Keeping Customers Safe: The Importance of Endpoint Protection

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June 18, 2020

All it takes is for users to be lackadaisical one time, and scammers are ready to pounce. Email phishing is certainly not a new concept, but it’s one that continues to trick people and those behind the attack are becoming increasingly creative to make that happen. They continue to be successful. And even as you invest in your security systems, the human element is one thing that must always be accounted for.

Why is phishing still around?

Yes, the vast majority of the public is aware there are scammers looking for your information. They will pretend to be your bank, cable provider, or even the government. And the reason they are still around is simple -- they work. They don’t need to work on the majority of the public. But when you send out thousands of phishing emails, you only need a few to slip up and click and you have a successful campaign for the hackers.

And the attacks have become more sophisticated. A hacker can get his hands on a university’s email database and send an email blast pretending to be someone involved with student loans. If a few of the thousands of members enrolled fall for it, it’s a success.

Something similar can happen in the business world, such as one pretending to be a boss who has sent an “urgent” email. No one wants to miss something marketed urgent that appears to come from the person signing their checks, so some may not think twice before clicking and acting upon it.

The human element

Many companies devote hours of training for their employees to recognize the signs that an email may be part of a phishing exposition. Some of those signs could include an impersonal sounding email, setting an oddly quick turnaround request, or just language you aren’t used to hearing from your employer. But in the moment, are you thinking back to your training session? If you are being honest with yourself, were you even really paying attention during it? Scammers are aware many organizations have training to make employees aware of potential risks, but they still know how to take advantage of the human condition.

Scammers will also try to take advantage of what’s happening in the world at that moment. Bad actors watch the news like everybody else. For example, with growing numbers of unemployment and increasing difficulty with people to apply for their benefits, a scammer could pretend to be from the unemployment office. From there, you could be filling out your information thinking it’s for unemployment benefits, when in reality, everything is going into the hands of a bad actor.

How can you stay safe?

Constant awareness when opening up emails is the simple answer, but that’s way easier said than done. All it takes is one moment of weakness to be caught off guard, and you could expose yourself without even being aware of it. Education and training is certainly useful in becoming aware of threats, but mistakes still happen. That’s just part of being human. Spam folders in your email can only protect so much.

But technology can help. There are newer technologies that are actually monitoring the command line within the processor to make sure nothing is malicious. Instead of having to wait for a network to show a compromise, the technology can stop it in its tracks.

SIEMs can often be an attractive option to secure your information, but even they can have their shortcomings. Outside of being expensive and complicated, many SIEMs may not be as effective as it appears at first glance. SIEMs are known as Software automatically collecting and analyzing data, constantly monitoring for and alerting you of network risks, but there are inefficiencies.

Another option could be LMNTRIX Adaptive Threat Response (ATR). An ATR is a validated and integrated threat detection and response architecture that hunts down and eliminates the advanced and unknown threats that routinely bypass perimeter controls. It can detect and see threats others are blind to.

Offered with the ATR is LMNTRIX ThinkGrid, which is a cost-effective cloud option to replace a SIEM. It allows unlimited log collection and can be deployed on Google Cloud, Azure and AWS. The ThinkGrid uses machine-learning algorithms, which means it grows smarter as time goes on and can make life easier for clients. ThinkGrid Cloud is able to link anomalies together, joining the dots and uncovering the truth behind advanced threat activity.

Along with LMNTRIX, SolarWinds has a strong email security solution to prevent attacks. The SolarWinds Mail Assure helps protect their customers from email attacks by using collective intelligence from its user base to protect customers. It can even quickly adapt for what’s in the news and flag potential suspicious messages before it reaches your inbox.

To determine what’s the best option for your company, contact our experts to get your process started. This way, you’ll be ready to avoid the bait of a hacker’s next phishing trip. Read more about our endpoint protection services and schedule a meeting.