One of the first steps to ensure that your private information isn’t accessible is to understand the reasons that drive hackers and cybercriminals to do what they do – what are their motives? Politics? Money? Fame? Or is it merely the thrill of getting away with it? What influences their actions and their possible responses?

What motivates a hacker?

Given the importance of having answers to these questions, the cybersecurity firm Thycotic carried out a survey of 127 hackers at the Black Hat USA conference in 2014.

51% of those questioned stated that their main motivation was the “search for emotions”, while only 18% said that they were driven by money. According to the report, this indicates that “modern hackers are curious, they are bored and want to test out their abilities”.

To get a better understanding of this information, we need to put it into context: only some of those responsible for cyberattacks make up what is known as hackers, while the rest of them are simple cybercriminals who are looking for an easy way to make money with their attacks.

A large majority of those (86%, to be exact) were also convinced that they wouldn’t have to face the consequences of their cyberattacks, which also lead them to continue doing what they do. The theory of the study is as follows: “The number of attacks carried out is far higher than the level of monitoring on the systems. Today’s hackers are more adaptable than ever and this allows for multiple attacks on multiple systems, increasing the levels of success without increasing the risk”.

Three reasons to target your business

1. It’s a personal goal – they carry out these attacks as a personal challenge, something to show off to other hackers or merely to prove themselves a point. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t an element of danger to the attacks that it provokes.
2. It’s done for personal gain – as we’ve already mentioned, many cyberattacks (the majority of the most important ones) are done with the aim of identity or economic theft.
3. It’s a form of vandalism – sometimes it’s just done so as to wreak chaos (making IT systems crash, etc.), while other times there is a political element to the attack (“hacktivism”), such as the case of the groups that work under the name of Anonymous.

How do they choose victims?

In the case of stealing information, 40% of the hackers stated that their main objective was to find the “weak link in the chain” of the business – the contractor. This person may not always have access to the company’s network but the hackers like that they aren’t subject to all of the company’s security policies, which makes them a valuable target.

A further 30% revealed that their main target was the IT administrator; someone with direct access to servers and systems where lots of confidential information is stored, such as that pertaining to clients or customers. This means that once the attacker has obtained control of the access codes, he can easily and quickly take control of the system.

How to protect yourself from an attack

Many hackers and cybercriminals on have to overcome traditional antivirus systems when they are carrying out their attacks – systems of protection that haven’t been able to adapt to the constant evolution of cyberattacks.

Due to this, Panda has come up with Adaptive Defense 360, a security solution that is capable of blocking applications based on real time analysis of their behavior, which allows us to close the “window of opportunity” on malware.

The post Inside the mind of a cybercriminal: what is he looking for any why has he chosen your business? appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

Any attack that takes advantage of the “window of opportunity” produced by recently discovered vulnerabilities is called a Zero-Day attack. In other words, a rapid attack that is deployed by cybercriminals before security experts have been able to patch up the vulnerability… or even before they’ve heard of the attack.

Any attack of this type if the dream of any hacker, given that it guarantees instant fame (sometimes these vulnerabilities are spread on the Deep Web), and is known for its ability to be destructive (when it’s used for the hacker’s own benefit). They are also a useful resource for certain governments to sabotage foreign systems or businesses.

The path to finding Zero Days

Protection against these attacks is so important that large technology companies employ their own in-house teams of hackers who compete against cybercriminals to detect and locate Zero Day vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

The objective for these teams is to develop the appropriate patch or to make the affected software provider aware of the problem. Google, for example, has its own dream team of hackers called Project Zero, led by Chris Evans and also includes other well-known hackers such as George Hotz (winner of the biggest prize in history for the detection of a vulnerability), Tavis Ormandy, Ben Hawkes, and Brit Ian Beer. Other companies, such as Endgame Systems, Revuln, VUPEN Security, Netragard, or Exodus Intelligence dedicate themselves to the detection of these threats.

It’s important to keep in mind another aspect of the Zero Day vulnerabilities – if the hackers that discover it decide not to spread it and choose a more discrete method to exploit it, the users could be weeks, months, or years exposed to an unknown vulnerability (this is the basis of APTs, or Advanced Persistent Threats).

How to protect ourselves against Zero Day attacks

As mentioned above, this is precisely where the danger of these Zero Day attacks rests. Just as it is impossible to make a vaccine for them, or that we know that it exists but we don’t know what caused it, traditional security tools (such as an antivirus), are unable to deal with a possible malware that is still unidentified.

However, there are a few steps and measures that could help us to reduce our exposure to Zero Day based attacks.

• Never install unnecessary software: each software installed on your system is a window of entry for a potential Zero Day. It’s recommended that you review the list of software once in a while and uninstall those that you no longer use.
• Keep updated: the software that you keep should always be updated to the latest version.
• Use a reliable firewall: if it is impossible to detect a malware that comes from an unknown vulnerability, maybe we could detect a suspicious connection and stop it before it’s too late.

However, going beyond that, it is fundamental that our systems have an additional protection barrier in place that doesn’t depend on technology based on signatures to detect malicious software. With this in mind, Panda has developed Adaptive Defense 360, which is based on a distinct focus: the monitoring of every application and the real time analysis of its behavior with machine learning techniques and Big Data platforms.

This lets Adaptive Defense 360 offer two types of blocking:

• Basic Block Mode, which allows both software tagged as goodware and others to run without being cataloged by the automated systems and Panda Security’s personal expert.
• Extended Block Mode, which only allows for the running of applications cataloged as goodware.

The post How to protect your company from Zero-Day attacks appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

In the corporate environment, cyber-threats are becoming more and more sophisticated, security standards more complex, and budgets tighter and tighter.

The world of technology in the workplace is no longer just restricted to servers, workstations, or email accounts, but rather we need to consider mobile devices and the culture of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).We also need to be aware of problems that may arise from new trends such as social media and the impact that all of this can have on the security of our corporate networks.

This all places a great stress on businesses when it comes to the monitoring and management of information security.

What are managed security services?

There are currently a new series of products emerging on the market that are placed under the name Managed Security Services. This includes typical services such as antiviruses, firewalls, intrusion detection, updates, content filters, and security audits, while also embracing the new needs that businesses have, based on these services being managed by a third-party who assumes responsibility for the function and monitoring of them at all times.

A study carried out last year in the USA, UK, Canada, and Germany showed that 74% of organizations were still managing their own security systems, but that 82% of IT professionals were working, or had thought about working, for a company that provided security management services.

Advantages of managed security systems

• Providers of these systems help to mitigate the risks that come with the managing of security in a business and by opting for their services you can avail of lots of advantages. The first, and most obvious, is the relative cost – contracting a managed security service usually costs less than investing in personnel, software, and hardware.
• The second advantage is related to the capturing of talented staff. Currently there is a shortage of personnel that are specialized in cybersecurity and this puts a stress on IT departments to keep a quota of trained and competent staff members. Being equipped with a dedicated team to take on these tasks can be a strain for some businesses, but is rather feasible for managed security providers. By externalizing these tasks, a company con focus its attention on more critical aspects of the business.
• These services also allow for a round-the-clock monitoring, which is something that most businesses can’t provide, being restricted to the typical working hours that are in place.
• We can also observe advantages in terms of the efficiency in which the security providers work – it’s hard for an organization to follow up on all new threats and potential vulnerabilities as they arise, just as it is to up to date with norms and security tools. All of this is while security providers are in contact with international experts which strengthens their know-how and their ability to react. What’s more, because many of them have had the chance to work side-by-side with law enforcement agencies means that they have an advantage when it comes to completing forensic analysis in court cases.

Adaptive Defense as a managed security service

With all that has been mentioned in mind, Panda Security has decided to offer its very own self-managed security solution, Adaptive Defense. Thanks to the latest cloud computing technologies (based on Machine Learning techniques and Big Data) developed by Panda, Adaptive Defense is capable of automatically classifying all running applications on the system without the need for any user intervention.

Adaptive Defense is also a solution that has zero impact on the customer’s infrastructure. This is due to it being a service that is operated from a centralized web console that allows for the securing of Windows workstations, servers, cell phones, and remote offices.

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