ChannelVision Magazine

Dark Web. These bad actors steal passwords and user names, credit card information, medical records and more, in order to perform identity theft, gain access to bank accounts or carry out fraudulent transactions. “Cybercrime remained a persistent problem in 2017, with several mega- breaches affecting millions of individu- als, a resurgence of payment-card sys- tem breaches, and a series of high-pro- file ransomware attacks,” Flashpoint’s Condra said. “Cybercriminals have demonstrated resilience in their ability to continuously develop new ways to circumvent security protections, result- ing in billions of dollars in damages for organizations around the world. From efforts to circumvent EMV chip technol- ogy to the popularization of ransom- ware, noteworthy trends observed in the cybercriminal underground in 2017 will have a profound impact on the 2018 threat landscape.” The Sophos report also uncovered that IT professionals also need to be aware of how exploits are used to gain access to a company’s system for data breaches, DDoS attacks and crypto-mining, all of which tend to be financially motivated. Exploits are pieces of software written explicitly to take advantage of a specific software vulnerability. It examines a machine for that flaw, and if found, the code lives up to its name by exploiting that flaw to take over the PC, Mac, IoT or mobile device remotely. From there, the attacker can install malware to steal information, make the machine perform various activities (such as sending out spam, spreading more malware or mining for virtual curren- cies), often without the user know- ing about it. Machines can also be enslaved to botnets, which are often used to mount DDoS attacks on vari- ous websites and corporations. The survey revealed consider- able misunderstanding around technologies to stop exploits, with 69 percent of respondents unable to correctly identify the definition of anti-exploit software. With this confusion, it’s not surprising that 54 percent do not have anti-exploit technology in place at all. This also suggests that a significant propor- tion of organizations have a mis- placed belief that they are protected from this common attack technique yet are actually at significant risk. “The lack of awareness and lack of protection against exploits is alarming. We’ve seen a resurgence in cybercriminals looking for vulner- abilities to actively use in countless attack campaigns,” said Schiappa. “Five or six years ago we saw one per year, and last year as many as five new Office exploits have been used for cybercriminal activity,” ac- cording to SophosLabs. “When cy- bercriminals are deliberately seek- ing out both known and zero-day vulnerabilities and an organization has a deficit in defenses, it adds up to a bad security situation.” o Cyber Patrol SD-WAN We are the Gartner #1 rated SD-WAN alternative provider network. IoT Single SIM We have the only SIM that always connects to the strongest available signal worldwide. Fleet Management Our all-inclusive, friendly UI meets or exceeds all government regulations and more. Telehealth Our bundled telecom and mobility solutions simplify device management and monitoring. Asset Management Bruin gives you control over billing, ordering, ticketing, reporting and more, across all carriers. Retail Tools Insight into customer data from our Wi-Fi analytics, and mobile kits to assure continuity. MetTel Provides Your Advanced Solutions Think MetTel When You Think Visit our website at www.mettel.net 18 Channel Vision | January - February, 2018