“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles,” wrote Sun Tzu in his classic Art of War.
In cyber defense, knowing the enemy has become increasingly difficult. CISOs and security analysts might know who the attackers are—criminal syndicates, hackers, nation states, or other parties interested in exploiting IT weaknesses for profit or spite. But knowing the nature of the enemy’s attack has become a high-stakes, maddening hunt for clues.
Every year security attacks become more stealthy and sophisticated. AV products and firewalls will instantly spot any malware with a known “signature” or profile. Detecting known malware has become as easy as a bouncer stopping a ten-year-old from entering a bar. No attacker wants to be turned away that easily, so they’ve become experts at disguising their attacks. Malware might be time-delayed, so it doesn’t activate immediately, tipping off security software scanning for attacks. Or it might be distributed piecemeal and assembled only once inside the firewall.
Most risky of all is malware taking the form of a zero-day attack, which by definition is utterly unknown to security companies and their AV products. Having discovered previously unknown vulnerabilities in software products that can be used for ill intent, bad actors will often wait weeks or months, then unleash a large attack all at once, leveraging zero-day vulnerabilities, confounding security teams, and wreaking havoc, whether through data breaches, DDoS attacks, ransomware, or some other forms of malfeasance.
Stealthy attacks have become an art form. Enterprises need to apply equal artistry and sophistication to unmask their attackers, so they can—as Sun Tzu said—“know the enemy.”
Accellion kiteworks and Check Point SandBlast
On January 17, 2018, Accellion and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. announced a joint partnership to deliver an integrated solution that enables enterprises to protect sensitive content entering and leaving the enterprise. This solution, comprising the Accellion kiteworks secure file-sharing platform and the Check Point SandBlast advanced threat protection platform, enables CISOs and security analysts to be confident that all files shared through kiteworks have been scanned for zero-day threats, advanced persistent threats, ransomware, and other types of malware.
The partnership enables enterprises to know what malware is attempting to enter the enterprise when a file is received from an external party. The joint solution promptly detects and stops infected content and enables administrators to review suspicious content in a secure environment.
Check Point SandBlast provides industry-leading network protection from even the most sophisticated malware and zero-day threats. Using Threat Emulation sandboxing and Threat Extraction technologies, SandBlast prevents unknown malware and zero-day attacks from reaching users. Unlike traditional solutions that succumb to evasion techniques, introduce unacceptable delays, or let potential threats through while evaluating files, Check Point SandBlast stops more malware while keeping up with today’s rapid pace of business.
Through integration with kiteworks, SandBlast can now analyze all files uploaded to kiteworks or to any Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform being managed through a kiteworks connector. In addition, SandBlast can automatically analyze all files sent through kiteworks email links. As a result, all files shared through kiteworks can now receive in-depth scrutiny for malware from the industry-leading advanced threat protection solution. The integrated solution is available for both cloud and on-prem deployments.
“We see our partnership with Check Point as a very important step in furthering the secure sharing of sensitive information outside of an organization’s firewall,” said Jonathan Yaron, Chief Executive Officer at Accellion. “By integrating with SandBlast, we strengthen our security offering, which is a cornerstone of our strategy. Together, we can ensure that any information that enters or leaves the organization is protected and in turn reduces the risk of a data breach. Similar to our integrations with other enterprise security solutions such as DLP, Single Sign On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication, by partnering with a leader in advanced threat prevention technology, we continue to enable customers to fully leverage their existing investments in security infrastructure to keep their most sensitive content secure.”
“Within this current threat environment, it’s imperative for organizations to have full confidence that the information coming into and going out has not been compromised in any way,” commented Nathan Shuchami, Vice President, Emerging Products at Check Point Software Technologies. “By integrating Accellion with SandBlast, Check Point’s advanced threat prevention platform, we provide our customers additional peace of mind that their largest and most sensitive files remain secure and free of any malware, even as they travel beyond enterprise borders.”
Check Point customers can also use SandBlast to protect Office 365 email, enterprise networks, web browsers, and devices such as PCs, Macs, smartphones, and tablets.
Know - and Stop - Your Enemy
Security attacks occur around the clock in continuously evolving patterns and with ever more subtle techniques. Using the integrated Accellion kiteworks - Check Point SandBlast solution, enterprises can know their enemy, stop attacks, and no longer fear the result of hundreds of battles.
To learn more about kiteworks and SandBlast, please visit our advanced threat prevention page.