Because of technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), our lives are different today than they once were and better, as a result, in so many ways.  We live in an age where one no longer needs a key to enter his/her home. Effortlessly, we can recount to our friends how many miles we have walked and calories we have burned. And we no longer have to be present to turn the lights on or off at home.

The Mirai botnet was used to carry out a DDoS attack in late October against one of the Internet’s domain name service (DNS) providers, Dyn, resulting in an Internet disruption for many.  It wasn’t the first time this botnet, comprised of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, was used in a DDoS attack.  Other earlier uses of the Mirai botnet were similarly successful in late September 2016.

In light of the recent attacks that exploited Internet of Things (IoT) devices, it seems timely to reinforce the importance of IoT security.

The proliferation of IoT and what is anticipated makes privacy and security a critical consideration for device makers and more importantly for those enterprises and consumers looking to acquire them.  

Enterprises today face an ever-evolving threat landscape with security breaches occurring at a fast pace. It’s becoming clear that enterprises must be able to not only identify and protect against known threats but also to protect against new and unknown malicious threats.

Jack Walsh, new initiatives & mobility programs manager at ICSA Labs discusses the latest rounds of Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) certification testing, and the security products being created to help protect end users against previously unknown threats.

Every day, there are articles in the news about Ransomware, but I’ll bet you don’t know just how prevalent this infectious menace has become.

At ICSA Labs, we’ve seen a tremendous spike in ransomware during the 2^nd quarter of 2016.

Knowing the benefits of certification is important for security product vendors and enterprises to understand.

The first step is to understand what certification is and what it is not.

As threats change, security product vendors hurry to keep pace.  Enterprises wonder whether commercial advanced threat defense (ATD) solutions will be able to keep up with the ever-evolving threatscape.

Samples Sources

A number of malicious sample sources feed into ICSA Labs’ Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) testing.

One source is the spam ICSA Labs collects. ICSA Labs collects hundreds of thousands of spam messages every day through its spam honeypots. Specific attention is paid to spam with attachments.  If the attachments are malicious, they are sample source candidates for ATD testing.

ICSA Labs Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) certification testing is aimed at vendor solutions designed to detect threats that other traditional security products miss.  The testing is focused on how effectively vendor ATD solutions work against unknown and little-known threats.

In addition to detection effectiveness, ICSA Labs tests whether or not ATD solutions alert on innocuous applications and associated activity. The timeliness of detection and logging of malicious threats are also tested.

Introduction

This blog entry is the first in a four-part series marking the launch of ICSA Labs’ newest certification testing program for Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) solutions.  Be sure to check back on the ICSA Labs Security Testing Blog each Monday through December for an update.

Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) Solutions – Why Enterprises Need Them