The impact of even the smallest data breach on any system cannot be underestimated. The UK government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2017 found that the average cost of a cybersecurity breach is £19,600 for large businesses and £1,570 for small to medium-sized businesses.
As technology advances each year, the need for stronger cybersecurity increases as well. Still, there are many organisations that do not invest enough in this particular field. Maryville University pointed out that only 65% of companies have chief information security officers (CISO), although the demand for them is rising steadily. Having a department focusing on cybersecurity is crucial in preventing cyber attacks, as well helping to manage them if they do happen.
Imagine the following scenario: Your employees are not as tech-savvy as you would like, but they get the job done. You also have a competent cybersecurity system set up, and you’re confident that it is enough to protect your data. But one morning, an employee reported receiving a suspicious email, and you were notified only a day after. With your fortifications rendered useless, your data is ransacked by the proverbial Trojan horse.
90% of successful data breaches happen through email-based attacks. Most phishing attacks exploit human oversight, as this is often the Achilles heel of even the most sophisticated cybersecurity systems. Moreover, since email attacks happen at the end user level, breach response is often too late. We cannot expect the user or the CISO to scrutinise every email in every user’s inbox in less than 5 minutes. Five minutes is more than enough time to compromise a company’s entire operations.
The best way to deal with a suspicious email is to streamline the reporting and analysis processes from the end-user level to the administrative level. Keepnet Labs’ Incident Responder is one helpful tool that does this by installing a user-friendly plugin that lets end-users instantly report a suspicious email to the Keepnet Incident Response Platform or IRP. The alert can be sent with only a few clicks. This way, the response time is reduced from minutes or hours to seconds.
Once the suspicious email is flagged, it is analysed by Keepnet’s proprietary technology in the IRP. All components of the message including header, body, and attachments are scanned. It is also examined through other integrated services including Anti-Spam, URL Reputation Analyzer, Anti-Virus, Malware Sandboxing, and others. Keepnet’s URL Reputation analysis looks at the integrity of all links included in the suspicious email. Our malware sandboxing technology will also isolate any malware and test them in safe sandbox environments.
Afterwards, the Platform will integrate and activate any other threats you may have to consolidate throughout the whole process. Finally, the IRP generates SNORT and YARA alarm signatures to inform other cybersecurity services you may have. These alarm signatures prompt your system to update and be ready to face any similar attacks in the future.
Most importantly, all of these happen under the hood. The magic of Keepnet’s IRP happens in the inbox itself, so the compromised port can be isolated and managed without connecting to external processes. This means not only a faster but also more secure threat analysis and response.
Therefore, dealing with suspicious emails not only entails having the right tools. It also means having people who can use the tools effectively and make them work in a streamlined manner. With Keepnet’s IRP, all of your employees can have that capability.
“This post is originally published at www.keepnetlabs.com”
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