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All You Should Know about Antivirus and Its Importance

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By AMSAT June 07,2021

all-about-antivirus-and-its-importance

All You Should Know about Antivirus and Its Importance

What is Endpoint Security?

Endpoint security is a procedure of protecting the corporate network when accessed through laptops or other wireless and movable devices. With the spread of mobile devices like laptops, smartphones, tablets, notebooks etc., a huge surge in the number of devices being lost or stolen has been noticed. These incidences possibly translate as enormous loss of important data for companies which allow their staffs to bring in these mobile devices into their enterprise. Endpoint security is projected to protect each endpoint on the network these devices create.

Why You Need Antivirus Software 

Next-generation antivirus software helps organizations spot, respond to and thwart all kinds of cyberattack strategies, methods and procedures. Antivirus software will always be needed for as long as computers have been and will be around, regardless of their connectivity to the Internet. There will never be a time when people, whether unscrupulous youths seeking an adventure or a hardened cyberthieves seeking to abuse large corporations, will no longer find ways to commit scam and cause extensive damage. 

 

Antivirus software is a significant tool to help frustrate such attacks. While it’s hard to foil every type of cyberattack with antivirus software, it can be a great strength when trying to prevent intrusion into a computer. Although not every disruption into a computer is meant to cause damage or steal key information, that doesn’t mean that the attack isn’t risky. Once even the most innocuous of an interruption exploits a flaw, it basically sends a signal to others that this computer has been intruded. 

 

When looking to buy antivirus software, ensure to purchase a reliable and renowned, subscription-based program. This is significant, as the creators of this type of software will be able to keep their subscribers’ computers protected with real-time updates that watch out the latest threats.

What Antivirus Software Can Protect Against

As the name indicates, antivirus safety is not just a way to block computer viruses. Some individuals believe that all disruptions into a computer are called viruses, but that is a contradiction. For example, here is a list of the ways a good antivirus program can help defend a computer with data on it:

 

Antivirus – Beginning with the obvious, an AP will protect against computer viruses, or attacks that mean to harm a computer.

 

Rootkit protection – This prevents rootkits, which are entrenched deep inside a computer in order to disguise other malware, from setting up in a computer.

 

Bot protection – A subscriber is warned when a hacker is trying to remotely take over a computer to use as a source for automatic spamming and other wrongdoings. 

 

Worm safety – Typically, networks are attacked by worms rather than computers themselves. Nevertheless, worms can carry payloads of malware that can be placed onto computers, which will be damaging. Antivirus software can prevent this kind of attack.

 

Trojan horses – Antivirus software is unable to halt an individual from being fooled into believing that a wanted downloaded program or file is genuine. Nevertheless, antivirus software can caution them when malware is diagnosed within a Trojan horse file.

 

Spyware – Antivirus software is capable of detecting when spyware has infected a computer even when the source turned out to be trustworthy and authentic. It is worth noting that antivirus software is not just for computer that is attacked from the Internet; viruses can be spread through portable storage drives. 

How Antivirus Works

This software scans the file equating precise bits of code against information in its database and if it discovers a pattern replicating one in the database, it is regarded as a virus, and it will isolate or erase that specific file.

 

How to do away with malware?

 

• Signature-based detection

• Heuristic-based detection

• Behavioral-based detection

• Sandbox detection

• Data mining techniques

 

Signature-based detection – This is most common antivirus software that checks all the .EXE files and authenticates it with the recognized list of viruses and other types of malware. Files, programs and applications are essentially skimmed when they are being used. Once an executable file is downloaded, it is scanned for any malware promptly. 

 

Heuristic-based detection – This type of uncovering is most usually used alongside signature-based detection. Heuristic technology is used in most of the antivirus programs, which helps the antivirus software to perceive new or a modified or an altered version of malware.

 

Behavioral-based detection – Used in Intrusion Detection mechanism, behavioral-based detection focusses more on detecting the features of the malware during implementation. This mechanism senses malware only while the malware executes malware actions.

 

Sandbox detection – It works most possibly to that of behavioral-based detection technique, executing any applications in the virtual setting to track what kind of actions it conducts. Confirming the actions of the program that are logged in, the antivirus software can recognize whether or not the program is malicious.

 

Data mining methods – Data mining is one of the up-to-date trends in detecting a malware. With a set of program features, data mining helps find if the program is malicious or not.

Conclusion

Next-generation firewalls play a critical role in cybersecurity architectures the all over the globe. Antivirus software works by recognizing parallel designs from its database, or using equipment to help forecast when an attack will happen—and halting it before it does. It exploits a multi-dimensional technique, because viruses can adjust, convert, and get stronger over time. Therefore, your risk of exposure doesn’t reduce over time, but only surges dramatically. 

 

 

The software isn’t always foolproof, however. There are numerous malicious programs that disguise as something that will help you in order to actually damage you. That’s why it’s absolutely important to only use the best antivirus software on the market. Using mediocre software to save a few bucks is counterproductive. The best form of protection is to prevent it from happening in the first place. The internet has offered several ways for virus attacks and thousands of threats do exist. To be secure from these, it is important to monitor the computer and protect at all times. The significance of antivirus software cannot be taken for granted. 

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    a-comprehensive-overview-of-os-hardening
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    A Comprehensive Overview of OS Hardening

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    By AMSAT Feb 1,2021

    A Comprehensive Overview of OS Hardening

    Based on the theory of least privilege, hardening is about reducing the attack surface available to the threat actors and other malicious hackers. Hardening is a vital component of information security and includes the principles of deterrence, denial, delay and detection.

    OS hardening

    This is the act of putting together an OS strongly, updating it, making rules and strategies to help supervise the system securely, eliminating unnecessary applications and services. The purpose of this exercise is to reduce a computer OS’s contact to threats and to alleviate possible risk. OS hardening is one of the most significant steps toward thorough information security, since operating systems evolve over time and add more features and capabilities.

    Windows hardening


    Windows is packed with a collection of features, applications and software that ought to be properly configured to guarantee the system is as hardened as possible.

    Secure installation

    Windows 10 must be installed fresh on a system. It’s important to create or find an appropriate installation media for your Windows 10 system (a reliable USB drive, preferably).

    Clean up unwanted programs

    Even in fresh installations of Windows 10, a system is expected to have unnecessary programs installed, which expand the attack surface, making it easy for hackers to unleash attacks. Make sure you confirm that all installed programs are authentic and not bootlegged software, which could be filled with bloat and malware.

    Encryption

    It’s essential to encode hard drives. Windows 10 is equipped with BitLocker and hasan easy encryption process. Trusted Platform Module (TPM) must be empowered to encode with BitLocker. Advanced editions of Windows 10 are equipped with TPM aided by default, while secure boot should be used together with encryption, linking the hard drive to the system hardware and ensuring that only Microsoft-trusted firmware is used upon boot.

    BIOS configuration

    Windows 10 systems come laden with a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) like previous versions of Windows. The BIOS has a DOS-ish interface but doesn’t require wide-ranging coding experience to operate. Before working with the BIOS, research whether your Windows 10 variant has any BIOS configuration applicable to it, then configure away.

    Linux hardening

    Most systems have confidential data that should be protected. To do this, we need to protect our Linux system, by physically taking security measures to prevent unauthorized people from access the system in the first place. Then installation should be done properly, so a strong foundation is there. Finally, a set of common security measures need to be applied. Once it’s all done, your server or desktop system should be effectively secured.

    Fundamental rules of system hardening

    System hardening can be divided into a few core principles. These include the principle of least privilege, segmentation, and reduction.

    Principe of least privilege

    The principle of least privileges suggests that you give users and processes the bare minimum of consent to do their job. It is like granting a visitor access to a building. You could give full access to the building, including all sensitive areas. The other option is to only let your guest access a single floor where they need to be. The choice is easy, right?

    Examples:

    • When read-only access is sufficient, don’t give write permissions
    • Don’t allow executable code in memory areas that are highlighted as data sections
    • Do not run applications as the root user, as an alternative use a non-privileged user account

    Segmentation

    The next principle is that you divide greater areas into smaller ones. If we look at that building again, we have split it into numerous floors. Each floor can be additionally divided into diverse regions. Perhaps you visitor is only permitted on floor 4, in the blue zone. If we interpret this to Linux security, this code would apply to memory usage. Each process can only access their own memory sections.

    Reduction

    The objective of this principle is to eliminate something that is not sternly needed for the system to work. It appears like the principle of least privilege, yet it focuses on averting something altogether.

    Steps of system hardening

     

    1.  Install security updates and patches
    2.  Use strong passwords
    3.  Bind processes to local host
    4.  Implement a firewall
    5.  Keep things clean
    6.  Security configurations
    7.  Limit access
    8.  Monitor your systems
    9.  Create backups (and test!)
    10.  Perform system auditing

    Conclusion

    Contemporary computing environments are discrete infrastructures which need any organization to develop interruption finding plans for the servers. An organization must similarly update its computer arrangement plan when relevant changes occur. The environment will only work efficiently if the process is centralized. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon financial institutions to develop, execute and monitor suitable information security programs. Whether systems are maintained in-house or by a third-party vendor, appropriate security controls and risk management systems should be put into place.

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    • Windows hardening

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      Posted in Application Security

      Top 5 Application Security Best Practices

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      By AMSAT Jan 11,2020

      Top 5 Application Security Best Practices

      As applications become more intricate and software development timelines narrow, developers are under pressure to trot out new features at the earliest. Consequently, developers count more profoundly on third-party libraries, mostly open-source components, to attain distinguished and convincing application functionality. This rise in open-source components drives companies to regulate their security practices. One of the ways organizations can protect their software is by espousing application security best practices and combining them into their software development life cycle.

       

      To this end, here are the top 10 application security best practices you should use in your organization.   

       

      1. Track Your Assets 

       

      You can’t secure what you don’t know you have. 

       

      Keeping track of your assets helps you preempt mishaps and disasters in the future. You should ensure you automate the process as much as possible, as it’s a Herculean task for organizations to continue to scale their development. As well as tracking your assets, take the time to categorize them, observing which ones are important to your business roles and which are of less importance. 

       

      2. Carry out a Threat Assessment

       

      Once you have a list of what needs to be protected, you can start to understand what your threats are and how to alleviate them. You also need to know the paths that cybercriminals use to breach your application, while ensuring you have the right security measures in place to spot or thwart an attack. At the same time, you also need to be realistic about expectations for how secure you can be. This implies that even if you take the highest level of defense available, nothing is ever unhackable. You also need to be truthful about what kind of measures you believe your team can maintain in the long term. 

       

      3. Patch your software with updates 

       

      Fixing your software with updates either from commercial vendors or the open-source community is one of the most significant initiatives you can take to ensure the security of your software. When a flaw is correctly exposed and reported to the owners of the product or project, the flaw is then published on security manuals and databases for public consumption. Developers may be cautious to upgrade to the latest version of the software if it could break your product, but automated tools can help enormously here. 

       

      4. Manage Your Containers

       

      Over the last few years, containers have gained immense traction as more organizations adopt the technology for its flexibility, making it easier to build, test, and arrange across several environments throughout the SDLC. 

       

      5. Prioritize Your Remediation Ops

       

      In recent years, vulnerabilities have seen a sharp rise, and this trend shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Developers have a hard time when it comes to remediation. Given the magnitude of the task at hand, prioritization is vital for teams that expect to keep their applications safe while upholding their rationality.

       

      Doing so requires carrying out a threat evaluation based on the severity of a flaw, how serious the affected application is to your operations, and many other factors. When it comes to open-source flaws, you ought to know whether your registered code is actually using the susceptible functionality in the open-source component. If the susceptible component’s functionality is not receiving calls from your product, then it is unproductive and not a high risk even if its CVSS rating is grave. A shrewd approach is one that automatically prioritizes the most demanding threats first, taking into account the factors at play, and leaves the low-risk ones for later.   

       

      Takeaway

       

      Staying ahead of cybercriminals is mostly circumventing the common errors that others are likely to make, making yourself a stiffer target to exploit than others. While no perimeter or application security measures are ever fully hack-proof, following these basic best practices goes a long way in making your application not worth the hassle for the hackers, thereby keeping you and your data safe for another day.

       

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      • Cyber Security
      • Security Updates
      • Application Security

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