Guest OpEd by Jack Blount, President & CEO, INTRUSION Inc.
There has been a dramatic increase in the frequency and significance of cyberattacks in recent months. They’re causing more damage, costing businesses more money, and experts are saying the worst is yet to come.
In fact, researchers say it could take years to fully comprehend the impact of the Sunburst attack, one of the largest breaches ever.
Sunburst is old news now and we’re already on to the next – the Microsoft Exchange Server hack, the recent Facebook hack, the Acer ransomware attack, and now the Colonial Pipeline.
It’s only a matter of time before another massive attack disables U.S. commerce.
The past year – thanks to COVID-19 – has created an environment ripe for cybercrime.
Online activity has increased significantly as people moved their lives and their jobs online, and personal information and data are being shared and moved constantly through multiple channels across multiple platforms.
Unfortunately, today’s security solutions don’t seem to have kept pace with this new, always-connected normal.
With all the security tools and protection solutions available – a quick online search will land you results of more than a thousand cybersecurity vendors – why do these massive cyberattacks continue to happen?
And what can we as security experts do to stop them?
Why today’s cybersecurity solutions aren’t working
The reason we are in this situation is because the security industry, as a whole, has not come up with a new architecture to identify and solve the problems we continue to face.
Cybersecurity has been so focused on keeping criminals from coming into the network that we have forgotten to pay attention to connections being sent out of the network.
We are ultimately assuming that everything going out of our network is safe. Because if we create enough layers of security, nothing bad can ever get in, and therefore, nothing bad could ever get out.
This sounds good in theory, but it is this one-way thinking that has led us to the limited and failing products we have today.
A few years ago, a Bloomberg study showed evidence of chips manufactured overseas containing hidden malware built into the device before even being shipped to its final destination undetected.
There is some debate on the credibility of this study, but for the sake of this argument, whether it is true or not is irrelevant. What if it were true? What if just one chip had malware?
The walls of Troy were strong – they had never been breached. But what took Troy out was an attack from the inside.
What if we operated on the assumption that networks can never be 100%, unquestionably “safe?” What would a solution to address this assumption look like?
(See how INTRUSION Shield takes a different approach from other cybersecurity solutions – and why it is more effective. Courtesy of INTRUSION and YouTube.)
An inside-out approach
Today’s typical security products monitor traffic coming into a network and send alerts to network managers if it detects anything that may look nefarious.
IT teams must then research these alerts – some companies see tens of thousands of these per day – and must determine which of these are valid threats. This takes hundreds of person hours and still longer to remove the breach and correct network configurations to prevent another breach.
There are thousands of entry points into any given network and the larger the company, the more entry points that exist on even zero-trust networks. And no security architecture, no matter how layered or sophisticated, can guarantee impenetrability.
The inside-out approach assumes the theory that all networks are already infected and will be compromised again at one point or another. However, the presence of malware inside a network alone cannot cause harm.
Malware requires a connection to complete its task. Without an outbound connection – referred to as a “call-home” – it simply cannot deploy malicious code.
Therefore, to stop cyberattacks, we must look at both incoming and outgoing traffic.
It is the outbound traffic that ends up taking down the ship. Hackers first breached the SolarWinds network on September 4, 2019. It wasn’t until long after that the breach was discovered.
The malware had been living on the SolarWinds network for at least nine months undetected – it got past firewall and many other cybersecurity products.
This is all the more reason companies need a different kind of solution that stops threats in real-time to protect them from the damage cybercriminals can cause over time.
Monitoring these connections, identifying bad agents, and stopping them from sending out “call-homes” is the only way to successfully prevent cybercrime. We cannot prevent attacks from happening, but we can prevent the attacks from being successful in their mission.
Looking inward to move forward
Hackers are getting smarter and richer, using AI agents and leveraging the best technology available for evil.
Every network is not only a target, but they are probably already infected.
To offer a real solution the industry must change its perspective and learn to identify and kill in real-time these endless agents of evil.
About the Author
Mr. Jack Blount has an extensive career in technology as a visionary in the personal computer, local area networking, ERP, mobile computing, big data, cybersecurity, and AI.
Blount began his career as an engineer at IBM, and was recruited from IBM to be the SVP of Business Development at Novell in the 1980’s where he helped expand its business from $50M to $2B in just six years.
Blount served as the CTO, COO, and CEO of 8 technology, turnaround companies.
Blount has also served on twelve technology company Board of Directors of which five were public companies, and he served as Chairman of five of the companies, and was recruited in 2013 to serve as CIO in the federal government where he was responsible for designing a new 10-layer cyber security architecture that protected over one hundred thousand employees and billions of dollars.
To Learn More, go to intrusion.com/shield.
INTRUSION Inc. Takes Platinum in 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards
American Security Today’s ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards program is now in its Sixth Year and continues to recognize the Outstanding Innovations of top firms and agencies in the Homeland Security and Public Safety fields.
2020 was a very challenging year for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the much heralded AST ‘ASTORS’ Awards Winners Presentations and exclusive Luncheon at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC had to be canceled and rescheduled for 2021 due to the virus.
However, the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program was again a huge success and many new categories were added including a section for COVID-19 Detection and Innovation.
INTRUSION Inc.
Best Cyber Security Solution
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INTRUSION Shield™
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INTRUSION Shield doesn’t merely alert to cyber threats but immediately neutralizes them, keeping businesses safe without the need for human intervention.
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Unlike other solutions which focus on keeping out malicious incoming traffic, Shield works on the premise that cybercriminals already exist within your network, meaning Shield is constantly monitoring all incoming and outgoing traffic.
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Shield employs the use of this real-time AI to analyze INTRUSION’s threat-enriched, Big Data Cloud – the world’s largest inventory of IP relationships, and using its Process-flow Technology™, the solution applies signatures and rules based on DNS, TCP, UDP – and the connections between DNS and IPV4 and IPV6 addresses – to learn the behavior and patterns of cybercrime activity.
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Shield then uses this intelligence while it continuously monitors incoming and outgoing traffic to identify new threats.
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Finally, the solution goes beyond monitoring by instantly blocking traffic to and from any malicious sources, protecting companies from ransomware, viruses, malware, data theft and more.
INTRUSION’s solutions help protect critical information assets by quickly detecting, protecting, analyzing and reporting attacks or misuse of classified, private and regulated information for government and enterprise networks.
INTRUSION’s family of solutions includes TraceCop™ for identity discovery and disclosure, and Savant™ for network data mining and advanced persistent threat detection.
For more information, please visit www.intrusion.com.
The 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program was sponsored by ATI Systems, Attivo Networks, Automatic Systems, X.Labs and Reed Exhibitions, every one a returning Sponsor from 2020, 2019 and More.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards at https://americansecuritytoday.com/ast-awards/.
Comprehensive List of Categories Include:
| Access Control/ Identification | Personal/Protective Equipment | Law Enforcement Counter Terrorism |
| Perimeter Barrier/ Deterrent System | Interagency Interdiction Operation | Cloud Computing/Storage Solution |
| Facial/IRIS Recognition | Body Worn Video Product | Cyber Security |
| Video Surveillance/VMS | Mobile Technology | Anti-Malware |
| Audio Analytics | Disaster Preparedness | ID Management |
| Thermal/Infrared Camera | Mass Notification System | Fire & Safety |
| Metal/Weapon Detection | Rescue Operations | Critical Infrastructure |
| License Plate Recognition | Detection Products | And Many Others! |
| COVID Innovations | And Many Others! |
Don’t see a Direct Hit for your Product, Agency or Organization?
With the unprecedented occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of the safety and security industries has realized the need to increase innovations to address the daily growing challenges.
As such AST aims to make sure these firms and professionals are reflected in the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program, so we’d like to encourage you to submit appropriate categories recommendations and include COVID-19 Frontline Professionals in your Nominations to see that these Professionals, Facilities, and Vendors receive the Recognition they Deserve!
Submit your category recommendation for consideration to Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at: mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.
Why American Security Today?
The traditional security marketplace has long been covered by a host of publications putting forward the old school basics to what is Today – a fast changing security landscape.
The traditional security marketplace has long been covered by a host of publications putting forward the old school basics to what is Today – a fast changing security landscape.
American Security Today is uniquely focused on the broader Homeland Security & Public Safety marketplace with over 75,000 readers at the Federal, State and local levels of government as well as firms allied to government.
American Security Today brings forward a fresh compelling look and read with our customized digital publications that hold readers eyes throughout the story with cutting edge editorial that provides solutions to their challenges.
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The AST Digital Publications is distributed to over 75,000 qualified government and homeland security professionals in federal, state and local levels.
‘PROTECTING OUR NATION, ONE CITY AT A TIME’
AST Reaches both Private & Public Experts, essential to meeting these new challenges.
Today’s new generation of public safety and security experts need real-time knowledge to deal with domestic and international terrorism, lone wolf attacks, unprecedented urban violence, shifts in society, culture and media bias – making it increasingly difficult for Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Military and Private Security Professionals to implement coordinated security measures to ensure national security and improve public safety.
These experts are from Government at the federal, state and local level as well as from private firms allied to government.
AST provides a full plate of topics in our AST Monthly Magazine Editions, AST Website and AST Daily News Alerts, covering 23 Vital Sectors such as Access Control, Perimeter Protection, Video Surveillance/Analytics, Airport Security, Border Security, CBRNE Detection, Border Security, Ports, Cybersecurity, Networking Security, Encryption, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Campus Security, Security Services, Corporate Facilities, and Emergency Response among others.
AST has Expanded readership into integral Critical Infrastructure audiences such as Protection of Nuclear Facilities, Water Plants & Dams, Bridges & Tunnels, and other potential targets of terrorism.
Other areas of concern include Transportation Hubs, Public Assemblies, Government Facilities, Sporting & Concert Stadiums, our Nation’s Schools & Universities, and Commercial Business Destinations – all enticing targets due to the large number of persons and resources clustered together.
To learn more about the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winners solutions, Check Out the New 2020 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS Edition Fully Interactive Magazine – the Best Products of 2020 ‘A Year in Review’.
The Annual CHAMPIONS edition includes a review of the ‘ASTORS’ Award Winning products and programs, highlighting key details on many of the winning firms products and services, includes video interviews and more.
It is your Go-To source throughout the year for ‘The Best of 2020 Products and Services‘ endorsed by American Security Today, and can satisfy your agency’s and organization’s most pressing Homeland Security and Public Safety needs.
From Physical Security (Access Control, Critical Infrastructure, Perimeter Protection and Video Surveillance Cameras and Video Management Systems), to IT Security (Cybersecurity, Encryption, Data Storage, Anti-Malware and Networking Security – Just to name a few), the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS EDITION has what you need to Detect, Delay, Respond to, and Mitigate today’s real-time threats in our constantly evolving security landscape.
It also includes featured guest editorial pieces from some of the security industry’s most respected leaders, and recognized firms in the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program.
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For a complete list of 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winners, click here.
For more information on All Things American Security Today, and the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program, please contact Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.
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