If I could give a piece of advice that sounds cliché but really rings true in practice, it would be this: when your network is attacked, it’s not going to be the way that you imagined.
What do I mean by that?
When I was running my MSP, one of our clients had a user bring a device that was infected with ransomware. It was just laying dormant, waiting to strike.
Now, remember, it was already on the device, so it had walked right through the antivirus. So, the ransomware is in place and ready to spring the trap. It calls home to a command-and-control server for an encryption key.
This is right at the point of no return as it was one step away from encrypting everything. Once that happens, we’re moving from prevention to recovery.
Thankfully, we had a strong firewall that was looking for these kinds of requests; it blocks the attempt and alerts us that it’s happening.
By having this kind of access to outgoing traffic, we were able to stop a ransomware attack in its tracks even after it had bypassed the antivirus.
Now, the reactionary answer might be to cast blame on the AV software or, worse, to shrug and put everything on the firewall.
But it’s not just one thing. It can’t be.
Think about your own immune system. Your skin is the first line of defense, but you’ve still got white blood cells, and T-cells.
We make antibiotics to supplement all this. With all that, you still know that you need to clean cuts and wash your hands. Yes, you should have a strong antivirus and firewall, but just like in your body, they can’t just kill all incoming traffic on sight.
Users have to practice good data hygiene. When there’s a threat that’s ‘going around,’ you update to vaccinate against it.
My point is that the more careful you are with a network, the less likely it is to become infected. Our assessments are a checkup to show you how that might happen.
But just like with every part of your network’s immune system, it’s only one line of defense (even though it is a pretty good one).
It’s only by combining it all that you maximize your chance to keep the little bugs out.
