By Sonit Jain, CEO of GajShield Infotech
Malvertising is a type of cyber-attack that involves the inclusion of malware code in advertisements featured on popular websites. In the recent past, websites of renowned organizations such as Hindustan Times, Spotify, and the London Stock Exchange have been targeted by cybercriminals through malicious advertisement links. A common social engineering technique, malvertising can be used by hackers to break into vulnerable databases via an organisation’s unsuspecting employees. Firewalls can act as a screen to prevent malware from being downloaded into a device. A firewall system actively prevents the compromise (or deletion) of company data.
Continuous data network monitoring
Certain types of firewalls continually scan all the activities taking place over an organization’s data network. Such systems, known as data security firewalls, are generally employed by large organisations with several network-using employees and devices. They are programmed to block a large number of known threats that enter the network. With advanced machine learning, intelligent firewalls can be trained to deal with newer threats as well. Network monitoring firewalls can allow organisations to block certain websites, IP addresses, and mail/messaging channels to prevent malware and virus entry into office devices.
Intelligent Identity and Access Management (IAM)
While network and host-based firewalls can block out external threats, organisations must ensure the prevention of insider threats regarding the creation of malvertisements too. Context aware access protocols in data security firewalls only allow authorised individuals to access company databases at specific times. More importantly, such firewalls maintain records of network users and their activities with timestamps for further assistance. As a result, insider threats can be nipped in the bud.
