New defence approaches required

1 November 2018 Information Security

The world is witnessing a proliferation of global malware and other cyber-attacks, with the number of breaches escalating. Coupled with this the growth in the value of crypto currencies is creating new areas of vulnerability and making the move from physical to digital even more pronounced.

In this rapidly evolving environment, we cannot expect traditional security strategies to remain effective.

Traditionally the key fundamentals of security have been firewalls, IDS and anti-virus. But escalating data breaches illustrate that focusing on these basics alone is no longer effective.

2019 must be the year for enhanced visibility, regardless of where a company’s perimeter is located. The days of single breakouts and in-house applications are over; therefore, the future-proof strategy must expand the definition of the ‘boundary’ beyond physical buildings and defending against external threats. Now, the perimeter must look both ways to protect against threats from the inside where a massive hole could be waiting to be exploited.

Visibility is top of the priority list in the world of the cloud

Security must take into account who and what is already within the confines of the environment, asking what users do with information and how they are accessing applications. It must take into account that users access business systems remotely, and that critical systems and data are now stored, accessed and created out in the cloud.

Business must focus its cybersecurity strategies on delivering full visibility across all business systems. Information security must ensure that it knows what behaviours are taking place across both its physical and virtual environments. Visibility makes it possible to respond with speed to potential breaches as indicated by behavioural changes or anomalies.

Effective monitoring with the ability to instantly respond will eliminate down time and ensure ongoing business operations and the capability of securing your businesses in a digital world.

Crypto-mining attacks will form a massive part of the 2019 threat landscape

Mining is the process of adding transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger of past transactions - a ‘mining rig’ is a colloquial term for a single computer system that performs the necessary computations for ‘mining’.

In this instance the attacker deploys a piece of malware that uses the infected machine’s processing capacity to run calculations to mine crypto currency. There are miners for different types of crypto currency, including newer ones as these require fewer calculations. The modern crypto miner has built-in intelligence which stops working when the user is logged in and performing their normal work. When they are idle or away from their machine, the crypto miner kicks in once again.

Therefore without adequate monitoring on what is really running on your machines, these attacks can go undetected for very long periods.

Ransomware attacks will continue, but due to better backup and recovery planning this is not as effective as in the past. A crypto miner starts to generate revenue for the attacker from day 1 and for as long as it is not detected. This is also very simple for unmonitored insiders to deploy themselves. I think this will be a massive part of 2019 threat landscape.

Organisations need to work on the Assume Compromise principle. You need to understand that security layers will fail, firewalls will miss attacks, end point protection will fail and users will compromise the systems in place. With visibility, you understand what is normal – what needs to be improved is the capacity of organisations to identify what is different.

Attacks will continue to grow because attack tools are more readily available and almost all attackers are unsophisticated and simply by continually doing the basics and having effective monitoring you will be able to stop almost all of these. It is imperative to make your attack surface smaller.

John Mc Loughlin, CEO, J2 software.
John Mc Loughlin, CEO, J2 software.

The biggest risk in 2019 remains the same – Users!

The busy modern, hyper-connected user can and will compromise your environment, most of the time by accident. The user is where the biggest real risk sits, but the modern user cannot work with traditional ‘lock and block’ scenarios. 2019 strategic trends should see users being brought into the picture by providing them with the power to identify and help prevent cyber-attacks.

In 2019 the forward-looking cyber security plans must do everything possible to empower the user to fight against cyber-attacks. Utilising effective technology to provide you and your users with full visibility into risky activity and immediately identify anomalies will be the key to staying un-breached throughout 2019.

For more information contact J2 Software, +27 87 238 1870, [email protected], www.j2.co.za





Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page



Further reading:

Highest increase in global cyberattacks in two years
Information Security News & Events
Check Point Global Research released new data on Q2 2024 cyber-attack trends, noting a 30% global increase in Q2 2024, with Africa experiencing the highest average weekly per organisation.

Read more...
Upgrade your PCs to improve security
Information Security Infrastructure
Truly secure technology today must be designed to detect and address unusual activity as it happens, wherever it happens, right down to the BIOS and silicon levels.

Read more...
Open source code can also be open risk
Information Security Infrastructure
Software development has changed significantly over the years, and today, open-source code increasingly forms the foundation of modern applications, with surveys indicating that 60 – 90% of the average application's code base consists of open-source components.

Read more...
DeepSneak deception
Information Security News & Events
Kaspersky Global Research & Analysis researchers have discovered a new malicious campaign which is distributing a Trojan through a fake DeepSeek-R1 Large Language Model (LLM) app for PCs.

Read more...
SA’s strained, loadshedding-prone grid faces cyberthreats
Power Management Information Security
South Africa’s energy sector, already battered by decades of underinvestment and loadshedding, faces another escalating crisis; a wave of cyberthreats that could turn disruptions into catastrophic failures. Attacks are already happening internationally.

Read more...
Almost 50% of companies choose to pay the ransom
News & Events Information Security
This year’s Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 report found that nearly 50% of companies paid the ransom to get their data back, the second-highest rate of ransom payment for ransom demands in six years.

Read more...
Survey highlights cost of cyberdamage to industrial companies
Kaspersky Information Security News & Events
The majority of industrial organisations estimate their financial losses caused by cyberattacks to be over $1 million, while almost one in four report losses exceeding $5 million, and for some, it surpasses $10 million.

Read more...
Digital economy needs an agile approach to cybersecurity
Information Security News & Events
South Africa is the most targeted country in Africa when it comes to infostealer and ransomware attacks. Being at the forefront of the continent’s digital transformation puts South Africa in the crosshairs for sophisticated cyberattacks

Read more...
SIEM rule threat coverage validation
Information Security News & Events
New AI-detection engineering assistant from Cymulate automates SIEM rule validation for SecOps and blue teams by streamlining threat detection engineering with automated testing, control integrations and enhanced detections.

Read more...
Cybersecurity a challenge in digitalising OT
Kaspersky Information Security Industrial (Industry)
According to a study by Kaspersky and VDC Research on securing operational technology environments, the primary risks are inadequate security measures, insufficient resources allocated to OT cybersecurity, challenges surrounding regulatory compliance, and the complexities of IT/OT integration.

Read more...










While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.




© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.