Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
An interview with Info Security magazine around the maturation of advanced evasion techniques and how attackers abilities to evade detection have matured.
With the average cost of a data breach to an organization coming in at upwards of $1 million, it’s imperative to take a realistic tack when it comes to understanding and thwarting AETs, according to a Vanson Bourne study, commissioned by McAfee.
AETs, first discovered in 2010 by network security specialist Stonesoft (acquired by McAfee last year), are methods of disguise used to penetrate target networks undetected and deliver malicious payloads. Using AETs, an attacker can split apart an exploit into pieces, bypass a firewall or IPS appliance, and once inside the network, reassemble the code to unleash malware and continue an APT attack. The prevalence of these techniques has risen significantly since 2010, with millions of combinations and modifications of network-based AETs having been identified to date.
The report found that more than one in five security professionals admit their network has been breached (22%), and out of those, nearly 40% believe that AETs played a key role. However, the scope of the AET threat is often widely underestimated – the report shows that respondents believe there are less than 500,000 of them. In reality, there are an estimated 800 million known AETs. And less than 1% are detected by other vendor’s firewalls.
Recent high-profile data breaches have demonstrated that criminal activity can still evade detection for long periods of time. Survey respondents acknowledged this.
“We are no longer dealing with the random drive-by scanner that is just looking for obvious entryways into your network,” said John Masserini, vice president and chief security officer at MIAX Options. “In today’s interconnected world, we are dealing with adversaries who spend weeks or months studying your public facing network footprint, looking for that one small sliver of light which will allow them to gain a foothold into your networks. AETs are that sliver of light.”
Read the full article here:
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/explosion-in-advanced-evasion-techniques-and-apts/
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