Malware Protection - Things Companies Have To Consider To Avoid Malware

By Author: eccuni
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Modern malware has become one of the most dangerous threats in every company's network structure. Compared to the old and dumb malware, modern malware has become more intelligent and more persistent. Hackers can use modern malware as a foothold inside a company where they can use it anytime to mount an attack. But what can companies do in order to secure their systems from modern malware.
Avoid or Control Suspicious Applications
Before the appearance of modern malware hit the Web, common malware uses the most common method of communicating during those times – email. However, modern malware can come from different kinds of application aside from email. In order to prevent these malware from entering the system, network administrators and digital computer forensics, has to identify the application that every company employees use like webmail, instant messaging, P2P networks and social media. These vectors must have the same quality of security as the corporate emails applications ...
... have.
Controlling these applications must be important. The first one is getting rid of suspicious and risky application and the next one is to ensure the visibility of each allowable application. Set guidelines against the use of risky applications like P2P networks; limit the persons allowed to use those networks. Limit every file-sharing application and the proxies allowed must be for business purposes only. Some of these applications are evasive, even if they are detected and then blocked these application will look for alternative paths in the network; thus it is important to watch how these applications behave.
Second part is ensuring the security of allowed useful application. These applications must be visible to the administrator and allowed applications must have SSL to provide security and privacy. But even if the application has SSL certificate, companies must have the capabilities to decrypt encrypted messages and inspect every SSL encrypted page.
Be the Middle-Man
Although different applications have provided more malware conduits, malware found a new way of delivery via the drive-by-download. In fact, the user would be confused on how his system was infected with the malware in the first place. This malware delivery system begins via a remote exploit against the company or victim's machine, an example is the infected image found on a certain webpage. The malware can then target the OS, browser or any application that will provide root access to the system. When this happened, malware is delivered unknowingly to the computer without anything abnormal happening. Indeed, OS and browsers will alert users regarding any file download, yet this is not reliable. Thus, companies must have a certain control point in the midst of the Internet user and the Internet. It is the in-line network security.
But these in-line securities must also be real-time security because administrators will be dealing with real-time web based applications. If the administrator has completed computer forensics training, he will know that some anti-malware software aren't made for real-time work and could easily slow down the system. Thus he must closely inspect the software or better yet create a much better one.
Administrators must also automatically recognize any file transfer from different kinds of applications. He must have the tools to decrypt and decode different kinds of protocols to make sure that there are no hidden file transfers in any traffic.
Identifying the Malware
Even if the administrator was able to control any applications that could deliver malware or have the ability to see and also identify any delivered malware, it is still important to recognize that malware. Modern malware can now be networked and managed, making it more sophisticated and capable in launching any attack into the system. Once the administrator has captured a possible malware, it is important to know whether it is really a malware and understand how it works and affects the system. In computer forensic course administrators are taught how to use the sandbox.
Sandbox is a safe environment where a possible malware or unknown file can be tested and observed. Unfortunately, sandbox isn't real-time; administrators have to wait in order to see any bad behavior before coming into a conclusion. Sometimes, impatient administrators will automatically send the unknown file to the system only to find out later that it was a malware after the breach has occurred.
These considerations are just some of the things companies must do to protect their systems from malware. Hopefully, this article was helpful enough in keeping your company safe from the threats of malware.

The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in cybersecurity and e-commerce. It is the owner and developer of 20 security certifications. EC-Council has trained over 90,000 security professionals and certified more than 40,000 members. These certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies. They also offer trainings in computer forensics.
More information about EC-Council is available at www.eccouncil.org.