Sidmach, Sophos enlighten cybersecurity experts on latest attackers’ antics

Information technology security experts have highlighted the growing and persistent threat of malware, especially on mobile, stating categorically that Malware is not slowing down.

This implies that cybercrime is big business and hackers are continually looking for new attack vectors as SophosLabs team see 400,000 new malicious samples every day.

The speakers at one-day Sophos/Sidmach Lunch & Learn event held at Radisson Blu Lagos on Thursday said that the traitors are not resting on their oars to unleash damages to companies’ networks.

Leading the discussions, the Country Manager, Sophos Nigeria, Mr. Jimi Falaiye, said though the new malicious software do not necessarily imply 400,000 programmers writing code, however, it is a heavily automated system that results in bespoke malware – “a virus written just for you”.

He said, while best endpoint technologies will protect organisations against the majority of malware and threat impacting their systems, the threat landscape evolves and cybercriminals continue to morph attacks and work to find new security holes to access organisations, the unknown minority becomes important.

To this end, he opined that with Sophos’ deep learning enabled Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools, organisations will add an additional layer to their security posture.

Also speaking, the Market Intelligence and Research Analyst at Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, Nathanael Odofin, said that mobile devices are increasingly subject to malicious activities, pushing malware apps to phones, tablets, or other devices, particularly in the era of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) hence organisation must engage the services of renowned IT vendors to assist them tackle the challenges.

According to him, an estimated 54% of companies globally experience at least one cyber-attack every year.

In Nigeria, 60% of firms suffer cyber-attacks. Incidentally, only 38% of global organizations claim they have the infrastructure to handle a sophisticated cyber-attack.

Expatiating on the growing trends of cyber-attacks, Chris Odutola from Sophos cited what the Company termed manual techniques to delivering a ransomware known as SamSam as significantly raised the stakes by charging ransoms from $10,000 to more than $50,000 per attack.

“SamSam choose machines with relatively weak passwords, accessible from outside the organization’s security perimeter. Using this machine as a foothold, the criminals sniff for Domain Admin credentials, waits for the right moment to strike.

“The attacker has the ability to work through impediments like pushing commands, running additional software, that would otherwise prevent the attack”, he said.

Chris noted that this has led, in some cases, to run-and-gun battles between the ransomware criminals and alerted IT staff.

With that reality, he strongly suggested that the best line of defence is to use a multi-layered security strategy to work to protect organisations against both known and unknown threats.

Earlier, the Managing Director of Sidmach Technologies, Mr. Peter Arogundade, said that Lunch and Learn event was aimed at assisting IT experts in different organisations to understand cost effective security dynamics, and tools that mitigate latest threats, while receiving insights to have complete visibility and control of their IT Infrastructure.

The MD, who spoke through the Head of Marketing, at Sidmach, Olanrewaju Adelanwa, described the sessions as crucial as they offered the experts new perspective on better architectures for end-to-end networks threats management with a one-stop-solution that Sophos brings.

“We are not referring to security for just the hardware, the emails and everything within your network protocol that requires protection. This even, basically, was organised to bring these professionals together and expose them to insights about what is happening in Nigeria and across the world; for them to see what experts in other climes are doing in the IT security space”, he said.

He warned that businesses that are reluctant to embrace IT security are seated on gunpowder that may explode any minute.