Emerging cybersecurity threats can be difficult to catch because they attempt to avoid security solutions that rely on signatures and known data about attacks already on the threat horizon. When a new malware is used for the first time, it can sometimes avoid many of the security measures businesses have in place by acting unexpectedly or taking advantage of new vulnerabilities. This doesn’t mean that small and medium businesses have no defense against emerging cybersecurity threats, however. With the right training and an eye for suspicious activity, your employees, IT team, and IT consultant can work together to detect threats that have unexpectedly gained access to your network, and we want to talk about how!
How Hackers Avoid Detection
The first step to having a better eye for emerging cybersecurity threats is knowing how malicious actors will try to avoid detection. Many malware detection tools identify known malware using signatures in the code, and malicious actors can alter the code of the malicious tools they use to make different enough to not be recognized under the same signature. Additionally, attacks can play out over long periods of time where portions of the needed malicious code are delivered slowly, making the entire attack almost unnoticeable until damage has begun. Emerging cybersecurity threats that are novel also won’t have an identifiable signature or known symptoms, which can make them initially undetectable by some security measures.
Starting a Search for Threats
When small and medium businesses can’t rely solely on their security tools to detect suspicious activity, it becomes critical that everyone working on the network learns how to identify emerging cybersecurity threats. Employees should keep an eye out for suspicious activity on their work devices that include new device accounts being created, new folders appearing in their system files, and any abnormal activity on the device or accounts that they use. Sometimes, simply noticing an unfamiliar login notification or the movement of a few files can clue your IT department or IT consultant into the fact that a threat is active on your business’ network.   Â
Further Investigation Strategies
While employees can notice some of the effects emerging cybersecurity threats will have on their system, your IT department or small business IT consultant can further investigate suspicious activity occurring on the network. For example, your IT team can get alerts from implemented security solutions that users or applications are trying to connect to new remote servers or if user accounts are trying to access files they do not have privileges for under normal circumstances. Everyone with a device connected to the company’s network should also keep those devices and its security tools up to date so that implemented cybersecurity tools can effectively identify malicious activity or abnormal movements on user accounts.
Summary
To detect emerging cybersecurity threats, small and medium businesses must rely on their network detection and response (NDR) tools, endpoint protection, firewall, MFA, and other security tools to catch abnormal behavior. Everyone at the company also needs to be vigilant for strange events on their devices or parts of the network they access just in case new attacks learn to sneak by unnoticed. Our team at Robinett Consulting understands that developing these habits requires a lot of hard work and training, so we want to work with your business today to help make sure you can get work done safely and securely, even in the face of new and emerging cybersecurity threats!
