4 Ways Enterprises Can Stop Encrypted Cyber Threats
Today, in the digital age we’ve grown to rely on HTTPS as the norm for secure data encryption and protection when it travels across the Internet. The secure lock icon on a browser’s icon bar reassures us that your data is secure. The world’s leading organizations have recognized this protocol as essential for the security of data as well as digital privacy. Generally, 95% of all traffic on the Internet is protected through HTTPS.
It is, however, an iron sword with two sides. Just as encryption stops cybercriminals from accessing sensitive information, it hinders businesses from detecting cybersecurity threats. According to the ThreatLabz State of encrypted attacks report, over 85% of cyber-attacks are hidden behind encrypted channels, such as malware, data thefters as well as phishing attempts. Furthermore, most encrypted threats make use of legitimate and trusted SaaS storage companies to host malware, which makes it even harder to detect. Secured channels can be a huge vulnerability for any business that isn’t doing SSL analysis today. They allow attackers to create concealed threats and steal sensitive data in complete darkness.
As the threat level increases and the amount of actors that are malicious increases, and the number of malicious attacks increases, attacks like these are increasing. From September 2022 until October 2023 over 29 billion threats were analyzed. The results showed that there was a 24.3% increase from year to year. There was a significant rise in phishing-related attacks as well as an impressive 297.1% and 290.5% growth in malware that is exploited by browsers and ads on websites, respectively.
What can companies take to guard against encrypted attacks? It is easy to look over all encrypted data. But, the reality of the task is a major issue for many companies. To solve the issue, it is first necessary to investigate the reason for this to understand why it situation is happening.
The biggest enterprise blind spot A major enterprise blind spot: SSL/TLS Traffic
In the 2023 State of Encrypted Attacks Report for 2023, has commissioned an independent, vendor-neutral survey of networking, security and IT experts to understand their concerns as well as their goals and experiences encounters with encrypted attacks. The survey revealed that 62% of businesses are experiencing an increase in encryption-related threats, most of which have been the victims of an attack, and 82% of them have witnessed attacks via “trusted” channels. However, companies face a myriad of issues that hinder their ability to scan the entirety of SSL/TLS transactions on a large scale, which is an effective way to protect against encrypted threats.
The top tools used to scan SSL/TLS include the use of a combination of firewalls for networks (61%) as well as application layer firewalls (59%). The tools are not without issues at a large scale, as this study found. The most significant obstacles to enterprises scanning all encrypted traffic are problems with performance and user experience (42%) and cost-related concerns (32%), as well as scalability problems that are not addressed in the current configuration (31%). Another barrier to 20% of the respondents is the belief that data that comes from trusted websites and apps are “assumed safe”, however, as our study shows this is not the situation.
These challenges point to issues that are not in line with the enterprise’s inspection strategies. Although 65% of companies are planning to boost the frequency of SSL/TLS audits over the next 12 months However, the majority of them are concerned that their existing SSL/TLS tools aren’t capable of scaling or able to handle sophisticated cyber security threats. This is a reflection of businesses’ confidence in their security configurations, as only 30% of businesses have a sense of “very” or “extremely” convinced that they can protect themselves from sophisticated or advanced cyber-attacks.
This suggests that although companies are aware of the dangers of encrypted attacks, these channels still remain a large security hazard for many companies and a lot of attacks could pass right by without being detected.
Affirming the existence of security threats to cyberspace lurking within encrypted communications
The threats are taking advantage of encrypted channels at various stages of the attack cycle, starting with the initial access through devices such as VPN and establishing a foothold with the use of phishing, and then distributing ransomware and malware payloads as well as moving through domain controllers to exfiltrating data with the help of trusted SaaS storage providers and many more.
In this regard, businesses must include measures in their security programs to block encrypted threats and protect data from loss at every step within the security chain. These are the four methods businesses can take to stop secure attacks that are encrypted and to keep their customer data, information as well as employees safe.
1. Examine all encrypted SSL/TLS traffic on a large scale, using cloud proxy with zero trust technology
The primary element of a business plan for stopping encryption attacks is the capability to scan 100% of encrypted data and information on a massive scale without impacting performance. That’s the initial step. Scutum architectures are the ideal choice to accomplish this goal due to many motives. It is based on the principle of less privilege; this model facilitates connections between apps and users and not necessarily the network that is based on the user’s identity context, context, and company policy. Thus, all encrypted data and data flow through this cloud-proxy structure, which includes SSL/TLS verification for every single data packet that is sent by every user on a per-user basis that is infinitely scaled regardless of how much bandwidth the users use. Additionally, direct user-to-app and app-to-app connectivity make it significantly simpler to divide applications’ traffic into highly precise user groups -and eliminate the risk of lateral movement, which is frequently the case with flat networks.
A single policy will greatly ease administration for businesses. In contrast, security measures for networks and applications are frequently targets of cyberattacks. They result in greater complexity, performance, and costs at a larger scale and fail to meet the corporate goals of achieving the complete security of SSL/TLS. This means that stopping encrypted threats is a process that begins and finishes by ensuring that there is no trust.
2. Reducing the threat surface for enterprises
Every IP address, also known as Internet-connected assets, can be identified and is vulnerable to attack, which includes enterprise software and other tools, such as VPNs or firewalls. The compromise of these resources is the initial stage for cybercriminals to get access to the network and later move through traditional networks to important crown jewel applications.
By implementing a Scutum ZTNA architecture that allows enterprises to hide applications from being accessible to the Internet and hide them behind a cloud-based proxy server so that they’re only accessible to users authenticated and granted access by corporate access policies. This simple truth allows businesses to instantly remove huge portions of the threat surface, ward off the discovery of threat actors, and prevent many encryption-based attacks from occurring at all.
3. Inline security measures to prevent threats
Enterprises can use the many tools available they can use to stop attacks that are encrypted, but here the layered approach is the most effective. It is crucial that these protections be integrated within the path of data in order to make sure security tools are able to detect malware before it is delivered instead of pass-through or methods that are out of the band, as is the case with a lot of conventional techniques.
There are many fundamental technologies that constitute good security. For instance, an inline sandbox equipped with the ability to use ML, however, unlike the majority of traditional sandboxes, takes zero risk for patients, while an ML-driven cloud-based sandbox on a scale enables companies to block the threat, block it and then detonate threat-laden files and zero-day attacks instantly, in real-time while not affecting the businesses. In addition, technology like cloud firewalls, URL blocking, DNS filtering, as well as the ability to isolate browsers transforming the risky content on websites into a secure stream of pixels to provide enterprises with what we call advanced security. Although encrypted threats may go unnoticed by a lot of companies, this kind of multilayered defense inline makes sure that they don’t.
4. Stop data loss
The process of stopping encrypted attacks does not end in threat mitigation. Businesses need to also protect their data on the move to stop cybercriminals from stealing their data. As we said, attackers often use trusted, legitimate SaaS storage companies which are, in turn, “trusted” encrypted channels to host malware and other malicious files, as well as to exfiltrate information. If they do not scan the outbound SSL/TLS connections and the content that is inline, businesses are unable to discern if this has been happening. Similar to the threat prevention process businesses should take an approach that is multi-layered to protect their information. For best practices, businesses are advised to look for functions such as inline DLP that examines SSL/TLS-encrypted content across all channels like SaaS applications, devices such as email, and private applications, including cloud position. In the context of exact matches to data (EDM), Scutum has adopted an AI-driven method to detect and categorize information across all enterprise systems. These categories can be used to determine DLP policies. Additionally, CASB provides another critical layer of protection, securing moving data that is stored in the line and other data that is out of the band.
Encrypted attacks: a deeper dive
However, these top methods are only an iceberg at the top regarding protecting against the entire range of attacks that are encrypted. For a more in-depth analysis of the ways, enterprises can protect themselves from encryption-based threats and also discover the most important patterns in the evolving environment.
