Cybersecurity

The purpose of application whitelisting is to prevent all other software applications except for those that are explicitly whitelisted from running. As such, this simple yet effective tactic makes it impossible for malware executables to run.

By creating a comprehensive inventory of information technology assets, both hardware and software applications plus their licenses, it becomes easier to assess their security and put additional measures in place. Regular inventorying of IT assets also helps combat shadow IT, the use of IT-related hardware or software without explicit approval.

This cybersecurity control provides organizations with useful information gathered from publicly available sources, mainly the internet, including the dark web. Organizations can use this information to support their strategic decision-making when determining the best way to protect themselves against cybersecurity threats.

Database encryption ensures that no malicious individuals or software can access the data stored inside. Even if the database becomes exposed in a breach, it will be of no use to the attackers because its content will appear to be completely meaningless.

This technological means can be deployed to detect early signs of potential data breaches, such as sensitive data moving during off-hours to an unknown local storage device or remote location. Suspicious data movement can then be automatically blocked until it’s investigated.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which attempt to flood the target with a large number of malicious requests, can be mitigated using a set of network management techniques and/or tools, including traffic filtering.

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a protocol used for email authentication, protecting legitimate domains from being abused for malicious purposes without authorization.

Access to malicious or inappropriate websites can be blocked using the Domain Name System, which is like the internet’s phone book, providing the information needed for a web browser to contact the server associated with a specific web address.

Everything from the presence of grammar mistakes to file attachments and links that redirect to unexpected websites can be a sign of a malicious email. Email filtering tools look for these and other signs and intelligently filter messages to keep spam at bay.

Employees face dangerous cyber threats head-on, but they can emerge victorious only when they understand what they’re up against. Employee awareness training increases their cybersecurity awareness by educating them about the threats they’re likely to encounter.

Endpoint protection software can be installed on individual computers (desktops and laptops) and mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) to protect them against malware and other threats even when located outside the firewall-protected enterprise network.

The ability to quickly and effectively respond to a security incident is guaranteed to have a hugely positive impact on its outcome, and that’s exactly what an incident response plan aims to accomplish by providing a set of instructions for employees to follow.

An intrusion detection system can detect suspicious activity on a network and issue alerts to prompt the person or team in charge of the network to investigate it further. Such systems can reveal even unknown attacks whose signatures are not yet known to traditional antimalware software.

A managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party company that remotely manages certain IT processes on behalf of its clients. MSPs make it possible for small and medium-sized organizations to cost-effectively gain access to skilled experts and state-of-the-art IT solutions.

These days, mobile devices are essential work tools, and they contain a wealth of sensitive information, from emails to documents to contacts. Mobile device encryption prevents this information from being accessible if the device becomes lost or stolen.

Compromised passwords are a leading cause of data breaches, which is why virtually all cybersecurity experts today recommend the use of multi-factor authentication. This authentication method introduces additional authentication factors, such as a PIN number or biometric information, to prevent access to sensitive resources without authorization.

By constantly monitoring all parts of the network, including routers, servers, and connected endpoint devices, network monitoring gives network administrators the information they need to accurately assess the network’s condition.

During penetration tests, cybersecurity professionals launch simulated attacks on tested organizations to evaluate the strength of their cybersecurity defenses and fix any discovered weaknesses before real attackers manage to exploit them.

A perimeter firewall creates a wall around a network, allowing only legitimate traffic to get to the other side. Most perimeter firewalls additionally provide logging and auditing capabilities, which can be useful when evaluating the cause of a security incident.

By combining SIM (security information management) and SEM (security event management) functions, SIEM aggregates security data from multiple sources to provide organizations with superior threat detection, analytics, and response capabilities.

Using automated testing tools, networks and individual endpoints can be scanned for known vulnerabilities that would make it possible for attackers to gain access to them without authorization if exploited.

A web application firewall (WAF) is a special-purpose firewall that’s designed to monitor and block HTTP/S traffic to and from web applications. By adhering to a set of policies, can protect against a number of different attacks, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cookie poisoning.

Relying on a variety of different techniques, including DNS filtering, web content filtering blocks access to websites that are deemed to be inappropriate or unsafe. Examples of commonly blocked websites include file-sharing portals, adult sites, and social media.