It’s a good news-bad news scenario: Many IT teams, from government to agriculture to healthcare and everything in between, are receiving an abundance of threat notifications from their next-gen firewalls and operating systems. The cause? Suspicious malware lurking in an organization’s network.
In many cases, some of these notifications marked “suspicious” do not always result in actual threats – but never-the-less, the barrage of notifications can keep IT teams plenty busy.
Given the vast quantity of these warnings, how can a busy IT team learn to prioritize and identify the real threats vs. every other notification that comes in?
75% of malware reported is previously unknown
One of the issues that many IT teams are having when fighting this cybersecurity overflow is that “…75 percent of malware found in an organization is unique to that organization, which means most of the malware is previously unknown,” reports eWeek.
Unknown malware means fewer resources and longer lag times for finding a resolution.
In addition, the level of damage caused by cyberattacks are increasing, as seen with last year’s ransomware attacks WannaCry and NotPetya, which made worldwide headlines and affected hundreds of thousands of institutions, reports TechBeacon.
“Although we can never be quite certain as to when the next large-scale or targeted attack will hit, one thing remains certain: Traditional solutions and approaches that have served us well for decades are not cutting it,” writes TechBeacon.
AI is automating threat notifications
Nowadays, artificial intelligence is being used to automate these notifications and prioritize the threat level. This in turn can help with response times, as well as with securing networks from various forms of cyberthreats.
eWeek stated: “Earlier detection of threats using next-generation technologies like deep learning is critical to stopping cybercriminals from breaking into your network in the first place.”
And according to experts, many of today’s server and endpoint protection applications are often unable to detect exploit attacks because of the specific nature of today’s attacks. “Hackers are continuing to beat organizations at every step because they know that some of the most widely used security tools such as AV and IDS are flawed, and they are well aware of how to evade them,” reports TechBeacon.
WatchGuard and other vendors adopting AI technology
As such, many technology vendors such as WatchGuard are starting to adopt the AI technology in their anti-virus and operating systems. WatchGuard’s version 12.2 of its Fireware® operating system for its Firebox® Unified Security Platform™ appliances includes a new antivirus scan service that uses an artificial intelligence (AI) engine to predict, detect and block constantly evolving zero-day malware. IntelligentAV joins Threat Detection and Response (TDR), Gateway AntiVirus, and APT Blocker as an additional layer of industry-leading malware defense on the Firebox platform.
“Traditional signature-based antivirus, while still an important part of one’s overall security posture, no longer provides adequate protection against modern malware,” said Brendan Patterson, Vice President of Product Management at WatchGuard Technologies. “That’s why WatchGuard believes that layering multiple advanced security solutions is the best way for businesses to protect their assets and their customer’s data.
“Governments and businesses need to be nimbler than ever in dealing with threats against today’s attackers. Effective security today requires speed and resilience. It necessitates detection and real-time response before attacks get a chance to compromise sensitive assets and information,” reports TechBeacon.
It is important to be vigilant in securing the right applications to protect the security of your organization. Contact DiamondIT at 877-716-8324 to learn more about security training, assessment and implementation services to build out your lines of defense and prevent cybercrime.