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Panda Security

“Complete security does not exist in any part of life and definitely does not exist on the Internet”

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Ten years ago we started celebrating World Information Society Day on May 17th. On this day, we honor the Information Society and the importance of telecommunications by raising awareness about the Internet and its possibilities, as well as other information and communication technologies (ICT). Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, pointed out some of the Internet’s capabilities for society and business, and gave us some information on how we can reduce digital divide.

 

Panda Security– The majority of traditional media outlets are already on the Internet, what advice do you have for them regarding computer security?

 

Luis Corrons– Internet is a communication tool. Online media sites do not differ much from the rest of other websites, so really, the security measures are similar to those of any website belonging to a company in another sector. What they need are reliable systems that provide availability and are fast, but also take safety measures to protect them against possible server attacks. Also, businesses must be extra careful with personal information belonging to their users and/or subscribers.

 

PS– Social Networks are the main catalyst for change when it comes to the way we communicate, also affecting the personal world of an individual. Are privacy and cyber-security connected?

 

LC– No, privacy and cyber-security go hand in hand. Social networks and privacy are connected, because they encourage that we abandon our privacy by asking us to share personal information that would have never been public prior to their existence.

There are always those who violate the law by taking advantage of the Internet’s benefits.

 

PS– Internet Day celebrates everyone’s digital freedom: we can decide what to do in a digital environment, how to do it, and to whom. Is this a way for cyber-criminals to intervene?

 

LC– This is similar to the freedom we have walking through the streets of a city. But we are not going to prohibit walking down the street, or allocate pedestrian licenses, or make people check in on every corner so that the authorities know where they are at all times. It is clear that in a free environment there are always those who violate the law by taking advantage of the benefits, like those on the Internet, but we cannot let that be an excuse.

 

PS– The use of the Internet is increasingly widespread. One of the best examples is the number of mobile phones in our country. Do you think we should remind users that their security is in constant danger when browsing the Internet, or do you think that many times it is an exaggeration?

 

LC– Complete security does not exist in any part of life and definitely does not exist on the Internet. But we must not be paranoid. Just as we know that when driving a vehicle the probability of an accident is lower if we follow the rules, we can be reasonably safe if we have taken appropriate measures prior to surfing the web: have software updated and use a dependable security solution for all devices like computers, tablets and Smartphones.

 

PS– Internet is linked to technology. It is connected to TVs, online videos, the Internet of Things… do we communicate better or worse thanks to these technological developments?

 

LC– We communicate easier. Never in the history of mankind have we enjoyed so many options like the ones at our disposal today. With those options we can communicate better or worse… it is debatable. It can be said that there are people who are very faithful to the online world, and are much more isolated from the real world than they would be without the Internet. Do we communicate worse or better? It depends on each person.

 

If security is not present during a company’s digital transformation, it can ruin them.

 

PS– Digital transformation is a mandatory process for companies. What guidelines must be followed to complete this process safely?

 

LC– For those companies who have not already adopted digital transformation, it is probably too late. In any case it is essential that we take into account a company’s security when undertaking a digital project. We can have the best idea in the world, run the project perfectly, and make it a great success, but if security is not present our businesses will sink. Let us remember the damage that was suffered by companies for these type of attacks. Last year, the website Ashley Madison and the Italian company Hacking Team are clear examples of the damage these cyber-attacks can have.

 

PS– “Cloud” services group customer information into a network of specific servers. Do you need extra security to protect them?

 

LC– The fact is, for both the user and for the business, using cloud services actually decreases the work we have to do to protect the information. As much as a company wants to protect their users’ information, who is going to be able to devote more resources to do so than companies like Google or Microsoft? From this point of view it is clear that the information is more secure in the Cloud. However, there are other risks that we cannot forget: if someone were to steal one’s identity they would have access to those services that can be accessed remotely.

 

Remembering to update, protect and distrust are key for navigating the web safely.

 

PS– What minimum precautions should a user take for a safe experience?

 

LC– There are some guidelines that apply to all devices (computers, tablets, Smartphones)

  • Update: always have applications and the operating system updated, in order to patch any known security holes.
  • Protect: Use a security solution to protect us from the millions of attacks that occur on a daily basis.
  • Distrust: Many times, the users themselves cause security problems. We are very confident when we are on the Internet, and cyber-criminals take advantage of this by using the so-called “social engineering techniques”, where they trick us and infect our companies.

 

PS– Technology and cyber-security: what do we see for them in the future?

 

LC– A lot. The Internet of Things are going to fundamentally change the world of cyber-security, with more devices that need protecting every day, from domestic appliances to vehicles, all of them are connected to the Internet. The greatest risk is that many of these newly connected devices were designed without taking into account that they would be connected to the Internet one day. Their manufacturers do not make security a priority. Just imagine that someone “kidnapped” your house using ransomware and does not allow you to leave or enter the house until the ransom is paid. Although this seems like science fiction, we must be well prepared for what lies ahead.

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Panda Security

Luis Corrons (Panda): “Companies should act as if they’ve already been attacked, if they really want to remain safe”

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The director of Pandalabs, the laboratory which Panda Security set up to fight against malware, shares with us the main tips that businesses should follow to be safe in the digital, multi-device, and mobile era.

Panda Security.: There are more and more security hurdles for businesses these days. The volume of malware is increasing and the threats are getting more sophisticated. Ransomware such as Cryptolocker, direct threats and persistent advanced threats are the main risks but there are more. How do you see this complex panorama?

Luis Corrons: It’s true. Businesses are facing ever greater security risks. The advancement of technology is every faster and this means that risks no longer affect us as they did previously – instead of focusing on PCs, we need to keep an eye on mobile devices and tablets, not to mention any other device that employees use to access corporate applications that the company may not be aware of. There are new ways for attacks to enter the business and there will be even more in the future. Wearables, without saying more, could be another entrance point for attacks. If companies aren’t aware of this and don’t take the correct precautions, this could end up being a nightmare from a security perspective.

 

P.S.: Are they aware of this reality?

L.C.: They are well aware of it, in fact, they have quickly jumped on the bandwagon. However, they aren’t fully aware of the risks nor how to correctly react to it.

luis corrons

 

P.S.: In your opinion, how should they behave?

L.C.: The first thing that they have to do is identify all of the devices which can access the corporate applications. It could be convenient if they introduce a policy such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Many employees would prefer to use their own device but, in this case, the company will need to inform them that in order to access the corporate systems, there needs to be some controls in place. The business needs to always know which devices are connected and what security measures each one has.

Another key tip is to act as if they’ve already been attacked and that the “baddies” have already gotten in. You should never think that you are completely safe, as there is always the possibility of an attack, this is why it is vital to know what is running on your network at all times.

It’s common for a cybercriminal to attack a small business with the intention of accessing the systems of a larger one.

The problem is that many businesses think “why would they attack us? We’re small and of little interest”. This way of thinking is a mistake and it’s common for a cybercriminal to attack a small business with the intention of accessing the systems of a larger one. Small businesses can be customers of providers for large multinationals and if their systems aren’t secure then this can represent an easy entry point for attackers.  This is what happened with target, the large American supermarket chain, which was attacked in 2013 thanks to a hole in the security system of its air-conditioning provider, which also happened to be a small business. Thanks to this small hole, the cybercriminals were able to infect the POS and steal credit card details of the customers. A small business could put the largest multinational in the world at risk.

 

P.S.: Suppose that, owing to the lack of resources that they have available, this is why small businesses are the most vulnerable…

L.C.: In reality, every business is at risk of an infection or attack. Obviously the larger the business, the more attractive it is to criminals – they have more computers and distribution points, which means more possibilities to attack. However, they are also the ones which have better protected their systems. Smaller companies, although they have less points of attack, usually leave a lot to be desired when it comes to security as they lack resources or the cost is too high.

Not having updated software is one of the biggest holes in security that there is. The other is lack of knowledge and awareness.

 

P.S.: Lots of small businesses (and large ones, too) have antiviruses, however, these solutions aren’t enough in the face of new attacks…

L.C.: An antivirus can detect lots of malware but it can’t detect them all, especially new attacks which are more sophisticated and are based on social engineering which tricks the users. So, what is the solution? What can a small business do to ensure its security? The first thing is to have an antivirus and software updated (obviously Windows, which updates itself automatically, but also other software, extensions of Flash, etc.). Not having updated software is one of the biggest holes in security that there is. The other is lack of knowledge and awareness. It’s important to explain to employees the social engineering techniques that are being produced, that they don’t open suspicious files or ones from unknown senders, etc. There’s a lot of information available and courses to learn about Cryptolocker and other types of attacks. If both these holes are sealed up then businesses will be much better off.

 

P.S.: Panda has created Adaptive Defense to cover the areas where a traditional antivirus can’t reach. Can you tell us more on this solution?

L.C.: It is a solution that controls everything that happens on your network.  It allows the administrators to have total control of all files and applications that are running on the company’s computers or servers, and in the near future it will expand its abilities to mobile devices.

Adaptive Defense monitors everything and if it sees that what is being downloaded is good, it leaves it be (it continues to monitor it, just in case). However, if it spots something unusual it will block the download and, in the case of it being something which we have never seen before, or unknown, it will block it temporarily until it can be classified. The user can also personalize the management of the tool via different parameters, meaning they can see everything clearly with this platform. It also informs you if you are running an up-to-date version of an application or if, for example, an employee is using Dropbox to copy confidential information. Finally, the most important part, it analyzes everything and can be used alongside the antivirus that the company already has, be it a Panda one or not.

 

P.S.: PC, servers, mobiles… the next area to protect will be the Internet of Things? What with the increase in wearables and the huge number of sensors….

L.C.: Without a doubt, in fact, at Panda we are already working on covering the Internet of Things, it’s our next, big step.

The post Luis Corrons (Panda): “Companies should act as if they’ve already been attacked, if they really want to remain safe” appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

Panda Security

Cryptolocker in Companies – Interview with Juan Santesmases

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Cryptolocker is the threat that everyone is talking about. It affects both home users and companies though, in many cases, companies are more exposed due to the large amount of confidential information they handle.

Juan Santesmases, Vice President Product Management & Business Development at Panda Security, explains what Cryptolocker is and how companies can deal with it.

Juan Santesmases

Cryptolocker has been the talk of the town in IT security circles over the last few weeks… What makes it different from the rest of threats that companies face?

Cryptolocker is a type of targeted attack, and like all targeted attacks, it requires great sophistication and, consequently, a great investment from the cybercriminals who launch it. The damage caused by this targeted attack is not very different from that caused by other attacks suffered by companies every day. The big difference is that, in this case, the target company is aware of the attack because the malware itself notifies it to the infected user, who knows from the start how much it will be to retrieve the stolen information. Hence its great popularity among cyber-criminals.

However, there are many other targeted attacks equally or even more harmful than CryptoLocker which in many cases go unnoticed by companies and end users. Especially if they involve theft of vital business information, such as customer data, product development plans, or sensitive personal information such as banking details. Even if detected, these attacks are often not publicized due to the impact they may have on a company’s reputation. We have seen attacks like these suffered by Sony, Google, Amazon, Target, and many other companies.

What do cybercriminals want with this type of attack?

Cryptolocker is a type of malware known as ransomware. This particular kind of malicious software is designed to hijack the victim’s data and demand a ransom for it. The high volume of this “market”, which has every characteristic of a traditional market, with its supply and demand, makes it very profitable for criminals, who invest large sums of money to develop this type of threat.

Is there any way to identify it?

It is really difficult. Generally speaking, companies are very unprotected against this type of attack, hence its high rate of infection and the echo it receives in the media. This vulnerability is due to the fact that traditional detection mechanisms, such as email or Web filtering systems and antivirus solutions, are simply not effective enough.

To a greater or lesser extent, traditional detection mechanisms are based on comparing software, URLs, or email signatures with known patterns of previously detected and classified threats. However, with an average of more than 200,000 new malware samples put in circulation every day, this type of strategy has become obsolete. Despite the investments made by security vendors to improve the efficiency of their traditional protection mechanisms and reduce reaction times, they continue to be just that: reactive mechanisms. In the end it becomes a race between criminals and security vendors that we do not always get to win.

That’s why we need a whole new approach to protection. Something Panda realized seven years ago, and has culminated in the development of Panda Adaptive Defense, our persistent threat protection system that is able to stop Cryptolocker and, more importantly, its variants.

What differentiates Adaptive Defense from other solutions?

First, Adaptive Defense is a service rather than a solution. Adaptive Defense evaluates and classifies all applications running on customers’ endpoints, based on the analysis of more than two thousand actions that each application can perform. This process takes place largely automatically in our Big Data Environment, and is complemented with the manual analyses carried out by our security experts at PandaLabs.

The continuous classification and monitoring of all applications has allowed us to not only identify and categorize malware, but also goodware and its vulnerabilities. Our database contains more than 1.2 billion goodware applications. Thus, while a traditional antivirus solution blocks known malware and assumes that any other application is benign, with the risk that that entails, Adaptive Defense only allows the execution of applications cataloged as goodware.

It could be argued that there are already whitelisting tools with a similar approach. However Adaptive Defense goes beyond traditional whitelisting, doing all the classification work automatically and transparently to the company’s system administrator.

Finally, as it is installed on the endpoint, Adaptive Defense provides full visibility into all applications installed on the device, notifying security administrators of any threat detected and allowing them to take remediation actions against them.

Targeted attacks, advanced persistent threats, Cryptolocker… No one can doubt that companies are in the crosshairs of cybercriminals.

As I said before, cybercrime has become a very profitable business for criminals. The resources and tools available to criminals are so important that no company, regardless of its size, is out of their reach. In Spain, all of the companies in which we have deployed our solution, regardless of their size or the safety measures in place, had endpoints whose security had been compromised to a greater or lesser extent. In fact, according to INCIBE (Spain’s Cybersecurity Agency), the economic impact of cybercrime in Spain during 2014 amounted to €14 billion for businesses.

Our mission as IT security vendors goes beyond developing more effective products and services, we must raise awareness and help businesses implement adequate protection strategies.

VISIT ADAPTIVE DEFENSE

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Panda Security

What are Advanced Persistent Threats? Interview with Fernando Andrés

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On several occasions we have discusses the need for effective protection against Advanced Persistent Threats in corporate environments, however, do companies really know what we are talking about? Are they ready to implement such protection?

Fernando Andrés, Global Panda Advanced Protection Service General Manager, helps us clarify the meaning of this concept and explains how Panda Security’s corporate solutions are the best fit for corporate needs.

  • What are Advanced Persistent Threats?

Simply put, I would define them as Threats 3.0. They are the evolution of the threats that have always existed in the digital world, but extremely sophisticated and overwhelming in number. All of them have the following features in common: they are financially motivated, extremely selective and, unfortunately, perfectly capable of bypassing traditional defenses.

  • What are the biggest security threats that companies face today?

Every threat that goes after a company’s most precious asset: sensitive corporate information and any other data that can be easily monetized by attackers, such as credit card data, for example.

  • Adaptive Defense leverages state-of-the-art technologies praised by analysts, customers and partners in the technology industry. What is the solution’s differentiating factor?

The differentiating factor is that Adaptive Defense is capable of stopping and blocking advanced threats. It neutralizes what others cannot as shown to many of our customers.

adaptive defense

This has been possible thanks to the effort of our R+D department, which has pioneered the application of technologies such as Cloud Computing, Big Data and Collective Intelligence to the IT security world. We have developed a service designed to constantly audit network resources, detecting and blocking advanced threats, and ensuring immediate response to computer security incidents.

  • What type of company is Adaptive Defense designed for?

Corporate customers without doubt. Companies of a certain size with sensitive information they need to protect. Our experience shows that Adaptive Defense is best suited for companies with more than 100 employees.

  •  Why should a company install Adaptive Defense?

Because it works. It stops these particularly dangerous threats, protecting businesses.

  • The last few months have been dominated by a particularly destructive malware –CryptoLocker– and Adaptive Defense is the only product that can detect it. How can this type of malware affect a company?

CryptoLocker is designed to blackmail businesses by stealing their most valuable asset: corporate data. CryptoLocker can really sink a company. Would you hire the services of a company which left your personal or financial data exposed?

As I mentioned before, Adaptive Defense provides unique benefits. It has shown its full potential detecting what other vendors can’t detect or detect too late. Unlike other solutions that act reactively when the damage is done, we deliver proactive protection.  This new approach has increased the demand for this type of service, especially among corporate accounts.

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The origins of the new Panda Free Antivirus

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The launch of Panda Security’s 2015 product lineup comes with a surprise.

Panda Cloud Antivirus has become Panda Free Antivirus. But what are the differences between the products? What can you expect from the best FREE antivirus? What does the future hold in terms of IT security?

Panda Free Antivirus

Our colleague Herve Lambert, Consumer Product Marketing Manager at Panda, has been answering our questions…

  • Where has Panda Free Antivirus sprung from?

Panda Free Antivirus is an evolution of our first cloud-based antivirus: Panda Cloud Antivirus. Free AV was really created five years ago when we launched our first cloud-based antivirus. That decision illustrated our commitment to innovation and broke with the traditional protection model based on local signature files.

  • And what about downloads?

Over the last five years we’ve had around 45-50 million downloads and in 2014 we’re heading towards eight million. What’s more, our indicators suggest that there is a loyal product user base that is satisfied with the product, and that’s the best thing of all.

  • What was the impact of Panda Cloud Antivirus five years ago?

The first thing we saw was the enormous potential of cloud architecture as this new model of communication, detection and disinfection significantly improved all our ratios.

On the other hand, it also reduced the time needed to discover, detect and disinfect any malware, collectively and automatically. The impact was incredible and it had an immediate effect on our position in the market. This was a great step forwards for us.

However, these five years have flown by, and our colleagues in the lab and the technicians responsible for developing this new model never cease to include new and more efficient protection systems and technologies, which at the same time are less intrusive.

The result of these efforts is called ‘XMT’, a new detection engine included in all Panda’s consumer antivirus solutions.

  • What is XMT and what does the new engine offer?

XMT stands for “Extreme Malware Terminator”. This is how we refer to the whole set of new technologies that drive the new engine in Panda’s products. It’s lighter, more efficient and easier to use.

There’s no doubt that this is a reference point for the industry. XMT is many things in one. We’re talking about:

  1. New technological architecture
  2. New interception technologies
  3. New heuristic technologies
  4. New contextual technologies
  5. New means of detection, disinfection, informing and protecting Panda Security users

So what does this mean for our users? It means more security and more protection against known and unknown threats.

XMT allows us to take an aggressive stance against malware. We have built it from scratch, thinking of the most important things: our customers and what they need:

  1. Protection
  2. Resource friendly
  3. Ease of use

XMT antivirus

  • Why does this engine represent a change in terms of security?

Everything would suggest we are going in the right direction. The latest comparative reviews and studies from independent laboratories such as AV- Comparatives, AV- Test and Virus Bulletin have highlighted the excellent results of the Panda technologies.

Moreover, we offer excellent security and protection without affecting device performance (PCs, laptops, tablets), one of the great advantages of cloud-based protection.

  • We’ve spoken about the past and the present. What about the future?

The future is full of promise and we certainly won’t be bored J.The bad guys are getting badder and their goal is to get very, very rich.

The era of the ‘Internet of Things’ has opened new opportunities for them to achieve this goal and we will have to adapt IT security approaches to face new eras and change protection systems to tackle new problems.

One such example is multi-device protection. Nowadays this is a basic need, yet many users don’t think about it until something goes wrong, and the truth is that this happens everyday.

All our users -whether children, parents, lawyers or teachers- have to be aware of the new threats. They have to think about the level of security they want for their digital lives and put a value on their digital identity and the protection they need.

At Panda we still have much to do. Every day represents a new challenge. The bad guys won’t let up… and neither will we.

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