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SonicWall & ConnectWise Simplify Security Management for MSPs

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When it comes to running a well-organized managed security service business, managed security providers (MSP) demand effective, repeatable processes and continuous operation optimization as a key part of their business strategy.

Evaluating and deciding on a wide-range of important operational capabilities are important to developing and delivering the right services — at the right time and for the right cost. These include choosing the right:

  • Technology partner
  • Staff
  • Data center architecture
  • Contractual terms
  • Service-level delivery
  • Go-to-market strategies
  • Back-office automation tools that power the business

To enable this strategy, MSPs face a myriad of business, economic and technical decisions associated with the infrastructure they’re going to develop and business management software they’re going to employ. Establishing a high-valued managed security service requires a solution that integrates modern security with rich management, monitoring and reporting capabilities with leading professional services automation (PSA) software.

“Establishing a high-valued managed security service requires a solution that integrates modern security with rich management, monitoring and reporting capabilities with leading professional services automation (PSA) software.”

This integration should give MSPs visibility and control of their multi-vendor solution environment and help them streamline business operations and reduce operating costs.

To properly empower MSPs, SonicWall introduces Global Management System (GMS) 8.7, bringing greater visibility, manageability and serviceability of network security solutions via integration with industry-leading professional services automation (PSA) tool ConnectWise Manage® software.

With more than 27,000 SecureFirst global channel partners, the GMS-ConnectWise integration is driven by the collective inputs from many years of partner collaborations. The benefits to MSPs are increased visibility into their customers’ data, improved productivity and better overall efficiency.

The combined solution gives MSPs single-portal experience for automated service ticketing and asset synchronization. MSPs can easily and quickly perform and administer these important operational tasks natively within the ConnectWise Manage portal based on set priority and/or severity level.

So, how does this improve MSP operations? Consider the four ways GMS 8.7 and the ConnectWise integration can simplify security management for your customers.

Company Mapping

MSP partners can share selected clients’ profiles between SonicWall GMS and ConnectWise Manage and map all managed SonicWall firewall assets associated with each client within the ConnectWise portal for management and monitoring.

Auto Asset Synchronization Integration

Automatically update the SonicWall security appliances mapped to a client’s account in the ConnectWise Automate portal for asset tracking and usage. Give visibility to client names and device details, such as model, serial, version, active subscription, enrolled dates, service expirations, IP/MAC address and more.

Asset Synchronization

MSPs also gain visibility into asset inventory inside ConnectWise for easier device management. Whenever a new unit is added, a configuration is created for that unit through ConnectWise and the same is stored in GMS. Reversely, whenever a unit is deleted, the configuration created in ConnectWise is deleted and the same is removed from GMS.

Auto Ticketing Service Integration

Create GMS-generated alerts automatically in the ConnectWise Manage ticketing system. Track, document and communicate all open tickets during the correction process until they are resolved and automatically closed.

Ticketing is mapped between the systems. When they are created in GMS, GMS synchronizes to reflect changes to both systems.

Automated Ticketing

ConnectWise can also send status alerts to the stakeholders using various communication tools until a service ticket is acknowledge or closed. These include email, text messages (SMS), phone calls and even iOS & Android push notifications.

With SonicWall, MSPs are partnering with a technology partner with deep expertise in security technology, operations and processes. Because a vast number of SonicWall partners rely on the ConnectWise Manage for their business-management platform, the GMS-ConnectWise integration is the first of many future product integrations to continue servicing our MSP business requirements.

RSA Conference 2018: SonicWall is Hot

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Fresh off of April’s massive SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform launch, SonicWall has been featured in a pair of CRN articles highlighting the hottest products at RSA Conference 2018.

The SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform is lauded in CRN’s “10 Hot New Cloud Security Products Announced at RSA 2018” listing. CRN recaps the platform’s ability to integrate security, management, analytics and real-time threat intelligence across SonicWall’s portfolio of network, email, mobile and cloud security products.

Complementing that accolade, a pair of new SonicWall products were listed in the “20 Hot New Security Products Announced at RSA 2018” category. The new SonicWall NSv virtual firewall (slide 7) and SonicWall Capture Client (slide 12) endpoint protection were showcased.

SonicWall Capture Client is a unified endpoint offering with multiple protection capabilities. With a next-generation malware protection engine powered by SentinelOne, Capture Client delivers advanced threat protection techniques, such as machine learning and system rollback.

SonicWall’s Scott Grebe explains automated, real-time breach detection and prevention during RSA Conference 2018

SonicWall Network Security virtual (NSv) firewalls protect all critical components of your private/public cloud environment from resource misuse attacks, cross virtual machine attacks, side channel attacks and common network-based exploits and threats. It captures traffic between virtual machines (VM) and networks for automated breach prevention and establishes access control measures for data confidentiality and ensures VMs safety and integrity.

A New Cyber Security Certification: SonicWall Network Security Administrator Course

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SonicWall has spent the last 12 months deeply focused on training and enablement for our partners, customers and employees. Based on student feedback and market requirements, the company’s Education Services Organization is introducing the SonicWall Network Security Administrator (SNSA) course; a completely new training course and certification exam that will replace the Network Security Basic Administration (NSBA) class.

The SNSA training curriculum is designed to teach students specific SonicWall network security technology. The course will provide students with the skills to successfully implement and configure SonicWall firewall appliances and security services.

Improvements included with SNSA:

  • Two days of instructor-led classroom training, with 80 percent hands-on labs and 20 percent lecture
  • Six hours of online learning modules, which may be completed before or after the classroom portion
  • Based on the recently released SonicOS 6.5 firmware
  • Generic network security theory is removed and provided in supplemental training material

Consistent SonicWall training across the globe

To support the launch of the SNSA course, SonicWall Education Services is also launching a new Authorized Training Partner (ATP) strategy to enhance consistency in the delivery of training content and guidance. This new strategy encompasses:

  • Coverage provided by three global strategic training partners, augmented by key regional partners
  • Global fulfillment of materials and virtual labs via a single strategic training partner
  • Price adaptation to fit local-market currencies and demand
  • SonicWall global ATP managers to ensure content, delivery and lab experience are consistent worldwide
  • Proctoring service to ensure certification authenticity for both students and sponsoring partners

What happened to Network Security Basic Administration (NSBA)?

For the last 10 years, SonicWall offered a series of technical certification courses to its partners, customers and employees. The core certification training was focused on foundational understanding of network security, particularly basic administration found in the SonicWall Network Security Basic Administration (NSBA) course.

With a focus on training network security administrators, NSBA provided students with a broad overview of network security technology and the skills needed to configure and administer a basic SonicWall firewall appliance.

While this course satisfied initial learning objectives, student feedback indicated the content was not sufficient to meet the needs of deeper skillsets (e.g., installation, management and troubleshooting). Students left the course feeling they needed additional in-depth technical training and expertise.

In addition, due to a widespread number of ATPs around the world, student experience varied by geography and instructor. The changes to the course and the improvement of the ATP strategy ensure SonicWall will deliver best-in-class technical training to its partners and customers.

For individuals who completed the NSBA exam and hold a current CSSA certification, SonicWall will continue to acknowledge these important certifications through March 2020. Students wishing to re-certify an expiring CSSA certification will, however, be required to complete the new SNSA course and certification.

To enroll in the new SNSA program, students may access the newly launched external SonicWall University site.

SonicWall Security Certification Courses

SonicWall offers other training and certification courses to support the needs of our partners, customers and employees. These include:

Network Security Advanced Administration (NSAA) Course

Designed to further enhance an individual’s network security technical skills, the NSAA course is available to students who have achieved either the CSSA or the SNSA certification.

This two-day, instructor-led course provides students with the latest information on application control, bandwidth management, troubleshooting and advanced networking. Completion of this course prepares students to complete the Certified SonicWall Security Professional (CSSP) certification exam.

Secure Mobile Access Basic Administration (SMABA) Course

The SMABA course provides students with the technical skills necessary to administer and manage SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) appliances.

The SMABA course covers the use of Appliance Management Control to provide secure access — to any application from any network — based on secure authentication and authorization policies. Completion of this course prepares students for the Certified SonicWall Security Administration (CSSA-SMABA) certification exam.

Secure Mobile Access Advanced Administration (SMAAA) Course

Recommended for engineers or administrators of SonicWall SMA devices installed in larger networks, the SMAAA course provides students with in-depth technical training covering deployment options, authentication and authorization policies and troubleshooting.

Completion of this course prepares students for the Certified SonicWall Security Professional (CSSP-SMAAA) certification exam.

6 Ways Malware Evades Detection – And How to Stop Them

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One of the key characteristics of advanced malware is the use of many tactics to evade detection. In addition to defeating signature-based detection products and behavior-based detection tools, there are hundreds of evasion techniques advanced malware uses to avoid detection. Moreover, a malware object will typically deploy multiple tactics.

While there are hundreds of specific tactics to evade detection, they fall into six key categories.

  1. Stalling delays
    With this tactic, the malware remains idle to defeat timer-based recognition. Most virtualized sandboxes can detect if malware calls the OS sleep function, but they can’t spot evasion if the malware performs the delay internally without calling the OS. Full CPU emulations, “bare-metal” detect these behaviors with unrivaled accuracy. This is very effective against a well-known competitor.
  2. Action-required delays
    This tactic delays malicious activity pending a specific user action (e.g., mouse click, open or close a file or app). Most virtualized sandboxes will not detect malware waiting on user action.
  3. Intelligent suspension of malware
    Unlike simple stalling techniques, this category includes sophisticated evasion techniques that discover the presence of a sandbox and suspend malicious actions to avoid detection. Malware waits until it has completed penetration of the host or machine before injecting, modifying or downloading code; decrypting files; moving laterally across network; or connecting to C2 servers.
  4. Fragmentation
    This tactic splits malware into fragments, which only execute when reassembled by the targeted system. As virtualized sandboxes typically evaluate fragments separately, each fragment appears harmless, thus evading detection.
  5. Return-oriented programming (ROP)
    An ROP evasion tactic modifies the stack (memory addresses of code to be executed next), thus injecting functionality without altering the actual code. ROP evasions delegate the execution of its malicious code to other programs, instead of the malware program, thereby hiding it from conventional detection.
  6. Rootkits
    A rootkit is an application (or set of applications) that hides malicious code in the lower OS layers. Most virtualized sandboxes do not monitor what an OS does with calls from applications, so the malicious actions performed by a rootkit will generally go undetected.

Because of the increased focus on developing evasion tactics for malware, organizations should apply a multi-engine approach to analyzing suspicious code, especially to find and stop ransomware and credential theft.

The award-winning SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) multi-engine sandbox efficiently discovers what code wants to do from the application, to the OS, to the software that resides on the hardware. This approach includes Lastline® Deep Content Inspection™ technology, along with two other complementary engines.

Learn more about how Lastline technology — which earned the highest achievable score in NSS Labs’ 2017 Breach Detection Systems group test —  adds a key layer to Capture’s unique capabilities. Read our Solution Brief: Overcoming Advanced Evasion of Malware Detection.

SonicWall and our Channel Partners Team to Deliver New High-Value Security Professional Services to Fight the Bad Guys

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I can only imagine the pressure that comes with the job of being responsible for a company’s network security.  These individuals are not only entrusted with protecting company and customer data, but the reputation of the company and its brand.  In the case of smaller businesses, the stakes are particularly high, where a network breach and data loss can threaten the very existence of the company. According to the Ponemon Institute Cost of a Data Breach 2017, the average cost of a breach for the average total cost of a data breach is $3.62M, and over 60 percent of SMBs cease to exist 6 months following a data security breach. Add to these grim statistics the incredible rise in malware, ransomware and other advanced threats in a constantly evolving cyber threat landscape and you have the plot of a very scary true (cyber) crime movie – the good guys vs. the bad guys.

Network security vendors like SonicWall and the channel partners who integrate our products in to security solutions for their customers are most often the first line of defense to help organizations defend against the bad guys. These organizations rely on SonicWall to deliver highly efficient security products that can stop today’s known and unknown threats. And they rely on our channel partners as their trusted advisors to deliver their security solution. With so much at stake, it is critical that the right SonicWall products are designed in the security solution. And just as critical that the solution is implemented properly and optimized for the customer’s environment and business requirements. Even the best security products, if not properly spec’d and implemented, can leave an organization vulnerable. To address this reality, SonicWall has announced the launch of a new lineup of valuable professional security services to help customers and channels design, implement and operate SonicWall security solutions that keep the bad guys at bay and defend against their relentless cyber attacks.

Organized around three areas of competency, the security professional service offerings were jointly developed and blueprinted by SonicWall and a group of channel partners (the good guys) with deep security services expertise. Each service incorporates the real-world services experience of these partners, essential knowledge gained through hundreds of services engagements.

The services include:

  • Implementation Services – compliance audit prep, remote and onsite implementation services for SonicWall products
  • Solution Services – security health checks,  wireless security deployments, campus network and distributed network solutions.
  • Architecture Services – more complex or large-scale solutions and customer environments, such as DPI-SSL deployment or SuperMassive next-gen firewall implementations.

It makes so much sense to have these types of services surround the SonicWall product portfolio, as a means to ensure our customer have the best possible protection. As SonicWall’s Channel Chief, I’m equally proud of the new services as I am of the way in which they are delivered.

This is where our new Partner Enabled Services Program comes in. Just launched, the program identifies and showcases SonicWall SecureFirst channel partners who have a security focused professional services practice and enables them to deliver the new services. These partners are vetted, granted status as a SonicWall Advanced Authorized Services Partner and given access to exclusive training, tools, sales, marketing and technical resources. All of the services are branded and sku’d by SonicWall, so the entire SonicWall channel can resell them. Once sold, the services are delivered by the Advanced Services Partners.

This breakthrough approach to delivering professional security services is only possible due to the collaboration and trust that exists within the incredible SonicWall channel partner ecosystem – one that has developed over the last 25 years. SonicWall channel partners genuinely trust each other to engage respectfully with their customers to deliver high-grade professional security services and, in doing so, they deliver the most effective security solution and drive incremental opportunity for their business. With this program, SonicWall’s broad channel, our Authorized Services Partners, and most importantly, our customers, can join forces to fight the bad guys and win the war against cyber attacks. Score one for the good guys!

Feedback from our channel on this approach to services offer creation and delivery has been fantastic.

“This year marks 20 years of our relationship with SonicWall and we are excited about deepening our engagement with SonicWall and showcasing our SonicWall based services expertise through the Partner Enabled Services Program. The Exertis team is highly skilled in SonicWall distributed architecture deployments, proven time and again to be the real leader when customer security is at stake,” Jason Hill, Security Sales Director of Exertis in United Kingdom, a leading SonicWall distributor in Europe..

“As a dedicated SonicWall Platinum Partner with a mature services practice, we are delighted to see SonicWall making such significant investments in driving partner growth in security services.  Our team of security experts have a passion for security and phenomenal service,” said Timothy Martinez, President of Western NRG Total Internet Security, based in Camarillo California. “With more than 15 years of SonicWall implementations, we go to battle for our customers in the cyber arms race. The Partner Enabled Services Program is an excellent opportunity to grow our services further with SonicWall.”

“Our unwavering commitment is to protect and empower our customers against today’s most damaging cyber attacks,” said Michael Crean, CEO of Solutions Granted, a SonicWall SecureFirst Platinum partner in Virginia. “In our case, as one of SonicWall’s longest-term Managed Security Services Providers, this requires additional services and expertise to ensure we’re delivering the value and guidance our customers require to be secure. SonicWall understands our needs and, yet again, delivers the structure, resources, training and incentives to enhance customer loyalty, satisfaction and market recognition.”

Customers interested in the new security professional services should contact their SonicWall channel partner.  For interested SecureFirst Partners, we have a webinar planned for Nov. 30 at 8:30 am PT: Grow your Services Business with the New Partner Enabled Services Program.

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SonicWall and Dell EMC: A Strategic Partnership Providing Network Security Solutions to Stay Ahead of the Cyber Arms Race

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I am pleased to announce that, Dell EMC is now shipping the OEM version of the SonicWall next-generation cyber security firewall solutions in the United States and Canada.  Continuing on our long time partnership and resale relationship, Dell EMC will offer the powerful combination of SonicWall’s innovative threat protection technology and Dell EMC’s broad set of solutions from the data center all the way to endpoint devices.

Organizations today are looking to transform their business to drive IT innovation, enhance workforce mobility and reduce risk. However, digital transformation can increase exposure to risks that can directly impact an organization’s data, reputation, and credibility.

Addressing customer’s security needs as they move to the cloud, extend their network and storage solutions, and migrate to more mobile and IoT environments is critical with today’s threat landscape.  The combination of Dell EMC solutions and SonicWall is a great value add to Dell EMC customers and the partner community.

Here are some key points on the OEM:

SonicWall next-generation firewalls provide effective threat prevention through a layered approach on top of our multi-engine cloud-based SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection Service. This solution protects organizations from today’s most insidious threats including ransomware, encrypted malware, mobile threats and email-borne attacks.

The SonicWall OEM security solution is a critical affirmation of how important the Dell EMC – SonicWall partnership is for their large customer base and their Dell EMC Partner Program members.

For additional information, please see the following press release – https://www.sonicwall.com/en-us/about-sonicwall/news/press-releases/pr-articles/sonicwall-and-dell-emc-announce-oem-launch-of-next

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Connecting and Protecting the Remote Islands of Corporate IT – BYOD and Mobility

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How Dell and SonicWall’s SMA and Next-Generation Firewall solution builds secure virtual bridges for today’s fragmented environments

As employees are no longer restricted to the physical structures of their company headquarters, what and how they connect to their corporate network presents a multitude of challenges. Corporate IT environments consist of a seemingly uncontrollable combination of devices, operating systems, and geographic locations. Securely connecting all of these is one of the most crucial IT initiatives companies are faced with as Gartner reports that 70% of mobile professionals will conduct their work on personal smart devices by 2018.

As we are all well aware, all endpoints pose significant threats to network security. Specifically, BYOD consumer devices are usually the most difficult to manage and secure. Data loss or leakage and unauthorized access or transmission are a constant concern. Mobile devices can also retain sensitive or proprietary data while wirelessly connected to the corporate network. White-listing apps for distribution on IOS and Android platforms help lock down mobile devices, but unmanaged laptops require greater endpoint control via the VPN.

What can you do to protect it all?

Dell and SonicWall’s VPN and Next-Generation Firewall solution delivers a layered defense strategy to ensure employees have the access they need while providing the security the company requires.

Components of a VPN and Next-Generation Firewall Solution:

  • Secure Mobile Access (SMA) Appliances – Provide mobility and secure access for up to 20,000 concurrent users from a single, powerful, and granular access control engine.
  • Next-Generation Firewalls – Network security, control, and visibility through sandboxing, SSL inspection, intrusion prevention, anti-malware, application identification, and content filtering.
  • Remote Access Management & Reporting – Powerful, web-based remote IT management platform to streamline appliance management and provide extensive reporting.
  • VPN Clients/Mobile Connect – Simple, policy-enforced secure access to mission-critical applications and data for iOS, OS X, Android, Chrome OS, Kindle Fire, and Windows mobile devices.

Deploying a SonicWall VPN and Next-Generation Firewall solution provides multi-layered protection that can authorize, decrypt, and remove threats from SSL VPN traffic before it enters the network environment. The dual protection of a SonicWall SMA and Next-Generation Firewall is critical to ensuring the security of both VPN access and traffic. SonicWall’s remote access management and reporting also allows organizations to view, define, and enforce how application and bandwidth assets are used.

Securely connecting your workforce, partners, and customers has never been more important. Reach out today to your Dell and SonicWall contacts today to learn what implementing a SonicWall VPN and Next-Generation Firewall solution can mean for the future of your company.

Read Solution Brief

SonicOS 6.2.7 Delivers More Breach Prevention and Easier Management to Next-Gen Firewalls

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There is no end to the danger of cyber-criminal activities, as long as there is an underground marketplace that makes it almost impossible for authorities to intervene and enforce law and order.  We continue to see our adversaries relentlessly going after money by developing and experimenting with different methods and tools against new and existing vulnerabilities, in preparation for the next phase of their business model. To deal with this cybercriminal activity and have greater network security, I am excited to announce SonicOS 6.2.7, which provides enhanced breach prevention, a new threat API, improved scalability and connectivity while simplifying management to ensure small businesses and large distributed enterprises receive a high quality-of-service level, increased on-demand capacity and connectivity and better security.

Here are some of the historical cyber attacks that require deeper network security:

  1. CVE logged nearly 4,000 new vulnerabilities with more than two-thirds of them associated with network attacks.
  2. Ransomware was spotted as far back as 2005, but rarely seen until its recent return to the world stage as the most popular payload for spam, phishing and exploit campaigns, collecting an estimated of $200 million in ransom payout globally so far. The fear of infections and subsequent business disruptions has forced institutions to begin augmenting their existing defense model to address this threat.
  3. According to NSS Labs, the malicious use of encryption is rapidly growing and allowing criminals to use it as an effective evasion technique. When encrypted connections are improperly managed and go uninspected, they become defenseless tunnels for concealing malware downloads and command and control (C&C) communication, spreading infections and most serious of all, extracting massive amounts of data.
  4. In November, the Mirai botnet management framework launched the largest mass-scale distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on record, using hundreds of thousands of Linux-based IoT devices that took down a major DNS service provider. IoT-based attack is anticipated to be one of the fastest growing and most prevalent attack vectors in 2017.
  5. A new breed of exploit kits surfaced leveraging cryptographic algorithms to encrypt and obfuscate landing pages and malicious payloads to spread ransomware at scale more effectively.

Moreover, organizations are quickly embracing new technologies such as cloud and virtualization to advance their digital business ambition.  As they embrace these new technology platforms, they find themselves needing to augment their network architecture to meet new data, capacity and connectivity demands.

The biggest question now is what we can do differently in our cyberdefense model to scale performance, secure us from advanced threats and help enable organizations to grow and move securely forward. SonicWall introduces the latest update to its next-generation firewall SonicOS operating system, version 6.2.7.0.  Many of new features in the release are focused on three primary outcomes of the firewall system.

  1. Enhancing breach prevention capabilities
  • Deep packet inspection of SSH (DPI-SSH) to detect and prevent advanced encrypted attacks that leverage SSH, block encrypted malware downloads, cease the spread of infections, and thwart command and control (C&C) communications and data exfiltration
  • Threat API platform designed to receive any and all proprietary, OEM and third-party threat intelligence feeds to combat a wide variety of advanced threats such as zero-day, malicious insiders, compromised credentials, ransomware and APTs
  • Biometric authentication technology on the user mobile device such as fingerprints that cannot be easily duplicated or shared to securely authenticate the user identity for network access.
  • Additional security extensions include granular SSL controls and DPI-SSL of IPv6 encrypted traffic, DNS Proxy to securely control both incoming and outgoing DNS traffic to eliminate any potential DNS cache poisoning, DNS spoofing, and buffer overflow attacks transmitted through DNS commands and more
  1. Improving ease of use and management
  • Auto-provisioning VPN simplify and reduce complex distributed firewall deployments down to a trivial effort by automating the initial site-to-site VPN gateway provisioning while security and connectivity occurs instantly and automatically.  As an added advantage, policy changes are centrally managed and automatically updated on every VPN peer across the WAN environment.
  1. Increasing scalability and connectivity
  • Dell X-Series Switch extensibility enhanced network security flexibility and scalability that adapts to service-level increases and ensures network services and resources are continuously available and protected when capacity grows without having to upgrade the firewall system.

Download the SonicOS 6.2.7 today.

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Catching Cerber Ransomware

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Since the release of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection (Capture ATP) in August 2016 on SonicWall firewalls, we have seen a lot of unique behavior from authors of malicious code, namely ransomware.

Up until Christmas 2016, Locky received a lot of attention from security firms but then took a backseat during the holiday season. One thing I noticed around that time was that a ransomware variant called Cerber would actually be one of the more persistent pups in the litter.  I started seeing Cerber show up on Capture ATP’s daily reports and wanted to understand why we were still catching this on the sandbox instead of the firewall.

In short, we were catching this on the firewall because SonicWall’s Capture Labs research team was creating a large amount of signatures for Cerber, but what I was seeing were “updated” versions of Cerber being caught in the wild; as many as two versions a day.  This was done to get around Cerber signatures created to stop older versions of itself. To make things more interesting, these Cerber variants were utilizing seven different tactics to evade detection.

The image above is a snippet of a very long report that partly shows what Cerber wants to do. Did you notice the seven different evasion tactics?  Malware did not do this in the past; at least one that I remember fondly. In that past, the security industry was really trying to get the upper hand with the “explosive growth” of malicious code that was being authored and wanted to use virtual environments to run and test code.  About five years ago, the industry introduced the network sandbox to the market and it was a hit, because we now had a tool where we could run potentially malicious code in an isolated environment to see if we could white or blacklist it.

So, do you think that attackers folded up their laptops and found real jobs? Nope, they learned how to evade them, the real essence of what a hacker truly is. If you read third-party reports on network sandboxing, you will read skeptical and bearish reports about its effectiveness and ability to evade a sandbox at a medium difficulty. When you see the image above, you have to believe that the reports are real and Cerber’s evasion tactics rank up there with some of the best I have seen recently; truly an advanced persistent threat. So why am I able to show this to you? Although it is evading other sandboxes, it is not able to get past ours. But how?

In short, we leverage Capture ATP, a multi-engine sandbox that first runs suspicious code through a set of pre-filters that analyzes the code and compares it against a real-time list to see if anyone we collaborate with knows about it.  This step eliminates a lot of newly minted malware within milliseconds; almost at the same speed as lightning strikes the Earth.

After that, the code will go through a parallel set of engines that will help us determine what a new batch of code wants to do from the application, to the OS, to the software that resides on the hardware. We run it through real-time deep memory inspection, virtualized sandboxing, hypervisor level analysis and full-system emulation. Naturally, when we get to this point it does take a little time but it’s worth it.

Download a Ransomware eBook

Sandbox Security; Nothing to Play With

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Ransomware has forced organizations to rethink their security architecture.  Organizations are increasingly investing in security solutions that provide additional protection of sensitive data, as well as better visibility over network traffic and endpoint activity. According to IDC research, 60% of organizations surveyed indicated that modern endpoint and network security products such as network sandboxes were either a high priority or an extremely high priority over the next 12 months.

Network sandboxes are isolated environments where suspicious code can be examined and detonated to see what unidentified code wants to do on a potential system.  Over the past few years, sandboxing has become an integral part of the network security game plan but hackers have identified ways of evading detection which is something to consider in the evaluation process. In the video below, IDC’s Sean Pike, program vice president of IDC Security Products,  discusses network sandboxing and gives you key questions to ask when looking at this part of the network security equation.