endpoint security Archives - CT Link Systems, Inc.

ECQ Success Stories: CT Link Managed Services Remotely Secures Client’s WFH setup

With the suddenness of the declaration of the ECQ, most companies were unable to give their workforce the tools that they may have needed to work effectively at home. This left many employees to find their own ways to complete the tasks that they do on a daily basis at home. Many of which ended up using their own devices and installing the apps from work or apps and connecting to thru the company VPN.

Client Challenges: Unsecured Personal Devices connecting to Corporate VPN

One of our customers from the Public Sector encountered this dilemma during the start of the ECQ. They have about 500 employees who need to Work From Home (WFH). They were unable to give all employees resources in which to accomplish their tasks so opted to allow employees to use their personal devices. However, the Infosec Team is concerned that malwares from the personal devices could enter thru the VPN connections.

Solution: CT Link Managed Endpoint Security

As a CT Link managed service customer, we deployed Trend Micro’s Worry-Free Business Security Services (WFBSS), which is a cloud-based Endpoint Security Solution. We provided the link for installing of Trend Micro Agents to end users and assisted them in deploying this on their endpoint devices.

As a cloud-based solution, we were able to be with them every step of the way during this process and helped with problems that occurred during installation of some devices while also monitoring the threats found by WFBSS. This has proved as an effective measure for them as presently WFBSS has detected over 3,000 suspicious and malicious activities from the endpoints.

Security as a Service

Having Managed Services for security helped our client worry less about the security from personal devices connecting into their network and freed up their time to concentrate on other important tasks at hand during the ECQ. This meant that we handled the troubleshooting of the installations of the endpoint devices and monitoring of malicious activities reported by WFBSS. This service is also not reserved for only enterprise accounts as our services are actually very beneficial as well to small and medium businesses that do not have their own dedicated IT team. Below are a few key features in which you can expect to get when subscribed to our managed services:

Keep outside threats like malware from getting in and sensitive data from going out
Filtering potentially dangerous or inappropriate websites
Preventing phishing and social engineered attacks from getting to your users
As a cloud-based solution, support is done remotely
Supports WFH setups to ensure your network is safe
Ease of deployment with little to no IT skills required
Centralized monitoring through one dashboard accessible through the cloud

If you are interested in learning more about our CT Link managed services or WFBSS, contact your CT Link AM or reply to this email and we will get back to you as soon as possible!

Images were provided by Vecteezy (1,2,3,4,5)

Cryptomalware attacks become more prevalent with the increased popularity of Cryptocurrency

Cyptocurrency has been a hot topic over the last year, you may have heard plenty of people investing in this currency (such as BitCoin) hoping to strike it rich as its value has been highly volatile. As revolutionary of an idea as it is for the market, there also those who wish to profit through this new-found trend by using unscrupulous means as well. This is apparent with the introduction of a new type of malware which specifically targets such users whom use cryptocurrency, cryptomalware.

Just like how there is variety with ordinary malware, cryptomalware comes in different forms as well, ranging from client-side web scripts to mobile applications. As of now, the usual modus operandi of cryptomalware are to target your computer to use its computing power to mine currency or to directly steal currency by intercepting your purchases by rerouting your payments to the criminal’s wallets instead. Even IoT devices are now being targeted by these hackers in a way to expand their operations, knowing that the computing power of these devices are not as powerful as servers or laptops.

Cryptocurrency mining unlike many other malicious malware actively uses your computer for its computational resources to mine cryptocurrency. This process puts a great strain on infected device and could cause its lifespan to significantly decrease. A recent study from Trend Micro found that the most detected home event was cryptocurrency mining, showing that this is becoming more prevalent now even in the average consumers home. To help mitigate the threat, below are a few tips on what you can do to lessen your chances on getting infected:

Regularly update devices with their latest firmware to prevent attackers from taking advantage of vulnerabilities to get into systems.
Change devices’ default credentials to avoid unauthorized access.
Employ intrusion detection and prevention systems to deter malicious attempts.
Be wary of known attack vectors, such as socially engineered links, attachments, and files from suspicious websites, dubious third-party applications, and unsolicited emails.

For increased security against these threats, you may also want to consider getting a proactive security such as Trend Micro™ XGen™ security. With high-fidelity machine learning that can secure the gateway and endpoint, and protect physical, virtual, and cloud workloads, it will give you that second layer of defense to help secure your endpoint from threats like cryptomalware.

To learn more about cryptomalware you may check this link or you may contact us directly at 893-9515 and we will do our best to answer your inquiries.