Malware malfunction

Mudassir Iqbal

Remember when Trinity removed a bug from Neo’s stomach in the Matrix – what if you had a similar option to get rid of bugs/cyber threats and cyberattack on your organization with a few easy solutions? Cyber threats and attacks are no longer limited to Hollywood blockbusters – organizations, big and small, need to take precautions and be ready to face crypto jacking, denial-of-service (DOS) attack, hacking, data breaches, malware, insider threats or insecure applications by implementing better policies that can guarantee a secure environment in a changing digital world. Despite the shift from centralized computing to cloud-based services – which is more secure – it has become essential for businesses to identity a range of security gaps and figure out a way to fix them.

Under attack

In Pakistan, for example, there has been an exponential rise in cyberattacks in the government and private sector since the pandemic started two years ago. It is expected that this will get worse over the years. Back in October 2021, the National Bank of Pakistan was targeted in a cyberattack. It’s claimed that due to a prompt response, affected systems were isolated from the network and any data breach or financial loss was prevented.

Similarly, a few months before that the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR’s) data center was hit by a cyberattack causing disruption to all FBR’s websites. Even after the website was restored after three days, the FBR still faces several disruptions. Responding to a question in the National Assembly last year, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said that the FBR faced 71,000 cyberattacks every month. “Over the years,” he added that the volume had increased as hackers had become more sophisticated in their attacks.

The solution

It is possible to combat network breaches and cyberthreats with a hybrid approach comprising of security policy, NIST Security framework along with other guidelines. According to Jaffer Business Systems (JBS), an IT solution provider, Cyber security is the art of protecting networks, devices and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.

In technical terms, there are tests and assessments such as the Vulnerability Assessment and Pen Testing (aka VAPT), Security Posture Assessment, Compromise Assessment, Source Code Review, Network Security and Design Review, Digital Forensic and Incident Response, Cloud Computing Security Assessment, ISO 27001 Audit and Compliance and PCI-DSS, GDPR and HIPAA Compliance Readiness. Besides this, companies also need security trainings and a disaster recovery plan.

But how to protect your assets?

There are different ways to protect tangible and intangible assets in the domains of End User Computing and Cloud Computing to protect a network from cyberthreats – this includes: Anti-Virus Solutions, Email Security Solutions, Extended Detection and Response solution, Privileged Access Management Solution, Data-leak protect Solution, Web Application FW Solution, Data Center FW Solution, Perimeter FW Solution and Threat Hunting Solution.  

At JBS, they have Threat Intelligence Platform, Vulnerability monitoring and management, Threat Hunting and Advisory Services, Devices Health Test Monitoring, Security Devices Tuning, Incident Response and Triage and Runbooks/Playbooks.

In addition to this, JBS has a joint venture with a Hungarian SOC provider by the name ACMP-IT and working on the providing SOC Services in Pakistan Market.

So don’t be afraid of the bugs in your system, there are ways to protect your business from potential attacks.

(The writer is the product specialist – Network and Security at JBS. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the newspaper)

Published at The Business Recorder