Cyberattacks are becoming more common every day. Roughly a third of companies have experienced cyberattacks according to Cyber Security Magazine. On average, it takes companies about six months to identify a data breach, and billions are lost each year to cyber crime.
Those are some scary numbers. Big companies contain big data, and are therefore at serious risk of compromise and data threats. After all, attackers go where the money is, and they’re no longer look for just names and credit card information. Security question answer, personal data, and similar information have the potential to be goldmines for attackers. While companies generally have robust anti-virus and firewall measures in place, these are only defensive. Up until now, there has been no option for companies to go on the offensive – or even realize that they’re under attack.
Cisco Umbrella can help level the playing field between the IT team and cyber attackers. The program gives you real-time visibility into potential attacks and gives you the information you need to protect your system. Let’s take a look at how.
Find signs of potential threats
The first benefit of Cisco Umbrella is its ability to identify potential threats to your security. It can identify a malicious domain and show you that malware from that domain is potentially a threat to your system. The first step for protecting your company is simply knowing that an attack is incoming. Once you know that, you can take steps to prevent the attackers from gaining access to your system by blocking their attempts.
For example, one common method of attack is called a fast flux domain attack. This happens when an attacker attempts to access a website or system with so many domains at once that a piece of malware may slip through. Cisco Umbrella can alert you to this threat so you can investigate IPs and block where needed.
Find other malicious domains before they attack
To launch attacks, hackers buy up blocks of IP addresses and use them to launch a variety of attacks on a system or website. When you see one known malicious site attempting to gain access or send files to your system, Cisco Umbrella gives you options on how to respond.
The first is drilling down into the WHOIS data of the attacking domain. When websites are registered, certain data is recorded. This can include email addresses, IP addresses, and more. Cisco Umbrella gives you the ability to look for other websites registered with the same information. You can then block other domains proactively. If enough domains are blocked, then future domains registered with the same information will also be blocked.
Use evidence to prioritize threats
Another way that Cisco Umbrella protects your system is through threat scoring. Sometimes you’re not sure if something is a one-off attempt at access or a full-on DDoS attack on your website. Cisco Umbrella can give you real-time data that lets you visualize your system and its interactions with outside sources. This can help you take the guesswork out of your response.
According to BetaNews, cybercrime is currently a $1.5 trillion industry; by 2023, experts believe that as many as 33 billion records will be stolen each year. There are many reasons that attackers may go after a particular website or system; they may be looking for financial data, personal data, corporate data, or simply want to disrupt a particular website or business.
Training employees on basic security measures – don’t open unexpected file attachments, don’t enter passwords into suspicious websites, don’t use easy to guess passwords – can help prevent some attacks. Ultimately, however, the responsibility is on the IT security team to look for, visualize, and prevent attacks on their company. At Splendid Technology, we can help make that happen. Contact us today to learn more.
