The threat of corporate espionage is real. Cybercriminals are actively targeting companies to steal their sensitive data, intellectual property, and other valuable assets.
While these threats have existed for years, they have gotten more sophisticated over time and can now be very difficult to detect or prevent. Trojan horse viruses, in particular, have become an especially popular tool among criminals because they allow them to invisibly infiltrate systems without raising any red flags.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss steps that can be taken by businesses to protect themselves against the Trojan horse virus.
Train Employees
Training your employees on the importance of data security is a crucial step in preventing corporate espionage. In addition to training them on the other forms of security, you should also make sure that they identify any Trojan horse virus example and how it can be used against the company.
Inspired eLearning emphasizes that the best way to do this is through interactive workshops and seminars where employees can learn about these threats through simulations or hands-on practice.
A good way to approach this type of training would be by explaining what a Trojan horse virus does. The virus hides inside another program that looks legitimate but contains malicious code that allows hackers access into your system when opened by an unsuspecting user (for example, an email attachment).
Use Access Controls
Access controls are the policies and procedures that determine who can access what information and how they can access it. These include authentication, authorization, and audit. Authentication is proving your identity, authorization is determining if you have permission to access a resource, and audit is monitoring who accessed the resource (and when).
To prevent corporate espionage, you should use strong password policies for all accounts on every system that stores sensitive information about your company’s operations or customers.
You should also make sure that all employees understand these policies by providing training sessions on how best to protect themselves from phishing attacks, attempts at stealing passwords through email spoofing, as well as malware infections.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication is a method of confirming the identity of an entity attempting to access a system. It adds a layer of security to the traditional username and password model, which can be implemented in many ways.
For example:
- A user might need both their smartphone and their fingerprint scanner to log into their work computer. This prevents someone from hacking into your account by simply guessing your password or using one that’s easy for them to remember (like “123456”).
- You could also use multi-factor authentication for online banking or other financial transactions, requiring both physical access to your bank card along with entering a PIN before making any kind of transaction on your account, even if someone else has got hold of either piece separately.
Monitor Network Activity
To prevent corporate espionage, you need to be aware of what’s happening on your network. This means monitoring traffic and detecting suspicious activity.
To do this, you have to:
- Use a network monitoring tool to keep tabs on your employees’ activity, such as emailing sensitive information or accessing restricted websites.
- Invest in a SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution that can analyze data from multiple sources like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software. The SIEM identify threats quickly before they become costly problems for your organization.
- If you don’t have the budget for that kind of system just yet but still want some insight into what’s going on inside your company’s walls, consider investing in an NSM instead. This stands for Network Security Monitoring Solution because it offers all the benefits of a SIEM without requiring as much initial investment upfront.
Use Encryption
The act of encoding messages or information in a manner that restricts access to authorized parties is known as encryption. Encryption works by using an algorithm to convert information into a form called ciphertext, which cannot be easily understood by unauthorized people.
For encryption to be effective, it must be used properly and consistently throughout your organization’s communications infrastructure:
- All data should be encrypted before being transmitted over any network connection between two systems, including local networks, wide area networks (WANs), intranets, and extranets, as well as remote access connections such as VPNs or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
- The same key should be used for all communications between all users within an organization. This ensures that data cannot be decrypted unless all parties involved have access to the same keys needed for decryption purposes.
Use Endpoint Protection
A variety of endpoint protection tools can help you to prevent corporate espionage. These include:
- Anti-virus software protects your computer from viruses, worms, and Trojans that may be introduced into the network via email or downloaded files.
- Anti-spyware software protects against malicious programs designed to collect information about users (such as keystrokes) without their knowledge or consent.
- Malware detection programs scan incoming emails for embedded links to malware sites before they reach the inboxes of employees. This type of technology is known as email gateway filtering.
- Firewalls block unauthorized access to systems by hackers or other unauthorized users (e.g., employees). You can also use host intrusion prevention systems (HIPS) and network intrusion prevention systems (NIPS). HIPS monitors activity within an individual computer system, while NIPS analyze network traffic patterns across multiple machines within an organization’s infrastructure.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been recently identified by Gartner as a top-tier, cloud-based endpoint security solution that delivers comprehensive endpoint protection, endpoint detection and response, mobile threat defense, and integrated vulnerability management.
Microsoft 365 Defender consolidates leading-edge endpoint, identity, email, and cloud app security products into a seamless XDR solution that equips defenders with greater power. It enables organizations to respond more efficiently by prioritizing incidents and providing access to cutting-edge threat intelligence.
Use Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems
Network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) are designed to detect malicious activity on a network. They work by monitoring all traffic flowing through the network and looking for suspicious patterns, such as large amounts of data being sent out from one host or unusual connections between two hosts that don’t normally communicate with each other. If a NIDS detects anything suspicious, it alerts the user so they can take action against it.
An intrusion prevention system (IPS) is similar to a NIDS in that it monitors network activity for signs of malicious activity. However, unlike NIDS, which simply alerts you when something bad happens and lets you decide what to do next, an IPS blocks any attempts at unauthorized access by blocking connection attempts altogether before they occur.
Perform Regular Security Audits
According to Information Security Buzz, the significance of cybersecurity goes beyond safeguarding personal privacy and extends to the business and government domains. In the digital era, entities of all scales and sectors preserve sensitive data, such as customer data, financial records, and confidential business information, which are susceptible to cyber threats.
To maintain the trust of clients, investors, and business partners, companies must secure this data.
You can reduce your risk of Trojan horse viruses by performing regular security audits. A security audit is a process that assesses the effectiveness of your existing security measures and identifies potential areas where your company is vulnerable to attack. A good audit should be performed by a third party, which can provide an objective view of the risks facing your organization.
To ensure that all systems and devices are covered during an audit, they must be included in all aspects: hardware, software (including operating systems), networks, databases, and applications, including mobile devices like laptops, cloud services such as Dropbox or Google Drive and other external sources such as social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
Conclusion
According to Cyber Security Hub, over 2.8 billion malware attacks were reported worldwide in the first half of 2022, posing not only network threats but also monetary risks for businesses, particularly those hit by ransomware.
In 2021, ransomware damages alone amounted to USD 20 billion, marking a 6054 percent surge from the global cost of ransomware in 2015, which was USD 325 million. The ransomware costs are projected to climb higher, with estimated damages of USD 250 billion by 2031.
As you can see, corporate espionage is a very real threat. It can have devastating effects on your company’s bottom line and reputation. If you suspect that your employees are being targeted by corporate spies, it’s important to act quickly before any damage is done, and this article has shown you how.