For many people, Game of Thrones Season 8 is the TV highlight of the past 12 months, but not all fans of the series are keen to pay for the channel to watch the latest installments of this hugely popular series.
Some fans are turning to P2P file sharing sites to download the latest episodes, but hackers are ready and waiting. Many illegal video files of Game of Thrones episodes have been embedded with malware, most commonly adware and Trojans.
Research from Kaspersky Lab revealed Trojans to be the most common form of malware to be embedded in rogue video files. A third of all fake TV show downloads that have been impregnated with malware include a Trojan.
When one of these infected files is opened after it has been downloaded, the Trojan is launched and silently runs in the background on the infected device.
Many of the Trojans embedded into video files are brand new. These zero-day malware variants are not detected by traditional AV solutions as their signatures are not present in malware definition lists. That means malware infections are likely to go undetected. When signatures are updated, the malware may continue to run until a full system scan is completed. Either way, during the time that the malware is active it could be collecting a range of sensitive data including usernames and passwords.
Malware can also be installed that gives the attacker access to an infected device and the ability to run commands, change programs, download further malware variants, and add the infected device to a botnet.
File sharing websites offer an easy way of distributing malware. Users of the platforms voluntarily download the files onto their computers. However, only a small percentage of internet users visit P2P file sharing sites. Hackers therefore have turned to other methods to get users to execute their infected video files.
Prior to the release date of Game of Thrones Season 8, offers of free access to the TV show were being distributed via email. Campaigns were also detected offering episodes in advance of the release date to tempt GOT fans into installing malicious software or visiting malicious websites.
It is no surprise that fake Game of Thrones video files have been embedded with malware, given the huge popularity of the show. However, Game of Thrones fans are not the only people targeted using this tactic of malware distribution. In the past few months, malware has been detected in fake videos files claiming to be the latest episodes of the Walking Dead, Suits, and the Vikings to name but a few.
Some people feel the risk of a malware infection from downloading pirated video files to be low, or they do not even consider the risks. That is bad news for businesses. When employees ignore the risks and download illegal files at work, they risk infecting their network with malware.
The easiest solution to prevent illegal downloads at work and the visiting of other malicious websites is to use a web filtering solution. A web filter – WebTitan for instance – can be configured to prevent users from accessing file sharing and torrents websites. WebTitan uses a continuous stream of ActiveWeb URLs from over 550 million end users, which provides important threat intelligence to TitanHQ’s machine learning technology. This allows new, malicious URLs to be identified, and users are then prevented from visiting those malicious URLs.
Blocking email attacks is simple with SpamTitan. SpamTitan blocks 99.97% of spam emails to prevent malicious messages from reaching end users, including messages offering free access to Game of Thrones and other TV shows. In addition to dual AV engines to protect against known malware, SpamTitan also now has a sandboxing feature. Suspicious attachments can be safely executed and analyzed in the sandbox to identify potentially malicious actions. The sandboxing feature provides superior protection against zero-day malware which AV software does not block.
With both of these solutions in place, businesses will be well protected against malware, ransomware, botnets, viruses, and phishing attacks.
Each solution is available with a range of different deployment options to suit the needs of all businesses. For a product demonstration and further information, contact the TitanHQ team today.
G2 Crowd, a peer-to-peer review platform trusted by millions of businesses, has named SpamTitan the leading email security gateway solution in its Spring G2 Crowd Grid Report for Email Security Gateways.
TitanHQ’s SpamTitan email security gateway solution was named the leader in the category of secure email gateway performance
SpamTitan was assessed along with other popular email security solutions from big name companies such as Cisco, Barracuda, Proofpoint, Mimecast, and SolarWinds, but took top spot thanks to consistently high ratings for all key metrics assessed for the report.
The G2 Crowd platform allows businesses to find out important information about software solutions that is not often included in the product spiel offered by software providers: What the solutions are actually like to use and whether they match up to expectations. The platform is trusted by businesses thanks to its honest reviews from genuine customers. The company was formed in 2012 and now attracts more than 1.5 million visitors a month to its website.
For the report, each product was assessed based on market presence and four areas of customer satisfaction: Quality of support, ease of use, meets requirements, and ease of administration. SpamTitan scored highly in all four categories, outperforming all other solutions for customer satisfaction and market presence.
SpamTitan ranked highest for meeting requirements and quality of support, achieving a score of 94% in both categories. The average for all 10 email security gateways was 88% and 84% respectively. SpamTitan achieved a score of 92% for ease of use and 90% for ease of administration. The average for all products in these areas was 82% and 83% respectively.
It was clear from the report that TitanHQ customers were extremely happy with the products and service provided by TitanHQ. The user reviews praised SpamTitan for many aspects of the product, two examples of which have been listed below.
“SpamTitan has some of the best filtering we’ve seen compared to other products, it does an excellent job when configured right of capturing a high volume of spam. It’s relatively simple to get around and set it up, and runs in a very lightweight VMware appliance.”
“The degree of customization and logging is amazing. You can account for everything going in or out of your organization and set filtering rules to match any scenario. Performance of the web UI and functions like searching and reporting are lightning quick.
G2 Crowd also released a Spring G2 Crowd Grid Report for Secure Web Gateways and TitanHQ’s WebTitan solution was rated a high performer, achieving a customer satisfaction score of 94% against an average of 87% across all 10 solutions under assessment.
If you are unhappy with your current email or web security gateway product or you have yet to implement one of these important cybersecurity solutions, contact TitanHQ today to arrange a product demonstration. The full versions of both solutions are available on a free trial to allow you to see for yourself how effective they are and how easy they are to use.
If you have any questions about either product, contact the TitanHQ today to have your questions answered.
Supply chain attacks allow cybercriminals to attack businesses through weak links in the supply network. Smaller companies are attacked, which gives hackers access to larger and better secured businesses: Businesses that would be harder to attack directly.
This attack method was used to spread NotPetya malware in Ukraine. A software supply company was breached which allowed the malware to be spread to the software supplier’s clients. The massive data breach at Target in 2014 was made possible by first attacking an HVAC system provider. The attack allowed hackers to install malware on the Target’s POS system and obtain the credit card numbers of millions of its customers. According to Symantec, supply chain attacks doubled in 2018.
There are many different types of supply chain attacks, but all serve a similar purpose. By attacking one company it is then possible to attack a bigger fish, or in the case of attacks on cloud service providers and managed service providers, a single attack will give a hacker access to the networks of all MSP clients.
Large businesses often have the budgets to hire their own IT and security staff and can implement robust defenses to prevent attacks. Smaller businesses often struggle to recruit security professionals as they are in high demand. With the shortage of skilled cybersecurity staff and an inability to pay the large salaries that skilled cybersecurity professionals demand, SMBs often turn to MSPs to provide those services.
In order to be able to provide those services, managed service providers are given remote access to their client’s networks. Many of the tasks that need to be performed by MSPs require administrative privileges. Managed service providers also hold login credentials to their clients’ routers and cloud accounts. All of those credentials are extremely valuable to hackers.
Given the typical number of clients each MSP has, a successful attack on an MSP could prove very profitable for a hacker. It is therefore no surprise that there has been an increase in cyberattacks on MSPs and CSPs.
While MSPs are usually good at securing their clients’ networks and ensuring they are well protected, they also need to ensure their own house is in order. Patches must be applied promptly, vulnerabilities must be addressed, and security solutions must be put in place to protect MSPs systems.
MSP staff should be security aware, but when they are busy resolving their clients’ problems, mistakes can easily be made such as responding to a well-crafted spear phishing email. All it takes is for one MSP employee to respond to such an email for a hacker to gain a foothold in the network.
Naturally, security awareness training should be provided to all MSP employees and security solutions need to be deployed to protect against email and web-based attacks. This is an area where TitanHQ can help.
TitanHQ Cybersecurity Solutions for MSPs
TitanHQ’s offers a suite of cybersecurity solutions for managed service providers that have been developed from the ground up with MSPs in mind. TitanHQ has an in depth understanding of what MSPs need, having been working closely with them for more than two decades. TitanHQ solutions provide everything MSPs could reasonably ask for to meet the demands of their clients.
Our multi-tenanted solutions are full of features to help MSPs save time and money. The solutions work on any operating system, client accounts can be up and running within 20 minutes, and fully automated updates minimize the management overhead while ensuring maximum protection from threats. Furthermore, all TitanHQ solutions are available in white label format ready to receive an MSPs logos and there is a choice of hosting options, including the option of hosting the solution within an MSPs own infrastructure.
SpamTitan is an easy to implement and easy to manage cloud-based spam filtering solution that provides excellent protection against the full range of email threats. Email attachments are scanned using dual antivirus engines that block 100% of known malware threats. Suspicious attachments that pass the AV scans are sent to a Bitdefender-powered sandbox where they are subjected to an in-depth, sophisticated analysis to identify previously unknown malware threats and malicious scripts. SpamTitan also uses a defense-in-depth approach to protect against phishing threats, including machine learning predictive techniques to identify zero-day phishing threats. SpamTitan scans inbound and outbound emails and includes a data loss prevention feature to prevent attempts to use email accounts to send sensitive data outside the organization.
TitanHQ has developed WebTitan to provide protection against web-based threats. WebTitan is a DNS-based web filtering solution that prevents employees and guest network users from visiting malicious websites used for phishing and malware distribution. Stopping malicious requests at the DNS layer, which is better than waiting for the payload to be delivered onto the machine and then removed. By stopping it at the DNS layer you’re reducing not only malware infections, but containing machines already infected by preventing them from communicating out to their C&C servers. SpamTitan and WebTitan are fed threat intelligence in real time from an active database of 650 million users, which provides zero-minute protection against cyber threats.
Benefits of TitanHQ Cybersecurity Solutions for MSPs
Easy client account administration via a central control panel
One control panel to manage all clients
Intuitive controls with low management overhead
Eliminates the need for site visits, with no local support required
No end user software installations needed
Incorporate new clients in minutes
Competitive usage-based pricing with monthly billing
Three hosting options: Our servers, a private cloud, or within an MSP’s infrastructure
Generous margins for MSPs
Industry-leading technical support and customer service
Solutions available in a white label version ready to take MSP logos
If you want to improve your defenses against cyber threats and better protect your clients, contact TitanHQ today for further information about SpamTitan Email Security and WebTitan Web Security.
The TitanHQ MSP Program – TitanSHIELD
The TitanSHIELD MSP Program allows MSPs to take advantage of TitanHQ’s proven technology so that they can sell, implement and deliver our advanced network security solutions directly to their client base. Benefits include partner support, a dedicated account manager, assigned sales engineer support, access to the Global Partner Program Hotline, access to the Partner Knowledge Base, 24/7 priority technical support, online technical training and FAQs, access to the Partner Technical Knowledge Base, and full access to an extensive range of marketing materials and sales tools.
Contact the MSP team at TitanHQ today for more information and to apply to join more than 1,500 MSP members of the TitanSHIELD program.
