laptop and smartphone. At the end of the article, I shall give multiple variants for your budget, but ideally, the essential hardware security upgrades are:

  • Secured Notebook Backpack: There are multiple hardware vendors for securing your laptop backpack. It is essential to know the standard branded bags do not offer enough security options. For example, most backpacks do not provide RFID protection and proper locking mechanism.
  • USB Port Lockers: Port lockers can keep your laptop safe from Rubber Ducky-based attacks. At the same time, port lockers are pretty interesting because they make attackers’ lives more complicated in case of steal. To access the USB port of the device, they have to break the locker, which can damage the USB port and make it unusable.
  • Hardware Tokens: Bussines series laptops usually come with internal TPM chips, which can encrypt your entire hard drive. It is terrific, but if you want better security, it is advisable to encrypt your most critical files using external USB hardware tokens.

Antivirus Software

The average number of new malware programs per day is around 450 000. It is an astonishing number and almost destroys the necessity of antivirus software. Still, it is crucial to understand that the goal of your Antivirus Software is to stop the most critical pieces of malware, but not all of them. Let me list some of the mechanisms your Antivirus Software uses to keep you safe.

  • Malware Database: Every Antivirus program comes with a malware database with different strains of already analyzed computer malware. As we already understood, there are around 450 000 new strains per day. Antivirus companies’ teams keep only the most dangerous strains in the database to keep with the speed of making new strains.
  • Malware Scanner: Usually, every malware tries to gain access to resources, which are not part of its resources pool. Antivirus software can monitor your operating system for such activities and can block them and finally notify you.
  • Operating System Files Hash Check: Some antivirus software can check whether there are changes in your operating systems and notify you and revert the system files for the previous state. It is especially true with Red Hat-based Linux distros.

Open Source

One of the reasons people choose Open Source is the level of security it offers. You can perfectly set up your business to use an open-source stack from the beginning. And this is not only the applications but the operating system and even your hardware. Especially Linux is a beautiful example of how an Open Source ecosystem can increase its security by being open. Instead of using pirated software, you download it from a free repo, which has the source code of the app already reviewed. Every major Linux distro has all of its packages signed, and the repo can verify them. But let me list the different advantages an open-source operating system has.



On the diagram, you can see a sample architecture of a Linux system. Usually, SELinux and AppArmor are working on the Kernel level. After version 4.4, Android has SELinux enabled by default.
  • SELinux and AppArmor: SELinux and AppArmor are kernel modifications and user-space tools added to various Linux distributions. Its architecture strives to separate enforcement of security decisions from the security policy and streamlines the amount of software involved with security policy enforcement. Significantly, the fundamental concepts underlying SELinux can be traced to several earlier projects by the United States National Security Agency (NSA).
  • Open Source Repos: All the packages are part of the software repos, maintained by the distro authors. Bigger Linux distros such as Red Hat and SUSE support big security teams to find and patch holes.
  • Open Source Hardware: There are multiple open-source hardware initiatives, including PowerPC and ARM-based processors. It is essential to know those hardware devices attached to your PC come with drivers, and sometimes these drivers can be an entire operating system. For example, server-based Intel Xeon processors come with network-based remote access control.

Budget:

So after we have listed most of the penetration vectors which an attacker can take, we can finish the topic by creating a budget. We will focus the funding towards underfunded organizations with a limited budget for their cybersecurity program. The budget will be per employee.

  • Pacsafe Backpack (190$):  Pacsafe is a brand of travel equipment emphasizing anti-theft features. The company’s products include adventure backpacks, urban and leisure bags, women’s bags, photography bags, luggage, and travel accessories such as straps, cables, and locks. Their middle-end backpacks offer a pretty good level of security.
  • Business Series Laptop (1000$): For this one, I would choose Lenovo Thinkpad-based laptop. It supports TPM and will offer a good level of harddrive encryption. It is essential to mention here that you have to encrypt all of your storage drives, no matter SSD or HDD ones.
  • Laptop Operating System(0$): Here, we shall go with either CentOS or OpenSUSE. I would personally go with CentOS here because of the native SELinux support. If you want to use the Ubuntu operating system, you should live with AppArmor or set yourself SELinux. CentOS additionally support free Antivirus Sofware supporting all the listed features in the previous paragraphs.
  • Smartphone(200$): Here, we shall use any device, which supports LineageOS. LineageOS is an operating system for smartphones, tablet computers, and set-top boxes, based on Android with primarily free and open-source software. It is the successor to the custom ROM CyanogenMod, from which the devs forked it in December 2016. It offers a good level of privacy, including the complete removal of the Google Play Store for the most paranoid ones. Most of the devices officially supported are in the 200$ range.

With a total budget of around 1390$, we achieved a pretty good level of security. Still, a determined attacker can penetrate this setup, but it will take him more time and resources. If you want to improve this setup further, you can add USB locks and hardware tokens. But, again, the improvement will not be much because, in case of hardware steal, hackers would have to break your TPM module, and the TPM modules are designed to resist this kind of attack.

To be continued

Attack of the cables

September 23, 2021 /

In last week’s article, I spent some time discussing the disadvantages of penetration testing. The main limiting factor for every red team is the client’s engagement policy. Usually, it is not comparable to a real-life attack. However, at the same time, some of the latest developments in the field are pretty disturbing and could be used by hackers for malicious activities.

One such gadget manufactured by Hak5 looks like an ordinary USB charging/data cable, but it comes equipped with the latest keylogging capabilities. Additionally, the cable supports the following features – Keystroke Injection with DuckyScript™, Keylogging (650,000 key storage), USB-C Smartphone & Tablet Keystroke Injection, Remote Access by WiFi, Customizable Self-Destruct, Multiple storage slots for large payloads, On-Boot payloads, Remote Trigger by WiFi (Geofencing), Long Range WiFi Trigger (2 KM+), Control from any Web Browser and Scriptable WebSocket. In short, that cable is a fully working micro-computer with remote access capabilities for loading payloads and executing them without the victim’s knowledge. As a bonus, it looks exactly like the standard USB to USB-C cable. They either offer versions for Macs.

A creative attacker can think of many uses of these cables. For example, they could ask you to lend them your cable and switch it with the malicious one. They can break into your home/office and swap the cables. They can load the whole supply of a computer shop with these cables and sell you one. The options are almost limitless. With that gadget, you virtually can not trust any cable or flash drive you buy from your hardware equipment supplier, neither your friends nor your family’s equipment.

On the diagram, you can see a sample diagram of how the cable works. It simply cheats the computer using it that it is an ordinary cable. Meanwhile, the hacker sends the payload using Wi-Fi and activates it

We could imagine that the next step for companies such as Hak5 is to embed a fully blown ADB build into the cable and enable remote penetration attacks versus smartphone devices. Such cable will be quite an exciting gadget and could encourage even more attack scenarios.

I have wondered why such equipment is not treated the same way as weapons for a long time. The relative easiness of manufacture and use of such gadgets make them more and more dangerous. Without regulations or even government-based permissions, more and more people will have access to them. What is the guarantee that they will not end in the hands of black hat hackers or criminals? Not to mention that every white or gray hat hacker could potentially go rogue and become a black one. What is the guarantee that such gadgets will not be used for malicious purposes even by licensed professionals?

In conclusion, penetration testing’s land space has become more and more concerning. Without a good set of regulations, we could soon see many people using military-grade hacking gadgets, turning the defensive part of cybersecurity into a terrible nightmare. In any case, many defenders will not be fascinated by the idea of wrapping their USB cables and flash drives with aluminum tape[1] every time they buy new hardware. Sure, it is a cheap way of blocking radio waves, but the aesthetics will not be on a high level.

[1] – https://emfacademy.com/aluminum-foil-emf-radiation/

How much damage can one hacker cause to a team of cyber security specialists?

June 17, 2021 /

Cybersecurity has an asymmetric nature. Usually, hacking groups do not have the resources of their targets, or the targets do not have the proper qualification to defend themselves. Now, let’s discuss the one compelling case of a hacker who managed to DDoS companies such as Microsoft and Sony.

He started hacking at the age of sixteen when he developed a Titanium Stresser program that was enough to carry out around 1.7 million attacks. With this program, he got the websites of Microsoft, Minecraft, TeamSpeak, and Xbox Live and earned £386,000 in US dollars. Along with that, he made some bitcoins by selling hacked programs on the Dark web.

The hacker turned 20 until the proceedings of the court continued. He received an accusation of causing losses to schools and colleges by hijacking their local networks. The initial investigation showed that he was also responsible for personally attacking 594 IP addresses through Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) between 2013 and 2015.

On the diagram, you can see a standard DDoS attack system architecture. The hacker usually has a control server for orchestrating the whole botnet attack.

Later on, the court revealed that the hacker was not alone in his hacking. His program had around 112,000 registered users in a kind of vDoS service, and they collectively hacked over 660,000 IP addresses. He put some clever schemes for gaining users fast, like inviting a friend. Many of these attacks were based in the United Kingdom. One notorious attack was on Runescape. The owner of the company had to protect the website by spending around six million euros.

During the hearing, the hacker’s lawyer tried to justify his stance by saying that his medical condition (a form of autism) was not mild enough to understand between wrong and right. Additionally, the lawyer pled that the hacker was in the gaming community but was not good enough and wanted to make him higher.

Now, I see it quite interesting how a 16 years old kid managed to invent a vDoS service and make over 112,000 people register to this service to attack different services across the World. It is a beautiful case of how asymmetric is the nature of hacking. Despite his lack of resources, he managed to build a botnet network of over 112 000 machines. And all of this without any hacking activity towards the registered users. Let’s take that the average Internet speed is around 50 megabits. The total capacity of the botnet is about 600 gigabits of bandwidth. And all of this done by one single guy.

In conclusion, we have to be happy there are no more hackers such as this one. Most of the hackers are for the money. However, this boy managed to DDoS companies with millions of dollars for a cybersecurity budget. And all of this just for fun. Imagine what could happen in case most of the criminals have similar to his mind.

Are hackers used in guerilla warfare?

June 3, 2021 /

Once the top interest of the state was its national integrity and the protection of its borders, that no more seem like the top priority with the rise of globalization. The world has now turned into a global village, and everyone is interconnected. We no longer base the international policy on the principle of expansionism but more on soft and indirect interventions. Cyber-attacks have become very common these days to steal sensitive data or block a critical infrastructure of any country by targeting its vital computer systems. State governments sponsor part of these cyber-attacks to penetrate rival states. Criminals execute another piece for the sake of financial gains.

State-Sponsored Cyber Soldiers:

Despite having conventional solid militaries, many countries are putting efforts into arranging training programs for cyber soldiers who are getting themselves ready for cyber warfare. They are picking up the best people from network exploitation, malware, or firmware reverse engineering. It is essential to understand that cyber warfare usually has asymmetric nature. A small unit attacks a relatively bigger target in terms of resources. That’s the reason these people receive additional training in guerilla warfare by top military specialists.

On the diagram, you can see how different hacker cells secure themselves during different types of communication. Security during operations and internal group communications is with the highest guarantee.

Everyone is welcome to the party:

Almost every country now has a position regarding cybersecurity. And every country confirms that it has or wants to have highly developed cyber warfare systems. Although most countries are strictly against the use of military cyber systems to access the sensitive data of any other country, they keep on developing their cybersecurity platforms. An analysis of cyber capabilities of one relatively big country from 2009 to 2015 showed seven major cyberattacks origin from it. The hacker group tried to hack everything, starting from simple data theft from technological companies to hacking a Personnel Management office of a government agency.

Unofficial cyber attacks:

Not all cyber attacks are for getting to know the secrets of other nations. Sometimes cyber attacks are used to gain access to critical infrastructure and gain leverage during war actions. Cybersecurity is vital during these wartime operations, keeping in mind that now almost everything is digital and modern armies use more and more information systems to increase their efficiency on the battlefield. 

There are several other examples where unaffiliated groups were involved in violating cyberspace. Most cases even show that the state government is well aware of these groups but does not act against them. These attacks bring betterment for the state, so as long as they benefit the government, it does not interfere in their matters but even shields the hacker groups. If they use their skills to steal money, the money comes to the home state, which is beneficial for state economics. That is why governments often allow such hackings in their territory. 

Many unofficial and unethical cybercriminals are the silent pupils of state-sponsored cyber actors. They learn the tricks from the big boys but use them for other malicious reasons and financial gains. It is essential to understand that these days everyone is a target. Especially having in mind that many states manufacture and use military-grade malware. Later this malware can be recycled by criminals and used versus non-state level organizations or even small and medium businesses. 

Security dangers of DNA based storages

May 27, 2021 /

Data storage was never such a big issue in the past. However, nowadays, every day, we produce a massive amount of data. The newest form of storing data is DNA sequencing. The current leader in long-term storage is magnetic tape. Unfortunately, magnetic tapes can store data only for thirty years. One device has the capacity of only a terabyte of data. In comparison, DNA Fountain-based storage could store data at a density of 215 petabytes per gram of DNA.

But to store a massive amount of data in such a tiny medium has its unique list of dangers. Let us look at those potential risks one by one.

  • Risk for Computers: At the moment, there is no threat to your computer by storing data into a DNA sequence. However, similar to every data medium, hackers can use DNA storage to keep and spread malware.
  • Intentional insertion of malware:  Unfortunately, one of the main disadvantages of using DNA-based storage is that the physical world can modify your DNA. A skillful attacker can create an entirely different set of threats such as biological viruses or bacterias, transmitting and injecting malware programs into your DNA storage.
  • No way to erase the storage: Once written, DNA is usually quite tricky to modify. We should treat the DNA-based storages such as highly capable compact discs with slow rewriting capabilities. The most trustful way to erase such storage is to eradicate it.
  • Easier to physically steal: How do you assure the physical security of under one gram of data? Do we store it in a safe? Sure, but hackers can make a hole in your safe and steal your data. The size of DNA-based storage devices introduces an entirely different set of challenges for your physical security.
A sample diagram of how DNA-based storage works. To record your data into DNA, you can create an entirely new footprint with your data encoded as Nucleo code. After that, you have to synthesis it into a DNA sequence.

Benefits of using DNA based storages:

Despite the threats, we could still prefer DNA-based storage in the future because it can store data for thousands of years, unlike hard drives. The information stored in DNA will not go extinct until human beings exist. These characteristics make DNA-based storage a perfect replacement for the currently used cold backup systems such as magnetic tapes.

How to control the security threats associated with DNA-based storages?

Fortunately, at this current moment, there is no significant adoption of DNA-based storage devices. The current leader is magnetic tape and will stay the same for foresee future. At the same time, the ordinary person does no use magnetic tape to store data. Usually, we use a collection of hard drives with multiple copies of our data. With this in mind, we can deduce that DNA-based storage will find its use mainly in data centers and big corporations’ data storage departments. Still, it is essential to understand that we must implement an entirely different set of techniques when we speak about DNA. With our current speed of technological development, it is quite possible to have DNA-based storage in our homes or bodies in the next decade or two.

Way Out of these Threats:

In conclusion, DNA-based storage is just another data medium. To secure the data stored there, we can use the same set of principles for storing data in hard drives. We could use strong encryption, excellent authentication, and a sound policy to store your data on a digital device or in paper documents.

Are law firms high value target for hackers?

May 20, 2021 /

New York-based law firm fell victim to a cyber attack. That wasn’t only unfortunate for the firm alone, but for the countless celebrity clients, they represent. Their client list comprises many A-level celebrities.

All these people fell victim to hackers.

The hacker group that carried out the attack remained unnamed. It got dubbed REvil because that’s the ransomware used by the group.

The cybercriminals targeted the law firm’s internal data systems. They managed to get away with 756 gigabytes of data, which they deemed was worth $21 million in ransom. When the law firm stated they had no intention of paying a dime in ransom, the criminals released a statement that they’re doubling their ransom request to the staggering $42 million.

After the firm refused to comply with the ransom demand, the hackers released an astonishing 2.4 gigabyte batch of data. It included private files and all sorts of sensitive information: contracts, non-disclosure agreements, promotional agreements, and expense sheets, among others.

The data dump wasn’t the only bombshell the cybercriminals dropped. They claimed to have an ace up their sleeve. They had private documents belonging to the American President. The law firm was quick to deny having any business dealings with the President. They only claimed that his name only got mentioned in some of their documents connected to their other clients.

Due to the hack’s success and the massive breach of privacy, the FBI got involved. They advised against paying the ransom as, in most such cases, payment doesn’t do much besides cost the victim money.

If you’re a victim of cybercriminals, you’re in a lose-lose situation. If you refuse to pay them, they can release the information they stole if that’s what they wish, and the victims get left to deal with the consequences. To pay the ransom they demand means you’re accepting their promise to destroy the data they stole.

You can see a standard distribution for malware types on the diagram and how the malware authors target their victims. In the case of organizations, the main approaches for crime making are data steal and ransomware

Can you trust the word of hackers? No, you can’t. However, it is essential to know that if the criminals do not hold their word, no one will pay the ransom to have this final option. Unfortunately, paying the ransom usually motivates more and more criminal groups to execute such operations.

This hack wasn’t their first attempt to score big. The attackers carried an attack on a foreign currency dealer as well. However, the ransom demand they went with paled compared to the $42, or even $21, million they demanded from the law firm. In this case, they asked for $6 million under threat to delete customer data. After a few weeks of having their services kept offline, the dealer caved and coughed up $2.3 million as payment.

Especially with COVID-19, more and more law and financial companies can become a target to attackers. It is essential to understand that blind fate into your cloud provider is only part of the equation. Every organization must take care of its defenses and upgrade them as much as it can. Only doing this can make attackers’ life harder.

The rise of data leaks

April 8, 2021 /

We are living in internet-reliant times. Everyone outsources and shifts aspects of their lives to online sources like social media, dating apps, and online workplaces and educational websites. With COVID-19 forcing us to emphasize online activities, the possibilities for data leaks are ever-growing.

Data leakage incidents are not always intentional, though most of the time, they are. Phishing attacks or malware sent via email and links are just some common examples. Both have high success rates, and once the malware is successfully installed on a device, leaking data is very easy. Private user information, including addresses, phone numbers, and more sensitive data like credit card numbers or passwords, are worth millions of dollars on the market.

845 GB of Data Leaked!

Recent examples showing the extent of leaked data in 2020 alone seem astonishing. Just a few weeks ago, nine dating apps leaked 845 GB of data. It may not sound a lot, but in fact, the leakage comprised private information of a few hundred thousand users. The leak includes explicit photos and messages that people would likely have instead kept confidential.

 Independent security researchers discovered the security breach for all affected websites.

The most shocking part of their discovery is that not a hacker was responsible for the leak but the companies themselves due to their careless configuration of the apps.

A standard workflow of data exfiltration. The hacker finds a way to infiltrate into the company infrastructure and after that uses other already hacked infrastructure to exfiltrate the data.

These websites and apps are mostly unknown, but data leaks can also happen to popular websites with millions of user account information leaked and stolen.

Big or Small – You’re Not Safe From Leaks

In 2014, a prominent commercial website’s entire user account list was leaked, with 145 million people affected. Users had to change their passwords as a consequence.

In 2012, a big social media website became a target, and 165 million business professionals’ data was readily available for sale. All users changed their passwords as well.

Other cases did not proceed as mildly. Big design software company in 2013 asked to pay their users 1.1 million dollars in compensation after credit card records and password leakage.

In 2021, the risk of data leakage is higher than at any time before; there have been numerous data breaches already, including major companies, universities, and cybersecurity providers. 

In October 2020 alone, there were 117 data breaches, the highest number recorded for a single month. Fortunately, only about 18 million user information leaked, less than the yearly running total of compromised data records of 19.5 billion. The most breached sectors were healthcare and health science, education, and the public sector.

All of these numbers show that the protection of one’s data in a time where everyone has an online presence is crucial. With COVID-19 inevitably shifting our lives towards online resources, it is up to us to take the necessary measures to protect our private information.

Cybersecurity for business travelers

April 1, 2021 /

Every business travel is a beautiful opportunity for people to visit their favorite countries and places. But these events are a fantastic opportunity for every sort of malicious cyber activity, too. Cyber criminals’ wet dream is many people connecting to the same hardware infrastructure, which is outdated in security because of lack of maintenance or cost savings.

Most people going on these trips are in business mode, deprotected. Usually, travelers are targets, but many hacker groups could attack local businesses or host infrastructure, too. Management personnel is wealthy and generate much interest in it as targets for cyber attacks. On the other hand, host infrastructure is a good target for hacktivism because some events have worldwide media coverage. We can imagine what happens if hackers manage to hack the internet access for hosting infrastructure and instead abc.com, they show anti-government slogans. Last but not least, travelers are excellent targets for data steal and botnets creation purposes.

So how can we keep ourselves safe? There are three primary attack vectors which travelers must have in mind. Hardware device-based attacks, data steals, and bank card information steals. The best strategy to prevent hardware-related threats is to carry only a smartphone. Modern smartphones are more capable of computing power and memory than most middle-class notebooks from the beginning of the decade. You don’t need a fully-featured laptop when you travel abroad. Modern smartphones are more than enough for day-to-day activities like chatting, email exchange, document reading. You bring your smartphone everywhere you go, so it is tough for someone to steal it. It provides many wireless ways for data exchange between devices, which decreases the risk of rubber ducky-based attacks. Often, many hotels, venues, cafes offer free wifi access for all the participants in the event. In general, using these wifi spots is a terrible idea. You can use them, but you have to know that hackers can record all the traffic on these devices. They can store all your encrypted user data, passwords, and sessions for later analysis and decryption attempts.

A better strategy is to use 4g mobile connections during your trip. In that case, the hacker must first hack the mobile internet provider connection to store and decrypt your data. Mobile internet providers are tough to hack, and that adds a layer of security to your device. This approach has a nice bonus feature; you can use the same 4g connection for internet access because of the smartphone’s internet sharing feature. I use 4g internet during my travels and hotel stays. In the most paranoid configuration, you bring two phones, one for a 4g connection and one for real work connected via wifi to the first phone. This setup offers a better level of security.

Bank card data stealing is one of the most common cybercrimes. Stealing card data is so easy that hackers steal millions of bank card credentials every day. How to prevent ourselves from these steals? With cash, of course. Cash is the ultimate paying method, never rejected, never tracked, and challenging to steal if stored properly. The average business trip has no more than ten days as a life span. The regular traveler can cover the expenses in cash during this time. However, for more extended stays bringing a considerable amount of money is not a good idea. Storing it is not easy, not to mention that many countries have an upper limit for cash transactions. In this case, carrying crypto tokens would be a fantastic idea. You can find many crypto exchanges and ATMs these days.

In conclusion, when traveling, the most valuable security advice is to stay undercover. Don’t show off yourself, don’t bring jewelry, wear functional but not expensive clothes, limit yourself to low to middle range electronic devices. You can also stay in moderate range hotels, pay in cash, and use an internet connection only when needed. And my last advice to business travelers worldwide – many cybercriminal organizations prepare themselves for your travel; please prepare yourself, too!

How Can Companies Get Malware?

March 18, 2021 /

How does a company end up with malware? There are two general replies to that question – people and vulnerabilities.

The people category tends to include all admins, users, everyone who can run code on the network, and vulnerabilities encompass anything from an old system that hasn’t been updated to lack a good antivirus program.

How does malware invade the system?

Emails are arguably the most common infiltration way malware uses to slither into your system. Cybercrooks load them with corrupted links, attachments, or both and hope you fall for their trickery. You receive an email one day that seems legitimate. It can appear to come from your boss and contain a vital business document attached. Or from a delivery company that has a package withheld and urges you to open a tracking link to check it out. The potential scams are endless, and some of them can be pretty convincing. Always be vigilant when getting emails that you were not expecting or anything even remotely seems suspicious. Better to be safe than sorry.

Look out for bad spelling and grammar, weirdly placed punctuation, senders you don’t recognize, your name misspelled. Anything can be a giveaway that you’re the victim of a scam. Caution is critical if you wish to protect your computer and company from malware.

Here are two simple rules to abide by when dealing with emails:

  • Unless you’re positive who sent you the email – don’t open it!
  • If it aims to convince you to click a link or download an attachment, triple-check everything before you do; blindly following instructions won’t end well.

Another common invasive way is removable drives as they often carry infections. You should always handle external hard drives and USB flash drives with care. If employees find one on their way to work and decide to check it out on their company PC, the whole company could be in trouble. The malware usually gets installed once the drive gets plugged in, so don’t do that. Again, you must proceed with caution.

Employees often have to install programs needed for work. When doing so, it’s imperative to read through the terms and conditions and not just head straight for the OK. Malware can be hiding somewhere in the fine print, and you don’t want to agree to install it. Make sure to choose the official vendor’s website for necessary downloads, minimizing the risk of malware.

How to reduce the possibility of getting malware

If you wish to protect your company from malware, there are a few things you can do that will improve your chances of enjoying a malware-free company.

  • Educate your employees.

Teach them what to look for in emails and be wary of clicking suspicious-looking links or visiting unsafe websites.

  • Update regularly.

Software, applications, systems, everything must get frequent updates. Consistent updates are vital for keeping up your system’s safety.

  • Invest in excellent antivirus software.

If you can afford it, choose anti-ransomware and anti-malware software, too. Having several security layers is hugely beneficial in guarding against cyberattacks.

  • Backup your data.

If all else fails, you won’t find yourself at the mercy of cybercrooks. Try to backup everything weekly and even daily if possible. It’s preferable not to trust cloud services for that, as hackers can still find a way to access them.

If your company does get malware, it can be quite a devastating experience that could result in severe financial losses. Suppose you get stuck with a PUP (potentially unwanted program), adware, or anything of the sort. In that case, you’d be wasting valuable working time trying to get rid of the infection. The time that you could have spent making calls, connecting to clients, promoting your services, et cetera. If you get stuck with ransomware, it’s even worse. You could end up losing files, documents, client contacts, and, not to mention, time, energy, and money in your attempts to deal with the cyber threat.

You’d do your best to ensure malware cannot invade your company systems. When it comes to cyber threats, prevention is preferred to the reaction.