It Is Time To Address Malware Threats Proactively

With the malware threat looming overhead, coming up with proactive solutions is the biggest challenge at this time. But that is much easier said than done, as malware evolves at a faster pace than security solutions.

Stop Playing Catch-Up To Security Threats

Using an antivirus and anti-malware tools is no longer sufficient to keep a computer or other Internet-connected device safe from harm. All of these security tools are reactive, rather than proactive, and will do next to nothing to keep most attacks from happening.Without knowledge regarding previous attacks, this type of security is miserably insufficient.

Moving Target Defense, a new proposal by cyber security firm Morphisec, is a potential solution. This technique would prevent malware from finding the sought vulnerability, effectively stopping the attacks in their tracks.  A polymorphic engine would conceal vulnerabilities in applications and browsers, making them unusable for malware attacks.

But there are other options worth pursuing as well. Using a sandbox environment to launch executables is a good way to keep malware out. Even if that environment were infected, the malware would not have access to system resources. Additionally, malicious software can be tricked into thinking it operates within a sandboxed environment at all times. Minerva Labs is a company actively working on such a solution.

Symantec has discovered over 430 million new types of malware in 2015, which is a very disconcerting number. That growth will likely continue over the next few years as this is a very lucrative business model for Internet criminals. However, companies such as CyActive are working on a solution that prevents malware developers from reusing previous code. Although that may not seem very significant, it forces developers to be truly unique, which is very difficult given the fierce competition.

In the end, it will be difficult to establish a proactive security basis against cyber security threats. Malware keeps evolving at an accelerated pace, and security researchers have a hard time catching up to these new developments. More proactive solutions are being developed as we speak, but it will take a while before they gain critical mass.

Source: TechCrunch

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