The year of 2023 marked a significant turning point for cyber-attacks with the introduction and wide proliferation of AI (artificial intelligence), now in the hands of people who wish to do you harm and who are actively using it to find faster and easier ways to rob you, extort you or simply burn your business to the ground.
As I write this, I’m well aware there’s a tendency to shrug and just accept the “we’re all gonna get hacked anyway” mantra to avoid having to deal with it. Further, like overhyped weather reports, it’s also tempting to just ignore the warning signs, thinking all of this is just fearmongering rhetoric designed to sell stuff.
However, it truly is becoming a situation where the question is no longer IF your organization will be hacked, but WHEN. The Hiscox Cyber Readiness report recently revealed that 53% of all businesses suffered at least ONE cyber-attack over the last 12 months with 21% stating the attack was enough to threaten the viability of their business.
This year is going to be a particularly nasty one, given the U.S. presidential election along with the ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas. Tensions are high and hacking groups are often motivated by revenge as well as money.
All Lazer IT Consultants customers get all the standard security protocols such as regular Microsoft updates and 3rd party program updates to programs such as Adobe, Chrome, java, and more. Customers also get anti-virus, anti-malware, and website security filtering (Also known as DNS filtering). Lazer IT Consultants is making a major security upgrade to all of its customers to include two new features:
- ATP (Advanced Threat Protection)
- EDR (Endpoint Detection & Response)
About Advanced Threat Protection
ATP can sometimes also be known as next-gen anti-virus or advanced anti-virus.
Advanced Threat Defense is an innovative take on detecting ransomware and zero-day threats in real time-using advanced heuristic methods. This method is different from traditional malware detection, which involves identifying malware using the virus signature database.
Advanced Threat Protection continuously monitors the applications and processes running on your computer. It monitors suspicious activities such as copying files to important Windows operating system folders, executing or injecting code into other processes, multiplying them, changing the Windows registry, or installing drivers.
Each action is scored, and every process receives a danger score. If the overall score for a process reaches a certain threshold, the security software makes the decision to block that application that 99% of the time turns out to be malware. Thanks to the score-based rating system, the number of false detections is very low and the detection of threats, even if they are very new, is extremely effective.
HyperDetect
This feature has been introduced recently into the security suite, helping identify any threats in the pre-execution phase. It utilizes local machine learning models as well as advanced heuristics to detect potential threats to a network.
The cutting-edge machine learning system allows it to expand beyond an advanced antivirus solution to safeguard against the continuously evolving cyber threats. Here’s an impressive list of its capabilities:
- Spot hacking tools
- Discover network exploits and malware obfuscation techniques
- Block sophisticated threats before execution
- Detect malware delivery techniques
- Identify sites that host exploit kits
- Stop traffic from suspicious websites accessing the network
Additionally, HyperDetect also allows security administrators to utilize their expertise and customize defense strategies according to the risks that are most likely to be associated with each particular business.
The ‘report-only’ feature is specifically designed to allow security admins to deploy and monitor any upgrades or alterations to the defense policy before they roll it out across the system. This helps detect errors and bugs beforehand and saves valuable business time.
To round it off, Bitdefender HyperDetect offers a blend of high visibility and aggressive security measures by allowing users to set their protection levels at a normal or permissive level.
The software will continue to report things in an aggressive mode, providing early indications of any threats or issues that may arise in the future.
Endpoint Integrated Sandbox Analyzer
This powerful component combines machine learning with behavioral analysis to examine any suspicious file in depth. To make it happen, the Sandbox detonates such payloads in a contained virtual environment and then analyzes their behavior to identify malicious intent.
The Sandbox Analyzer comprehensively analyzes every file and submits anything that looks malicious to the Endpoint Security HD. This allows the security software to block that file across the network, on all systems, ensuring foolproof security.
About Endpoint Detection & Response
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various ways to handle threats:
- Machine Learning Algorithms: EDR uses machine learning to analyze data, identify patterns, and detect anomalies, signaling potential threats.
- Behavioral Analysis: AI-driven behavioral analysis helps EDR understand typical endpoint behaviors, triggering alerts for deviations that may indicate malicious activity.
- Threat Intelligence Integration: EDR incorporates threat intelligence to enhance its ability to recognize and respond to known malware, attack patterns, and emerging threats.
- Automated Threat Detection: AI enables real-time, automated detection of threats by quickly analyzing and correlating diverse endpoint data.
- Anomaly Detection: AI helps EDR identify anomalies in user behavior or system activities, allowing it to detect and respond to novel or unseen threats.
- Incident Classification and Prioritization: AI algorithms categorize and prioritize incidents based on severity, aiding security teams in efficient response prioritization.
- Adaptive Responses: EDR with AI adapts responses to the evolving threat landscape, including blocking suspicious activities, isolating compromised endpoints, and initiating remediation actions.
This solution serves as a valuable asset to your incident response teams, particularly the diligent technicians at Lazer IT Consultants. These live techs play a pivotal role in investigating and responding to advanced threats. Their responsibilities include scrutinizing reports generated by the EDR security feature to ascertain the legitimacy of potential threats. Based on the technicians' discernment, strategic decisions are made to deploy appropriate security programs. These actions may involve promptly neutralizing the threat, as well as recovering and removing any damages inflicted upon the network.
Not Sure If You’re As Protected And Prepared As You Should Be?
To make sure you’re properly protected, get a FREE, no-obligation Cybersecurity Risk Assessment. During this assessment, we’ll review your entire system so you know exactly if and where you’re vulnerable to an attack.
Schedule your assessment with one of our senior advisors by calling us at 888-616-6972 or going to https://www.lazeritconsultants.com/discoverycall/.
