With the increase in data breaches, the data security world is a much scarier place today. According to the most recent stats from ITRC (Identity Theft Resource Center), 2017 was a record breaking year for data breaches, and 2018 is already on pace to be more of the same. So with threats coming left and right, what steps can you take to better protect your assets? Enter File Integrity Monitoring.
Seconds of Damage, Months of Recovery
In many cases, you may not know for a long time you have been compromised. According to CNBC, most companies aren’t aware of a breach until weeks after it has happened. This is likely due to the speed in which the incident occurs. The attacker is there and gone in seconds. Verizon’s 2016 Data Breach Investigations states that 93 percent of cases where data was stolen, systems were compromised in minutes or less, but in over 80 percent of cases, victims didn’t find the breach for weeks or more. This kind of damage to your business and reputation can take months, if not years, to repair.
Hackers Often Leave a Trail
So back to File Integrity Monitoring and why it is so critically important. File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) is the first line of defense of any organization wishing to protect its assets and data. To explain further, once a breach is under way in your network, the attacker will often do one or more of the following.
- Modify critical systems, application binaries and configuration files
- Access or modify data files
- Modify or delete any log data to hide their tracks
The research done by Verizon analyzed more than 100,000 incidents and 2,260 breaches. They found that more than 90 percent of the breaches will fall into this same pattern. By having a FIM system in place, you’ll be able to monitor for these subtle changes and be instantly alerted if any of the above events have been detected.
File Integrity Monitoring Sniffs Out the Breadcrumbs
File Integrity Monitoring is such a valuable tool that we consider it a vital part of the Advanced Security Package. FIM will run every day at an inspection time determined by you and will watch for any changes within your network. A digest of the inspection report can then be emailed to you on a daily or weekly basis. Additionally, another helpful feature is a heatmap data visualization, which helps you quickly assess the state of your network. Events on this heatmap can be filtered by severity in order to help you focus on the most important events in your environment.
You Don’t Need a Fortress
A further quote from the Verizon study really drives this home. “There’s no such thing as an impenetrable system, but often even a half-decent defense will deter many cybercriminals — they’ll move on and look for an easier target. Sadly, many organizations fail to achieve even that modest ambition.”
Sometimes, it’s not about the size of your castle. It’s more about the size of your moat.
Put FIM in Place Today
File Integrity Monitoring is something that is available to all Wind River customers as part of the Advanced Security Package. If you’re interested in learning more or you’re an existing customer looking to get these tools in place, feel free to contact us today. We believe in creating Security First environments and delivering these capabilities in a way that saves you money.
