Web Filtering

Web filtering is an ideal solution to prevent Internet users from visiting unsafe website that potentially harbor viruses and malware. A web filter works by comparing a request to visit a website against a list of predetermined parameters. If the request fails to pass the criteria defined by the parameters, the request is denied.

This process prevents Internet users from accessing websites they have been invited to visit in a phishing email or when clicking on an advertising link. Web filtering can also be configured to prevent cyberslacking, to block certain types of files from being downloaded or bandwidth-hogging web applications from being used.

To find out more about how your organization can strengthen its online defenses, enhance productivity and limit bandwidth loss, speak with one of our team today about web filtering.

How to Defend Against Phishing Attacks on Remote Workers

There has been an increase in phishing attacks on remote workers using COVID-19 as a lure over the past few months. Multiple studies suggest the number of COVID-19 related phishing attacks have soared. The anti-phishing training company KnowBe4 placed the rise at about 600% in Q1, 2020, and that rise has continued in Q2.

As was pointed out by Microsoft, the total number of phishing attacks has not increased by any major degree during the COVID-19 public health emergency, as cyber actors have finite capabilities for conducting attacks. What has happened is threat actors have abandoned their standard phishing campaigns and have repurposed their phishing infrastructure and are now using COVID-19 lures, and with good reason.

People crave information about the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and COVID-19. There is a thirst for knowledge about the virus, how it infects people, how to prevent infection, and how great the risk is of catching it. With little information available about this new virus, finding out more information required following the news from countries around the world that are involved in research. Unsolicited emails offing important information naturally had a high open rate, so it is no surprise that COVID-19 phishing attacks have increased.

To control the spread of the virus, countries have gone into lockdown, so businesses have had to allow their employees to work from home. The increase in home workers happened very quickly, so businesses did not have the time to prepare properly and that meant new risks were introduced. It is therefore no surprise that there has been an increase in data breaches during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cybercriminals have taken advantage of lapses in security, insufficient staff training, and the vulnerabilities that are introduced when employees are forced to work in an environment that has not been set up remote working.

IT teams have had to rapidly purchase new laptops to allow employees to work outside the office and there has not been time to properly secure those devices. VPN infrastructure was not sufficient to cope with the rapid increase in users. Home networks lack the security of corporate networks, and training employees on working from home securely had to be rushed. In order to allow remote workers to access the data they need, data has had to be moved to the cloud, and that has inevitably resulted in vulnerabilities being introduced. In short, the attack surface has increased considerably, huge numbers of devices are being used outside the protection of the corporate firewall, and new working environments have greatly increased the potential for errors.

Cybercriminals have taken advantage of these new vulnerabilities. Unpatched VPNs and software flaws are being exploited, RDP is being targeted, but phishing and spear phishing attacks offer the easiest way of gaining access to sensitive corporate data and spreading malware and ransomware. Improving phishing defenses is therefore critical.

Important Phishing Defenses for Remote Workers

Improving phishing defenses is one of the most important ways of protecting remote workers, their devices, and the networks and data that they are accessing remotely. Listed below are simple steps you can take to improve security and reduce risk.

Improve Email Security

The easiest way to thwart phishing attacks is to block the emails at source, and that requires a powerful anti-phishing solution. Many businesses have been relying on the standard anti-phishing measures provided with Office 365 – Exchange Online Protection (EOP). EOP is effective at blocking spam and standard (known) phishing attacks, but it is not particularly effective at blocking zero-day threats: New, previously unseen phishing and malware attacks. There have been a great many of zero-day attacks during the COVID-19 lockdown.

They key to improving email security is layered defenses. Adding an extra layer of email security on top of EOP will greatly improve detection rates. It is best not to put all your eggs in one basket and opt for the second (paid) tier of protection offered by Microsoft (Advanced Threat Protection or APT), instead use a third-party dedicated anti-spam and anti-phishing solution that features predictive threat detection and advanced anti-phishing mechanisms to detect zero-day threats. SpamTitan features machine learning, predictive technology, threat intelligence feeds, sandboxing, dual anti-virus engines and more to ensure that zero-day threats are blocked. SpamTitan adds an important extra layer of security, and SpamTitan itself includes layered defenses against phishing attacks.

Implement a Web Filter

Security can be further improved with a web filtering solution such as WebTitan. A web filter adds another layer to your anti-phishing defenses by blocking the web-based component of phishing and malware attacks. If a phishing email does reach an inbox, a web filter can prevent a click on a hyperlink from turning into a data breach. WebTitan provides time of click protection to block attempts by employees to visit malicious websites, such as those used to phish for credentials or distribute malware. WebTitan can be used to block web-based attacks for office and remote workers and allows different controls to be set depending where employees connect to the internet.

Train Staff and Conduct Phishing Simulations

Remote employees need to be trained how to work and access data securely, and that means refresher cybersecurity training should be provided to reeducate employees about cybersecurity best practices. Trai9ning must also be provided on how to work securely from home.

Phishing is the easiest way that employees can be attacked, so they must be trained how to recognize a phishing email. It is also useful to run phishing email simulations on remote workers to find out which employees have taken the training on board and who needs further training. Training can reduce susceptibility to phishing attacks by up to 90%.

Increase in Malvertising Highlights Importance of Strong Internet Security Measures

The massive increase employees working reportedly has not been missed by cybercriminals, who are actively targeting these workers using a variety of tactics to fool them into disclosing their credentials or installing malware. Phishing attacks remain the most common method used to attack remote workers, but there has also been a notable increase in malvertising during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Malvertising is the practice of creating malicious adverts which are syndicated across legitimate websites through third-party ad networks. The malicious adverts are used to redirect website visitors to webpages where credentials are harvested, malware is downloaded, or to other scams to obtain fraudulent payments or charitable donations.

Several COVID-19 themed ploys have been used in these malvertising campaigns to trick people into downloading malware. These scams prey on fears about SARS-CoV-19, often spoofing WHO and other COVID-19 authorities to add legitimacy to the campaigns. A common theme is an offer of important advice on how to protect against COVID-19.

There rise in malvertising activity during the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant, with some reports indicating the number of malicious adverts have doubled in March compared to standard levels of malicious advert activity prior to the pandemic.

A malvertising campaign was recently identified that spoofed the anti-malware software vendor Malwarebytes. The campaign claimed the user’s computer was infected with malware and a download of Malwarebytes’ software was required to remove the infections. The malicious webpage used for the scam was on a malwarebytes-free domain that was registered on March 29, 2020. The site used a copycat template created from stolen branding from the genuine site. Any individual that landed on the website that was using the Internet Explorer browser was redirected to a webpage hosting the Fallout exploit kit that silently downloads the Raccoon information stealer.

There was a major increase in domain registrations related to COVID-19 in March. While not all of these websites are currently being used for nefarious purposes, many are being used for scamming. NTT recently issued an alert stating that around 2,000 COVID-19 domains are being set up each day and there has been a significant rise in phishing attacks directing users to newly registered domains. The TrickBot Trojan accounts for the majority of malware infections from these sites. Figures from Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 team show there was a 656% increase in the number of new COVID-19 related domains registered in March.

The increase in web-based attacks calls for improvements to cybersecurity defenses to protect remote employee’s devices from malware infections. A download of malware onto a user’s device could easily see the malware transferred to the network when the user connects.

One of the easiest and most effective ways of blocking these attacks is to implement a web filtering solution such as WebTitan Cloud. With WebTitan Cloud in place, when a user attempts to visit a malicious website, or when an attempt is made to redirect a user through malvertising, rather than arriving on the website the user will be directed to a local block page.

WebTitan Cloud also allows filtering controls to be applied to control the types of websites employees can visit on their corporate-owned devices. Controls can be applied to block access to risky websites such as torrents and peer-to-peer file sharing sites, which are also being used to distribute malware.

WebTitan Cloud is a DNS-based filter that conducts filtering at the DNS lookup stage of a web request. Applying filtering controls and restricting access to certain categories of website involves no latency, which is especially important during lockdown when employees typically have far less bandwidth available than at the office.

WebTitan Cloud does not require the installation of a clients and the solution can be set up and configured in minutes to protect all workers, no matter where they choose to access the internet.

If you are interested in improving internet security and want to find out more about WebTitan Cloud and DNS filtering, call TitanHQ today to book a product demonstration, register for a free trial, and start protecting your employees from online threats.

Cybercriminals Are Exploiting Uncertainty and Fear About Coronavirus and COVID-19

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic and are exploiting fear to spread malware and steal data. These tactics many not be new, but these campaigns pose a significant threat in the current climate of global fear and worry.

People are naturally worried about contracting COVID-19 and will be concerned about the wellbeing of their friends and family members. Many people crave new information to help avoid them avoid illness and protect their families. If that information arrives in an inbox, email attachments may be opened, and links clicked to malicious websites.

Even when training is provided to employees and they are taught not to respond to unsolicited messages, open email attachments, or click links in emails from unknown senders, mistakes can still be made. During the COVID-19 crisis, stress levels are high, and this can easily lead to decisions being taken that would not normally be made.

Businesses have been forced to allow their employees to work from home, many of whom are now working in a home environment where there are many distractions. Many people do not have home offices where they can quietly work, and a challenging working environment also makes mistakes more likely. Those mistakes can prove very costly.

Phishing campaigns are being conducted targeting home workers as they are seen as low-hanging fruit and an easy way to gain access to business networks to install malware, ransomware, and steal sensitive data. Several campaigns have been detected that offer important advice on the 2019 novel coronavirus that impersonate authorities on disease control and prevention such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, UK National Health Service, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The phishing campaigns are credible, claim to offer important advice, and are likely to be opened by many individuals. These campaigns seek remote access credentials and distribute malware.

Coronavirus maps that display the number of cases per country are being used on many websites, including a legitimate COVID-19 case tracking map on Johns Hopkins University website.  One campaign has been detected that uses a carbon copy map and urges users to download a desktop application that allows them to track new cases. The application installs the information-stealing AZORult Trojan. As the COVID-19 crisis has deepened, these phishing and malspam campaigns have increased significantly.

With more people working from home and self-isolating, the risk of malware and phishing attacks has increased significantly. It is therefore important for businesses to make sure that they are properly protected and manage risk. During this difficult time, it is important to provide security awareness training to staff to keep them aware of the threat of cyberattacks and to help them identify malicious messages. Phishing simulation exercises are a useful way of assessing risk and identifying individuals that require further training.

It is also important to implement additional control measure to block attacks at source. There are two main attack vectors being used to target remote workers: Email and the web. Due to the high risk of mistakes by employees it is essential for businesses to have an effective email security solution in place.

The key to improving email security is defense in depth. Layered defenses will greatly improve resilience to phishing and malware attacks. If you are using Office 365 and have yet to augment protection with a third-party email security solution, now is the ideal time. One 2019 study showed that Office 365 protections only block around 75% of phishing attempts. Given the increase in phishing volume, a great many malicious emails will land in inboxes unless protection is improved.

The more time people spend online, the greater the risk. With many workers housebound and self-isolating, online time has increased considerably. Unsurprisingly, the of number of malicious domains being used to distribute malware has increased and drive-by malware attacks have spiked. With corporate laptops being used at home, steps should be taken to limit what employees can do on those laptops. Blocking access to ‘risky’ websites such those distributing pirated TV shows and movies will help to reduce the risk of a malware download, along with controls to prevent the downloading of risky file times such as software installers and executable files.

A web filtering solution will allow you to control the sites that remote employees can access on their corporate laptops and prevent malicious websites from being visited. A cloud-based web filtering solution is the ideal choice as it can be easily implemented to protect all remote workers, without causing any latency issues.

TitanHQ can help you protect your telecommuting workers from email and web-based threats. SpamTitan is a powerful email security solution that compliments Office 365 anti-spam and anti-phishing controls and enhances protection against phishing, spear phishing, and zero-day malware.  WebTitan is a cloud-based DNS filtering solution that is simple to implement that allows you to carefully control the online activities of remote employees and block drive-by malware downloads and other web-based threats.

Both solutions can be implemented in a matter of minutes and will greatly improve protection against web and email-based threats. For further information, to book a product demonstration, or to register for a free trial, contact TitanHQ today.

Why a DNS Filter Should be Part of Your Security Stack

Phishing attacks are increasing and malware is a growing threat. A DNS filter adds an important level of protection to block these attacks. In this post we explain why.

The Growing Threat from Malware and Phishing Attacks

There are various methods used to deliver malware, but email remains one of the most common methods of distributing malware, either through malicious attachments or hyperlinks in emails that direct users to websites where malware is downloaded. The latter is a popular method of malware delivery as there is an increased chance that the hyperlink will not be detected as malicious by an email security solution. Various tactics are used to mask these URLs from email security solutions, such as adding the hyperlink to an attached file such as a PDF.

The Emotet Trojan is one of the most prevalent threats and also one of the most dangerous. Emotet is primarily spread via email through a combination of attachments and malicious URLs. The Trojan is an information stealer capable of spreading across networks to infect other vulnerable devices. Removing the malware is problematic, as there are usually multiple devices infected. As soon as the malware is removed from one device, others on the network re-infect the cleaned machine. Emotet is also a malware downloader. Once all valuable information has been obtained post-infection, other malware variants such as the TrickBot Trojan and RYUK ransomware are downloaded. All devices infected with Emotet are added to the botnet. An analysis by the SpamHaus project revealed around 6,000 malicious URLs are emitted from infected devices, which act as compromise vectors.

An advanced spam filter will ensure that the majority of malicious emails are blocked, but it is important not to totally rely on a spam filter alone to block email-based malware and phishing attacks. The key to a strong defense is to implement layered defenses. With overlapping layers of security, if one layer fails to block a threat, another is in place to provide protection. One of the most important additional protections against phishing attacks and email-based malware is a web filter.

Why a Web Filter is so Important

Phishing attacks have an email and web-based component. The email contains the lure and a hyperlink is included that directs the recipient to a webpage hosting a phishing kit. When the user visits the website credentials and other sensitive information is harvested. A spam filter will block most of these phishing emails and a web filter provides protection against emails that are not blocked, as well as protecting against accidental navigation to malicious websites through malvertising or general web browsing.

A web filter is a form of content control that prevents network users from visiting known malicious websites. When a network user attempts to visit a malicious website, rather than connecting to the site, they are directed to a block page. That block page informs the user that they have attempted to visit a prohibited website which, in this case is a phishing page or website hosting malware. It could equally be a website that violates an organization’s internet usage policies. A web filter therefore serves as an additional, and important, layer of security to block phishing attacks and malware and ransomware downloads.

Web Filtering Options

There are different web filtering options available. Appliance-based web filters were once the go-to solution, but cloud-based filtering is now much more common, more cost effective for most organizations, and easier to implement and maintain.

Appliance-based solutions are not scalable. Once capacity has been reached, another appliance must be purchased. Software-based web filters, which are usually deployed as a virtual appliance on existing hardware, are a good choice but the most popular web filtering solutions are cloud-based. With cloud-based web filters, all filtering takes place in the cloud on the service provider’s hardware. Cloud-based filters are highly scalable. If capacity is increased, additional licenses just need to be purchased which takes seconds.

DNS Filtering is the Most Flexible Web Filtering Choice

The most popular, flexible, and scalable solution is a DNS filter. When a user makes a request to visit a website, such as by clicking a hyperlink or navigating to a website through their browser, a set of procedures must be followed to display the content.

One of the first steps is to send a query to the DNS server. The DNS server matches an easy to remember domain name – google.com for instance – with an IP address that allows the site to be found. A DNS filter works at this stage of the process and will block attempts to visit prohibited websites or malicious sites before any content is downloaded. Modern DNS filters do not just block content at the domain level. They also block content at the URL and page level. This means that a page on Medium.com could be blocked, while other content on the site is allowed. This means filtering controls are very granular and there is less potential for overblocking of web content.

WebTitan – A DNS Filter for SMBs and MSPs Serving the SMB Market

TitanHQ’s DNS filtering solution – WebTitan – has been developed for use by SMBs, MSPs providing security services to SMBs, and ISPs with millions of users. WebTitan includes market-leading classification of web content and malicious URL detection, and the solution is updated in real-time with more than 60,000 malicious URLs added to the filter every day. The solution includes advanced analytics and threat intelligence feeds and covers more than 99.9% of the active web. The solution is also easy to integrate into your own systems through TitanHQ’s API, and the solution can be purchased, set up, and be providing protection in just a few minutes.

For more information on WebTitan, to sign up for a free trial, or to book a product demonstration, give the TitanHQ team a call today.

How to Protect Remote Workers from Wi-Fi Threats

Today there is an increasingly mobile workforce. Workers are able to travel and stay connected to the office and many employees are allowed to work remotely for at least some part of the week. While workers are in the office, security is not a problem for IT departments. Workers connect to the internal network, be that a wired or wireless network, and thanks to the protection of the firewall, their devices and the network are protected. The problem comes when workers move outside the protection of that firewall. Here IT departments struggle to ensure the same level of protection.

When workers are travelling for work or are between the home and the office, they often connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots. Connecting to those hotspots introduces risks. While connected, sensitive information could potentially be disclosed which could be intercepted. Malware could also be inadvertently downloaded. When a connection is made to the work network, that malware could easily be transferred.

Connecting to untrusted Wi-Fi networks is a major risk. These could be legitimate Wi-Fi services provided on public transport, in coffee shops, or city-wide Wi-Fi networks. While these networks may be safe, there is no telling who may be connected to that network. These Wi-Fi networks are often not monitored, and cybersecurity protections may be poor.

There are several possible attack scenarios where an individual could perform malicious acts on users of the Wi-Fi network. One of the biggest risks is a man-in-the-middle attack. In this scenario, a Wi-Fi user will be connected to the network and will believe that they are securely accessing the internet, their email, or even the work network, when the reality is that their connection is anything but secure.

A hacker could be listening in and could obtain information from that connection. Through ARP poisoning, a hacker could trick the Wi-Fi gateway and the user’s device into connecting, and traffic would be routed through the hacker’s device where it is intercepted. An attacker could also create an evil twin hotspot. Here a rogue hotspot is created that closely mimics the genuine hotspot. A Wi-Fi user may mistakenly connect to the evil twin thinking they are connected to the legitimate hotspot. Since the evil twin is operated by the attacker, any information disclosed while connected can be intercepted.

Remote workers must be told never to connect to a Wi-Fi network unless they do so through a VPN than encrypts their data. Employees may forget to connect to their VPN, and if weak passwords are used, even if they are encrypted they could be cracked relatively easily, but with a VPN and password policies, risk will be reduced to a reasonable level.

Wi-Fi networks tend not to have the same protections as corporate networks, so there may be little restrictions on the types of website that can be accessed while connected. To protect remote workers, a DNS filter such as WebTitan should be used.

A DNS filter performs content control at the DNS lookup stage when a user attempts to access the internet. When a web address is entered in the browser, the DNS server looks up the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and matches it with the IP address of the website. The browser is provided with the IP address and the server is contacted and the content is downloaded. With a DNS filter, before any content is downloaded, it is subject to certain rules. For instance, category-based filtering could be used to prevent adult content from being accessed. An attempt would be blocked before any content is downloaded. Importantly for security, the DNS filter would prevent the user from visiting any known malicious website. A phishing site for instance or a site known to harbor malware. With a cloud-based DNS filtering service, all filtering takes place in the cloud and there is no latency regardless of where the individual is located. DNS filtering protects workers on corporate networks as well as remote workers.

A further control that is useful is an email filtering solution, such as SpamTitan, that incorporates Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC).

In the event of a user’s email credentials being obtained in a man-in-the-middle attack via a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot, their email account could be accessed by the attacker. Since legitimate credentials are being used, this would not generate any alerts and the attacker could peruse the email account in their own time. If the account is used to send phishing messages, as they often are, DMARC will prevent those messages from being delivered and will alert the company to the issue.

The DMARC element of the spam filter checks the sender’s IP address to make sure it matches the IP on the DNS servers for the sender’s organization to make sure they match. If the IP is not authorized to send messages from that domain, the messages will be rejected or quarantined, and the company would be alerted to the phishing attack. The same is true for spoofing of email addresses.

SpamTitan also includes dual anti-virus engines to identify malware sent via email and sandboxing to help catch previously unknown malware variants that have yet to have their signatures uploaded to AV engines. Any malware sent via email will also be quarantined to keep inboxes free of threats.

If you run a business and allow workers to connect remotely, speak to TitanHQ today to find out more about how you can better protect your remote workers, and your business, from cyberattacks conducted via email and the web.

Our team of highly experienced staff will walk you through the benefits of DNS and spam filtering, can schedule a personalized product demonstration, and will help you get set up for a free trial of SpamTitan and WebTitan. You can then evaluate both solutions in your own environment. Both solutions can be set up and protecting you in a matter of minutes.

Rise in Cyberattacks on Law Firms Highlights Need for Additional Security Layers

The increase in cyberattacks on law firms has highlighted a need for greater security protections, especially to protect against phishing, malware, and ransomware.

According to a recent Law.com report, more than 100 law firms are known to have experienced cyberattacks in the past five years: Cyberattacks that have resulted in hackers gaining access to sensitive information and, in many cases, employee, attorney, and client information.

Investigations such as this are likely to uncover just a small percentage of successful cyberattacks, as many are resolved quietly and are not reported. Many law firms will be keen to keep a cyberattack private due to the potential damage it could do to a firm’s reputation. The reputation of a law firm is everything.

As Law.com explained, there are different data breach reporting requirements in different states. If there is no legal requirement to report the data breaches, they will not be reported. That means that only if reportable information has potentially been compromised will the breach be reported to regulators or made public. It is therefore not possible to tell how many successful cyberattacks on law firms have occurred. However, there has been a steady rise in reported cyberattacks on law firms, as is the case with attacks on other industry sectors. Law.com’s figures are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.

From the perspective of cybercriminals, law firms are a very attractive target. The types of information stored on clients is incredibly valuable and can be used for extortion. Information on mergers and takeovers and other sensitive corporate data can be used to gain a competitive advantage. Cybercriminals are also well aware that if they can deploy ransomware and encrypt client files, there is a higher than average probability that the ransom will be quietly paid.

Based on the information that has been made public about law firm data breaches, one of the main ways that law firms are attacked is via email. Many of the data breaches started with a response to a phishing or spear phishing email. Phishing allows cybercriminals to bypass even sophisticated cybersecurity protections as it targets a well-known weakness: Employees.

Employees can be trained to be more security aware and be taught how to recognize potential phishing emails, but phishers are conducting ever more sophisticated campaigns and every employee will make a mistake from time to time. That mistake could be all that it takes to compromise a computer, server, or a large part of a network.

One firm contacted for the report explained that it had implemented advanced cybersecurity protections that were undone with a phishing email. The digital security measures it had in place greatly restricted the harm caused, and there was no evidence that the attacker had accessed sensitive information, but the attack did succeed.

In response, the law firm implemented more advanced security protocols, implemented a more aggressive spam filter, multi-factor authentication was used more widely, and it revised its policies and procedures and training. Had those measures been implemented in advance, it may have been possible to block the attack.

The response was to implement more layered defenses, which are critical for blocking modern cyberattacks. Overlapping layers of security ensure that if one measure fails, others are in place to prevent an attack from succeeding.

This is an area where TitanHQ can help. TitanHQ has developed cybersecurity solutions that can fit seamlessly into existing security stacks and provide extra layers of security to block the most common attack vectors. TitanHQ’s email and web security solutions – SpamTitan and WebTitan – provide advanced protection without compromising usability.

Since many clients prefer to communicate via email, it is important for all incoming attachments to be analyzed for malicious code. Extensive checks are performed on all incoming (and outgoing) emails, with SpamTitan able to block not only known malware but also zero-day threats. SpamTitan also includes DMARC email authentication to block email impersonation attacks and sandbox to analyze suspicious files and identify malicious or suspicious activity.

WebTitan provides protection from web-based threats. Most malware is now delivered via the internet, so a web security solution is essential. WebTitan is a DNS filtering solution that protects against all known malicious sites. It is constantly updated in real time through threat intelligence services to ensure maximum protection. The solution provides advanced protection against drive-by downloads and malicious redirects to exploit kits and other malicious sites and provides and important additional layer of security to protect against phishing attacks.

Law firms will no doubt prefer to host their cybersecurity solutions within their own environments or private clouds, which TitanHQ will happily accommodate.

For further information on TitanHQ’s cybersecurity solutions for law firms, contact the TitanHQ team today. Managed Services Providers serving the legal industry should contact TitanHQ’s channel team to find out more about the TitanShield program and discover why TitanHQ is the leading provider of cloud-based email and web security solutions to MSPs serving the SMB market.

Spelevo Exploit Kit Now Delivering Maze Ransomware

The Spelevo exploit kit is being used to deliver Maze ransomware to unsuspecting internet users via a vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player.

The Spelevo exploit kit has been used to deliver a variety of malicious payloads since it was first detected in early 2019. Initially it was used to silently download the GootKit Trojan, and latterly the Dridex and IceD banking Trojans. Now the threat actors behind Maze ransomware have joined forces with the EK developers to deliver their malicious payload.

Spelevo has previously been loaded onto a compromised business-to-business contact website to target business users, although the latest campaign uses ad network traffic to send users to a fake cryptocurrency website, where they are then redirected to a web page hosting the exploit kit.

The Flash Vulnerability – CVE-2018-15982 – is then exploited in the browser to silently download and execute the ransomware payload. If that download occurs, the user’s files will be encrypted. There is currently no free decryptor for Maze ransomware. Recovery will depend on restoring files from backups – provided they too have not also been encrypted – or the user will face permanent file loss if they do not pay the ransom demand. The ransom doubles if payment is not made within a week.

Exploit kits used to be one of the main ways that malware was distributed, although they fell out of favor with cybercriminals who found alternate, more profitable ways to earn money. The threat never disappeared but exploit kit activity dropped to a tiny fraction of the level seen a few years ago when Angler exploit kit activity was at its peak. However, over the past year or so, exploit kit activity has been increasing. Today, there are several active exploit kits that are being used to deliver a variety of malware and ransomware payloads.

Exploit kits will only work if they have been loaded with an exploit for a vulnerability that has not been patched on a user’s device. Prompt patching will ensure that even if a user lands on a web page hosting an exploit kit, no malware download will take place. However, many businesses are slow to apply patches and it can be several months before vulnerabilities are corrected.

One of the best defenses against exploit kits is a DNS filter. A DNS filter is a control mechanism used to prevent users from visiting malicious websites. With a DNS filter in place, websites known to host malware or malicious code are blocked at the DNS lookup stage, before any content is downloaded. If a user attempts to visit a known malicious web page, they will be directed to a block screen instead.

Web filters can also be used to prevent ‘risky’ file types from being downloaded, such as .exe, .scr, or .js files.  In addition to blocking malware downloads, a DNS filter can be used by businesses to enforce their acceptable internet usage policies and prevent employees from accessing productivity-draining websites and adult content.

A web filter is an important part of layered defenses against malware and other internet-based attacks such as phishing. TitanHQ’s DNS filter, WebTitan, is used by thousands of businesses and managed service providers to protect against web-based threats. WebTitan blocks more than 60,000 new malware sites every day and provides businesses and MSPs with real-time protection against the full range of web-based threats.

WebTitan can be deployed in minutes, is updated automatically, highly scalable, and costs as little as 90 cents per user per month. The productivity gains alone from using the solution mean it more than pays for itself, let alone the savings from preventing phishing attacks and costly malware downloads and data breaches.

To find out more about DNS filtering and why it is now considered an essential part of layered security defenses, give the TitanHQ team a call. Our support staff will be happy to answer your questions, book a product demonstration, and help you get set up for a free trial.

Rise in Ransomware Attacks on Education Institutions Highlights Need for Improved Defenses

Ransomware attacks slowed in 2018 but the malicious file-encrypting malware is back with a vengeance. Ransomware attacks on educational institutions have soared this year, and as the attackers are well aware, these attacks can be extremely profitable.

There have been 182 reported ransomware attacks so far this year and 26.9% of those attacks have been on school districts and higher education institutions. The increase has seen education become the second most targeted sector behind municipalities (38.5%) but well ahead of healthcare organizations (14.8%).

The reason why the number of ransomware attacks on educational institutions, healthcare, and municipalities is so high compared to other sectors is because attacks are relatively easy to perform and there is a higher than average chance that the ransoms will be paid.

Attacks on municipalities mean they can’t access computer systems, and essential services grind to a halt. Police departments can’t access criminal records, courts have to be shut down, and payments for utilities cannot be taken. If hospitals can’t access patient data, appointments have to be cancelled out of safety concerns. In education, teachers cannot record grades and student records cannot be accessed. Administration functions grind to a halt and a huge backlog of work builds up.

Some of the recent ransomware attacks on school districts have seen schools forced to send students home. Monroe-Woodbury Central School District in New York had to delay the start of the school year due to its ransomware attack. If students need to be sent home, there is often backlash from parents – Not only because their children are not getting their education, but childcare then needs to be arranged.

The costs of these attacks are considerable for all concerned. Each day without access to systems costs schools, universities, municipalities, and hospitals a considerable amount of money. Downtime is by far the biggest cost of these attacks. Far greater than any ransom payment.

It is no surprise that even when ransom demands are for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, they are often paid. The cost of continued losses as a result of the attacks makes paying the ransom the most logical solution from a financial perspective. However, paying the ransom sends a message to other cybercriminals that these attacks can be extremely profitable, and the attacks increase.

The huge cost of attacks has seen educational institutions take out insurance policies, which typically pay the ransom in the event of an attack. While this is preferable financially for the schools, it ensures that the attackers get their pay day. Some studies have suggested that attackers are choosing targets based on whether they hold insurance, although the jury is out on the extent to which that is the case.

In total, 49 school districts and around 500 K-12 schools have been affected by ransomware attacks this year. While the ransomware attacks on school districts have been spread across the United States, schools in Connecticut have been hit particularly hard. 7 districts have been attacked, in which there are 104 schools.

Prevention of these attacks is key but securing systems and ensuring all vulnerabilities are identified and corrected can be a challenge, especially with the limited budgets and resources of most schools. Cybersecurity solutions need to be chosen wisely to get the maximum protection for the least cost.

A good place to start is by addressing the most common attack vectors, which for ransomware is Remote Desktop Protocol and email-based attacks.

Remote Desktop Protocol should be disabled if it is not required. If that is not possible, connection should only be possible through a VPN. Rate limiting should also be set to block access after a number of failed login attempts to protect against brute force password-guessing attacks.

Email security also needs to be improved. Massive spam campaigns are being conducted to distribute the Emotet banking Trojan, which serves as a downloader for Ryuk ransomware and others. Embedded hyperlinks in emails direct end users to sites where they are encouraged to download files that harbor malware, or to exploit kits where ransomware is silently downloaded.

Advanced spam filters should be deployed that incorporate sandboxing. This allows potentially suspicious email attachments to be checked for malicious activity in a safe environment. DMARC email authentication is also important as it is one of the best defenses against email impersonation attacks. SpamTitan now incorporates both of these measures.

A DNS based content filtering solution is also beneficial as an additional protection against malware downloads and phishing attacks. Not only can the content filter be used to ensure compliance with CIPA, it will prevent end users from visiting malicious websites where ransomware is downloaded.

Email attacks usually require some user interaction, which provides another opportunity to block the attacks. By educating all staff and students on the risks, they can be prepared for when malicious emails arrive in their inboxes and will be conditioned how to respond.

It is often the case that breached entities only implement these measures after an attack has occurred to prevent any further attacks from succeeding. By taking a more proactive approach and implementing these additional security measures now, costly, disruptive attacks can be avoided.

For more information on ransomware defenses such as email and DNS filters for educational institutions, give the TitanHQ team a call today. You are likely to find out that these security measures are far cheaper than you think… and naturally a great deal less expensive than having to deal with an attack.

FBI Issues HTTPS Phishing Warning

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued a warning about the increasing number of phishing websites using HTTPS.

The green padlock next to a URL once gave an impression of security. Now it is a false sense of security for many internet users.

HTTPS or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure to give it its full name, indicates the website holds a valid certificate from a trusted third-party. That certificate confirms that the website is secure and any data transmitted between the browser and the website will be encrypted to prevent interception in transit.

The public has been taught to look for the green padlock and HTTPS before entering card details or other sensitive information. However, the padlock does not mean that the website being visited is genuine. It only means any information transmitted is secured in transit between the browser and the website.

If you are buying a pair of shoes from Amazon, all well and good. If you are on a website controlled by a cybercriminal, HTTPS only means that the cybercriminal will be the only person stealing your data.

Cybercriminals create realistic phishing webpages that imitate well-known brands such as Microsoft and Google to obtain login credentials or banks to obtain banking information. These phishing pages can be set up on dedicated phishing websites or phishing kits can be added to previously compromised websites. Traffic is then generated to those webpages with an email phishing campaign.

If one of the links in the email is clicked, a user will be directed to a website that requests some information. If the website starts with HTTPS and displays the green padlock, the user may mistakenly believe the site is genuine and that it is safe to disclose sensitive information.

The IC3 alert was intended to raise awareness of the threat from HTTPS phishing and make the public aware of the true meaning of the green padlock and never to trust a website because it starts with HTTPS.

Businesses should take note and make sure they include HTTPS phishing in their security awareness training programs to raise awareness of the threat with employees.

A web filter can greatly reduce the risk of HTTPS phishing attacks, provided the web filter has the capability to decrypt, scan, and re-encrypt HTTPS traffic.

WebTitan provides real-time protection against web-based attacks and uses a constantly updated database of 3 million known malicious sites to block attempts to visit phishing websites. WebTitan is capable of SSL inspection and can inspect HTTPS traffic, block specific applications within a webpage, and display alerts or block sites with fake https certificates.

If you want to improve protection against web-based attacks, contact the TitanHQ team today for more information about WebTitan.

Buran Ransomware Distributed via RIG Exploit Kit

While it is good news the GandCrab ransomware operation has been shut down, ransomware attacks are on the rise and a new threat has been detected: Buran ransomware.

Buran ransomware lacks some of the common features of more successful ransomware strains. The ransomware does not make any attempt to hide its activity and it doesn’t attempt to hamper recover by deleting Windows shadow copies. However, it is capable of encrypting a wide range of file types and there is currently no free decryptor available to unlock encrypted files.

Buran ransomware is being spread via the RIG exploit kit, with traffic to that exploit kit generated using a malvertising campaign. Malicious adverts have been injected into legitimate ad networks and are being displayed on a range of different websites. The malvertising campaign was identified by security researcher nao_sec.

The malvertising campaign directs web browsers to a domain hosting RIG, which attempts to exploit several vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. If an unpatched vulnerability exists, Buran ransomware will be downloaded and executed.

An analysis of the malware suggests it is a new variant of Vega ransomware that was previously used in a campaign in Russia.

While Buran ransomware may not be a long-term successor to GandCrab ransomware, there are many threat actors moving to fill the void. Sodinokibi ransomware attacks are increasing and the ransomware developers are also using a malvertising campaign on the PopCash ad network to deliver traffic to domains hosting the RIG exploit kit.

Exploit kits can only download malware if they have been loaded with an exploit for a vulnerability that has not been patched on a visitor’s computer. The primary defense against these attacks is to ensure that all Windows security updates are applied promptly, along with updates and patches for plugins and other browsers.

There is invariably a delay between a patch being issued and all devices being updated. To provide protection until patches are applied, and to protect against zero-day exploits, a web filtering solution is recommended. A web filter can be used to control the websites that can be visited by employees and can block access to known malicious websites to prevent attacks on vulnerable computers.

TitanHQ Incorporates Location-Based Filtering into WebTitan Cloud 4.12

A new version of WebTitan Cloud has been released by TitanHQ. WebTitan Cloud 4.12 offers existing and new customers the opportunity to set filtering controls by location, in addition to setting organization-wide policies and role and departmental policies via links to Active Directory/LDAP.

The new feature will be especially useful to MSPs and companies with remote workers, satellite offices, bases in multiple locations, and operations in overseas countries. Organization-wide web filtering policies can be set to prevent users from accessing illegal web content and pornography, but oftentimes, the one size fits all approach does not work for web filtering. The new location filter helps solve this.

MSPs can use this new feature to set web filtering controls for customers in different locations while businesses using WebTitan Cloud can easily set a range of different policies for all users from a specific location, whether those users are accessing the Internet on or off the network.

There will naturally be times when policies need to be bypassed to enable specific tasks to be completed. Rather than making temporary changes to location or other policies, WebTitan Cloud uses cloud keys which allow policy-based controls to be temporarily bypassed.

Accompanying the location-based controls are new reporting options which allow administrators to quickly access information about web views and blocked access attempts in real time. While reports can be useful, oftentimes information needs to be accessed quickly. To help administrators find the information they need, search functionality has been enhanced.

Administrators can use the search filter on the history page to search by location name. For MSPs this allows a specific customer to be selected and for traffic information at a specific location to be quickly viewed in real time, without having to generate a report.

Location-based when filtering policies can be set and viewed for all locations through the same user interface, giving administers full visibility into traffic and settings of all customers through a single pane of glass.

It is hoped that these updates will make WebTitan even more useful for businesses and MSPs and will further improve the user experience.
 

TitanHQ Partner ViaSat Launches Secure Managed WiFi Hotspot Service for SMBs

TitanHQ partner, Viasat, has launched a new managed Wi-Fi service for businesses that allows them to offer their customers free, in-store Wi-Fi at an affordable price point.

The service is aimed at small and medium sized businesses that want to reap the rewards of providing free Wi-Fi to customers. Businesses that provide free Wi-Fi access can attract new customers and can benefit from customers spending longer in stores.

One of the problems for small businesses is finding a hotspot solution that is affordable. Most SMBs have to resort to setting up Wi-Fi access themselves, which can be difficult. Further, should errors be made, security could be placed in jeopardy and customers – or hackers – could potentially gain access to the business Wi-Fi network.

The Viasat Business Hotspots service makes the creation and management of Wi-Fi hotspots simple. The service can be used to set up Wi-Fi networks indoors or outdoors and has scope for customization. The login page is supplied in white label form ready to take a company’s branding.

The solution keeps the business Wi-Fi network totally separate from the guest Wi-Fi network. Two separate Wi-Fi networks are provided through a single internet connection. The business network remains secure and private and cannot be accessed by guest users, who are only permitted to access the public guest network.

Viasat Business Hotspots is an enterprise-grade hotspot solution for SMBs complete with a range of management and security features.  Businesses that sign up for the solution can manage their hotspots through the Viasat management portal where they can view the status of the Wi-Fi network and equipment, manage user access, run a wide range of reports on usage, and customize their login screens.

Viasat Business Hotspots also incorporates enterprise-grade Wi-Fi security which is powered by WebTitan – TitanHQ’s advanced web content filtering solution.

WebTitan offers businesses the option of restricting the types of content that users can access while connected to the Wi-Fi network, such stopping users from visiting inappropriate websites, sites hosting malware, and phishing websites.

Granular controls allow businesses to carefully control content and apply application controls. The solution also includes a full reporting suite, which lets businesses see exactly what sites users are accessing, giving them valuable insights into user behavior while in-store.

Benefits of WebTitan Cloud for WiFi for Service Providers

Some of the important benefits of WebTitan Cloud for WiFi for managed service providers and ISPs include:

  • Accurate filtering of web content using 53 pre-set categories and up to 10 custom categories.
  • Filter by keyword and keyword score.
  • Filter content in 200 languages.
  • Multiple hosting options, including within your own data center
  • No limit on access points or users
  • Manage multiple access points through a single web-based administration portal
  • Easy delegation of access point management
  • Extensive reporting suite including report scheduling, real-time views of Internet activity, and drill down reporting
  • Easy integration into existing billing, auto provisioning and monitoring systems through TitanHQ APIs
  • Available as a white label ready to take your own branding
  • World class customer service with dedicated account managers
  • Highly competitive pricing
  • Fully transparent pricing policy
  • Flexible pricing to meet the needs of MSPs including monthly billing

TitanHQ Forms Strategic Cloud Distribution Partnership with GRIDHEART

TitanHQ has formed a strategic partnership with the GRIDHEART, which will see TitanHQ’s leading cloud-based email security, web security, and email archiving solutions made available to users of the Cloudmore Cloud Commerce platform.

GRIDHEART is a privately-owned Swedish company that delivers the world’s leading cloud-based solutions through its Cloud Commerce platform, Cloudmore.

For the past 10 years, GRIDHEART has been offering leading cloud solutions to its customers and resellers and now deals with more than 1,000 cloud partners. The Cloudmore platform makes selling cloud services easy and brings a wide range of cloud services together in a single unified platform.

The platform gives users complete centralized control over their cloud solutions and allows them to easily provision new customers, bill for services, automate processes, and obtain pre-and post-sales support. The platform provides a host of management tools to make control of SaaS and cloud computing simple.

The partnership with TitanHQ will see the Galway, Ireland-based cybersecurity firm add its leading cybersecurity solutions to the platform, through which users can manage the solutions for free.

GRIDHEART’s customers will be able to offer their clients the SpamTitan Cloud email security solution, the WebTitan web filtering solution, and the ArcTitan email security solution and provide multi-layered security to protect against email, web, and modern blended threats.

“By offering additional layers of cloud-based security through Cloudmore’ s unique Cloud Commerce platform, MSPs can procure and deploy IT services for their customers and quickly maximize their IT investment, enhance their security stack and lower operational costs for their customers,” said Rocco Donnino, Executive VP of Strategic Alliances at TitanHQ. “This agreement highlights the importance of delivering comprehensive security solutions to the MSP community through a single and powerful platform”

“TitanHQ fits the bill as a perfect partner with their razor focus on advanced threat protection via email and the web. We’ve very happy to have them on board,” said Stefan Jacobson, Sales Director of GRIDHEART.
 

Mandatory Internet Filtering in Hawaii Under Consideration

Two companion bills have been introduced in the House and Senate that require mandatory Internet filtering in Hawaii by device manufacturers to block access to adult web content, sites that facilitate human trafficking, and illegal content such as child and revenge pornography.

The bills mirror those introduced in other states in the U.S. to restrict access to adult content by default and prevent illegal online activities. The aim of the bills is not to prevent individuals from accessing adult content in Hawaii, only to make it harder for minors to gain access to inappropriate material and to make prostitution hubs harder for the general public to access. The proposed laws will simultaneously help to protect children and fight human trafficking.

If the bills are passed, Internet filtering in Hawaii will be required by default on all Internet-enabled devices that allow the above content to be viewed.

Adults that wish to opt in to view legal adult content will be free to do so, although in order to lift the digital content block they will be required to pay a one-off fee of $20. In order to have the content block lifted, an individual would be required to provide proof of age (18+) and sign to confirm they have been provided with a written warning about the dangers of lifting the content filter. In addition to the $20 fee, manufacturers, vendors, and other individuals/companies that distribute devices will be permitted to charge a separate, reasonable fee for lifting the content block on a device.

The money raised through the $20 fee payments will be directed to a fund which will be used to support victims of human trafficking and for projects that help to prevent human trafficking and child exploitation.

Any manufacturer, vendor, company, or individual covered by the act that does not implement a digital content block will be liable for financial penalties. Financial penalties will also be applied if requests to block covered content are received and are not added to the content filter within 5 days. Similarly, if a request is made to unblock content not covered by the bill and the request is not processed within 5 days a fine will be issued. The proposed fine is $500 per piece of content.

If the bills are passed, Internet filtering in Hawaii will be mandatory from July 1, 2020.
 

Benefits of Internet Content Control for Businesses

In this post we explore the key benefits of Internet content control for businesses and explain how the disadvantages can be minimized or eliminated.

The Problems of Providing Unfettered Internet Access to Employees

Providing employees with Internet access makes a great deal of sense. In order to work efficiently and effectively, employees need access to the wealth of information that is available online. Via the internet, businesses can interact with customers and vendors and provide them with important information. Information can easily be shared with colleagues rather than relying on email, and a wide range of online tools are available to improve productivity.

The Internet is something of a double-edged sword. It offers the opportunity to improve productivity, but it also has potential to reduce productivity. A great deal of time is wasted online by employees – Often referred to as cyber slacking. The losses to cyber slacking can be considerable. If each employee spends an hour a day on personal Internet use, a company with 50 employees would lose 50 hours a day or 250 hours a week. That’s 13,000 hours a year lost to personal Internet use. Many employees waste much more time online than an hour a day, so the losses can be significantly higher.

Personal Internet use can also result in legal problems for businesses. Businesses can be vicariously liable for illegal activities that take place on their network. Illegal file sharing for instance. Some online activities can also lead to the creation of a hostile work environment.

Giving employees full access to the Internet also introduces security risks. As well as very beneficial websites there is no shortage of malicious web content. Phishing websites are used to steal login credentials. If credentials are stolen, hackers can gain access to the network undetected and steal data and install malware. Malware downloads are also common. The cost of mitigating cyberattacks is considerable and can be catastrophic for small to medium sized businesses.

Common Internet Content Control Issues and How to Avoid Them

The solution to these issues is to implement an Internet content control solution. By carefully controlling the websites employees can access at work, productivity losses can be avoided and businesses can effectively manage risk. Access to phishing and other malicious websites can be blocked and businesses can block categories of website that are NSFW or are a major drain on productivity. The former includes adult content and the latter includes gaming websites, dating sites, and social media websites.

Internet content control for businesses is best achieved with a web filtering solution. This can either be an appliance that sites between your Internal network and the Internet through which all web traffic passes, or a DNS-based web filter that applies Internet content control for businesses at the DNS level.

The former is a more traditional approach to content control that comes with certain disadvantages. The latter is a more modern approach, that eliminates the problems of internet content control for businesses.

The benefits of Internet content control for businesses are clear but there are disadvantages. Latency is a key issue. If Internet speed is slowed, productivity declines. Appliance based filtering solutions tend to slow Internet access and download speeds. DNS-based Internet content control for businesses avoids this. There is no latency with DNS-level filtering.

Cost is another stickling point. An appliance-based solution requires a significant outlay and the appliances are not scalable. They need to be upgraded when the business grows. DNS-based solutions on the other hand are highly scalable – up and down. DNS-based filtering is much cheaper – a few dollars a year per employee. TitanHQ also offers monthly billing to make the cost more affordable.

Appliances need to be selected to fit in with your network architecture and there can often be compatibility issues. DNS-filtering allows businesses to seamlessly integrate Internet content control into the current infrastructure. DNS-based filters are technology agnostic and work on all operating systems.

Easy Internet Content Control for Businesses

WebTitan Cloud is an innovative, easy to use, DNS-based web filter that provides cost-effective Internet content control for businesses of all sizes.

For further information on WebTitan Cloud, to arrange a product demonstration, or to register for a free trial, contact TitanHQ today.

WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella

The biggest problem with compiling a comparison of WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella is that the Cisco Umbrella range consists of four packages with an increasing number of capabilities per package. Additionally, there is a lack of transparency about Cisco Umbrella pricing and how many add-ons a business may need to filter the Internet effectively.

When Cisco Systems Inc. acquired OpenDNS in 2015, there was only one Cisco DNS filtering and Internet security package available – the former OpenDNS Umbrella. Since the acquisition, Cisco has broken down the Umbrella into four sets of capabilities – ostensibly to better meet the needs of all businesses; but, in practice, to disguise the cost of the packages.

By comparison, WebTitan Cloud is similar in many ways to v1 launched in 2009. Naturally there have been some improvements made to its capabilities along the way; however, the DNS filtering and Internet security solution is still as flexible and scalable as ever it was to meet the needs of businesses and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) of all sizes.

WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella Comparison

The best way to compare WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella is to list a selection of capabilities in each Cisco Umbrella package and then see where WebTitan Cloud fits into the range. The following is a snapshot of the capabilities of each Cisco Umbrella package which demonstrates how the sophistication of each package increases as you work through the range:

WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella

The key points to note are:

  • The DNS Essentials package does not inspect and decrypt SSL traffic. This means that any encrypted website that has not yet been identified as a threat will bypass the DNS filter.
  • Both the DNS Essentials and DNS Advantage packages lack granular filtering inasmuch as it is only possible to block or allow website access by domain name, rather than by URL.
  • Although classified as a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution, the SIG Essentials package lacks some key service edge security capabilities and is limited in others.
  • The SIG Advantage package includes many capabilities that businesses may already have access to via other security solutions (i.e., Microsoft Sentinel, Amazon Security Lake, etc.).
  • There is a mandatory cost for onboarding and technical support by phone. Customers who pay extra for premium support are prioritized when technical support is required.
  • There is a lack of transparency about pricing, and anecdotal evidence suggests licensing costs and the cost of optional add-ons can be negotiated – especially with resellers.
  • Cisco operates two MSP programs – neither of which allows MSPs and MSSPs a white label product to rebrand as their own. Only co-branding is tolerated.

Where WebTitan Cloud Fits Into the Cisco Umbrella Range

>WebTitan Cloud is a fully featured DNS filtering and Internet security solution that includes or betters all the capabilities of Cisco´s DNS Advantage package and includes several capabilities of the SIG Essentials package – including granular filtering so that businesses can block or allow Internet access by URL, group, individual, time, location, and more.

Naturally, WebTitan Cloud does not include SecureX and Cisco Investigate integration. Instead, WebTitan Cloud´s threat database is updated in “real-time” to mitigate the risk of emerging threats evading detection and reduce the need for threat response services. WebTitan Cloud also includes “Zero-Minute” protection against emerging phishing threats.

Importantly, with WebTitan Cloud, what you see is what you get. Customer support is included in the subscription cost, there are no optional add-ons, or the need to subscribe to other WebTitan services to take advantage of the full range of DNS filtering and Internet security capabilities. Also, for MSPs and resellers, WebTitan Cloud is available as a white label service.

In terms of subscription costs, the maximum price business will pay for WebTitan Cloud in 2023 is $1.58 per user per month –  the price decreasing according to the number of users and length of subscription. Unlike Cisco, it is not necessary to pay the subscription cost all upfront in order to take advantage of WebTitan Cloud pricing, and there is no premium for monthly payments.

WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella Conclusion

Our comparison of WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella demonstrates that, if a business has subscribed to a DNS Essentials or DNS Advantage package and is paying more than $1.58 per user per month once the mandatory and optional add-ons are taken into account, it makes economic sense to switch to WebTitan Cloud. Not only will the business save money, but it will also have more protection against web-borne threats and more control over Internet activity.

Fallout Exploit Kit Returns with Additional Functionality and New Exploit

The Fallout exploit kit, a toolkit used to silently deliver ransomware and malware to vulnerable devices, was first identified in September 2018. Between September and December, the toolkit was used to exploit vulnerabilities and deliver GandCrab ransomware and other malicious payloads. Towards the end of the year, the vulnerabilities most commonly exploited were a remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows VBScript engine (CVE-2018-8174) and the use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player (CVE-2018-4878).

Around December 27, 2018, Fallout exploit kit activity stopped, but only for a few days. Now the exploit kit is back, and several updates have been made including the addition of HTTPS support, a new landing page format, and PowerShell-based malware downloads. A new exploit has also been added for a zero-day use-after-free Adobe Flash player vulnerability (CVE-2018-15982) which was patched on December 5, 2018: A vulnerability also exploited by the Underminer exploit kit.

The Fallout exploit kit is primarily delivered via malvertising campaigns – malicious adverts on third-party ad networks that are served on a variety of legitimate websites. The adverts redirect users to the exploit kit, which probes for vulnerabilities and exploits them to silently deliver malware or ransomware. The updated version of the Fallout exploit kit is delivering the latest version of GandCrab ransomware, for which there is no free decryptor. In addition to GandCrab ransomware, the Fallout exploit kit is delivering ServHelper, AZORult, TinyNuke, Dridex and Smokebot malware.

The malvertising campaigns used to generate traffic to the exploit kit include TrafficShop, Popcash, RevenueHits, and HookAds. The latter is primarily used on high-traffic adult websites that are visited millions of times a month. Users are redirected to a decoy adult site that contains the exploit kit and would be unaware that anything untoward has happened. If there is an unpatched vulnerability for which fallout has an exploit, the ransomware or malware payload will be silently downloaded.

Exploit kit activity is now much lower than in 2016 when EKs were extensively used to deliver malware, but the latest updates show EKs are still a threat and that they are regularly being updated with the latest exploits.

Exploit kits can only deliver malware if unpatched vulnerabilities are present, so prompt patching is strongly recommended. Users also need to visit the sites hosting the exploit kit. Businesses can prevent users from visiting malicious websites using a web filter.

Web filters use blacklists of websites known to host exploit kits are capable of scanning websites for malicious content. They can also prevent third-party ads from being displayed, thus preventing redirects. Since certain categories of website are often used in malvertising campaigns, adult sites and torrents sites for instance, blocking access to those categories of content with a web filter is also recommended.

For further information on web filtering and how it can protect against web-based attacks, contact the TitanHQ team today.

Why Change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan?

If you subscribe to a Cisco Umbrella DNS filtering and Internet security service, it may be worth your while considering a change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan Cloud. In this post we explain some of the main benefits of changing from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan and illustrate this with an example from the education sector.

Cisco Umbrella has evolved from the former OpenDNS Enterprise service to a four-tiered DNS filtering and Internet security service. At the entry-level tier, businesses get a less-than-ideal service with basic web filtering capabilities that lack SSL decryption and inspection; while, at the top tier, businesses can find themselves paying for services they may never use or that are already present in other security solutions.

Selecting the right tier of service to best protect the business from web-borne threats and control Internet activity is not the only challenge. One of the reasons businesses change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan is a lack of transparency about the cost of Cisco Umbrella – notwithstanding that businesses not only have to pay the licensing fee, but also the cost of mandatory and optional add-ons to maximize the effectiveness of the service.

Cisco Umbrella Licensing

Like most software services, Cisco Umbrella licensing is via a subscription service. Terms are for one year or three years, and in most cases must be paid all upfront. The licensing cost does not include mandatory onboarding and technical support, while there is a further “optional add-on” for premium support if a business wants its calls to support to be prioritized. Basically, businesses have to pay twice to get a decent level of support from Cisco.

Other optional add-ons vary according to which tier is subscribed to – and some are not available in all tiers. For example, if you want to identify which internal IP address was responsible for a malware download, you have to subscribe to a secondary Cisco service. However, this option is not available to subscribers of the DNS Essentials tier. Other optional add-ons and limitations by tier are illustrated in the table below.

WebTitan Cloud v Cisco Umbrella

Cisco Umbrella Pricing

Cisco Umbrella pricing is variable depending on the number of users, the length of the subscription, the location of the business, and any discounts negotiated with Cisco directly or a reseller. Some resellers do advertise fixed-price Cisco Umbrella packages, but it is often not possible to tell whether or not the cost of mandatory onboarding and technical support is included – or what additional optional add-ons are included in the price.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that businesses pay from $2.20 per user per month for the ineffective DNS Essentials service, while the DNS Advantage service – which lacks granular block and allow lists – costs up to $5.50 per user per month. Nobody appears to be prepared to disclose what they are paying for the SIG Essentials or SIG Advantage tiers, or whether they are able to take advantage of all the services´ capabilities.

Why Change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan?

WebTitan is a fully featured, cloud-based DNS filtering and Internet security service that includes most of the capabilities of the DNS Advantage tier and some of the capabilities of the SIG Essentials tier. The capabilities not included in WebTitan Cloud are SecureX and Investigate threat response integration. This is because WebTitan Cloud updates its threat intelligence database in real time and include “zero-minute” protection against phishing URLs to mitigate the need for threat response.

Additionally, although the cost of WebTitan Cloud varies according to the number of users and length of subscription, the price you see is the price you pay. Customer support is included in the subscription cost, and there are no optional add-ons or the need to subscribe to a secondary service to take advantage of WebTitan´s capabilities.  In terms of cost, the maximum a business will pay for WebTitan Cloud in 2023 is $1.58 per user per month. The option also exists for monthly payments.

Case Study Background

Web Filtering for Schools and Libraries and CIPA Compliance

Web filters are a requirement of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA was enact by congress in 2000 and is concerned with protecting minors from harmful website content such as pornography. CIPA requires schools and libraries to implement an Internet safety policy that addresses the safety and security of minors online.

To comply with CIPA, measures must be introduced to block access to obscene content, child pornography, and other web content that is considered to be harmful to minors. Additionally, schools must educate minors about appropriate online behavior and monitor the online activities of minors.

While there are many choices of web filters for schools that can help them comply with CIPA, not all solutions are created equal. While it is usually easy to block access to harmful content, with some solutions monitoring user activity can be difficult and time consuming, and solutions as feature-rich and complex as Cisco Umbrella may be considered overfill for schools and libraries only looking to block access to obscene images.

Case Study

Why Did Saint Joseph Seminary College Change from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan?

There is no doubt that Cisco has developed a powerful web filtering solution in Umbrella that can offer protection from web-based threats and allow content control, but the solution is not without its drawbacks.

One of the main downsides is usability, especially monitoring the online activities of users, something that is particularly important for CIPA compliance. It was proving to be particularly difficult for Saint Joseph Seminary College, which needed to quickly identify attempts by students to access restricted content.

“I don’t need rounded corners and elegant fonts when I am trying to see who has been visiting dangerous websites.  I need to clearly see domain names and internal IPs,” explained Saint Joseph Seminary College IT Director Todd Russell. “In my opinion, after Cisco bought OpenDNS, they made some major changes to the UI which made it virtually useless for quickly looking through blocked traffic for signs of particular types of usage.” The complexity of the user interface made the solution unpopular with IT staff and the complexity was jeopardizing security.

Ease of use was a major problem, but the troubles didn’t end there. There was also the issue of cost. “We found that once Cisco bought OpenDNS, they began upping the Umbrella pricing every year at renewal time. Despite the repeated price increases, the service was not improving and there was no additional value offered,” explained Russell.

Cost and usability issues prompted Russell to look for a Cisco Umbrella alternative. After assessing various Cisco Umbrella alternatives, the decision was taken to switch from Cisco Umbrella to WebTitan.  “It didn’t take long to realize that WebTitan was the best alternative for an efficient, cost-effective, and easy to use filtering solution to replace Cisco Umbrella,” explained Russell.

“I am able to quickly scan an entire previous day of blocked traffic and take a closer look at the full traffic on any users that raise a concern in a matter of minutes. This has saved me an enormous amount of time when I need to examine a user’s traffic, but it has also made it possible for me to keep close tabs on our traffic.” All the information required was accessible with just two clicks.

In terms of time savings gained from using WebTitan and the lower cost of running the solution, the college has been able to make significant cost savings as well as identify and remediate issues immediately, which means greater safety and security for students.

Are You Looking for an Alternative to Cisco Umbrella?

If you are currently using Cisco Umbrella and are frustrated with the interface and are unable to easily get the information you need, or if you are looking for a lower-cost alternative to Cisco Umbrella that will not jeopardize security, you have nothing to lose by evaluating WebTitan.

Contact the WebTitan team today via the links at the top of the page and you can arrange a product demonstration and set up a free trial of the full solution to see for yourself the difference it makes. In the words of Todd Russell, “That brief demo was all I needed to know that WebTitan would serve my needs much better than Umbrella and I have been thrilled with the improvements to my workflow since switching over.”

 

How to Improve Wireless Access Point Security

It is straightforward to implement security controls to protect wired networks, but many businesses fail to apply the same controls to improve WiFi security, often due to a lack of understanding about how to improve wireless access point security. In this post we cover some of the main threats associated with WiFi networks and explain how easy it can be to improve wireless access point security.

Wireless Access Points are a Security Risk

Most businesses now apply web filters to control the types of content that can be accessed by employees on their wired networks but securing wireless networks can be more of a challenge. It is harder to control and monitor access and block content on WiFi networks.

Anyone within range of the access point can launch an attack, especially on public WiFi hotspots which have one set of credentials for all guest users. It is therefore essential that controls are implemented to improve wireless access point security and protect users of the WiFi network.

WiFi Security Threats

A single set of credentials means cybercriminals are afforded a high degree of anonymity. That allows them to use WiFi networks to identify local network vulnerabilities virtually undetected. They could conduct brute force attacks on routers, for example, or use WiFi access to inject malware on servers that lack appropriate security. If access is gained to the router, attacks can be launched on connected devices, and malware can be installed on multiple end points or even POS systems to steal customers’ credit/debit card information.

The cyberattack on Dyn is a good example of how malware can be installed and used for malicious purposes. The DNS service provider was attacked which resulted in large sections of the Internet being made inaccessible. A botnet of more than 100,000 compromised routers and IoT devices was used in the attack.

Man-in-the-Middle attacks are also common on Wi-Fi networks. Any unencrypted content can be intercepted, such as if information is exchanged between a user and a HTTP site, rather than HTTPS, if a VPN is not used.

Public WiFi networks are often used for all manner of nefarious purposes due to the anonymity provided. If users take advantage of that anonymity to access illegal content and download child pornography or perform copyright infringing downloads of music, films, and TV shows from P2P file sharing sites, an investigation would center on the hotspot provider. Questions would likely be asked about the lack of security controls to prevent illegal website access.

The Easy Way to Improve Wireless Access Point Security

The easy way to improve wireless access point security is a web filtering solution. Web filtering solutions are usually implemented by businesses to secure wired networks, but solutions also exist to improve wireless access point security.

A web filter forms a barrier between the users of the network and the Internet. Controls can be applied to stop users from accessing dangerous, illegal, or inappropriate website content. Even if each user has their own access controls, without a web filter, users will still be vulnerable to malware attacks and phishing attempts and the hotspot provider may be liable for illegal activities over the WiFi network.

There are two ways of implementing WiFi web filtering to improve wireless access point security. One is to rely on a list of categorized domain names and use that to control content. The other is DNS-layer web filtering, which uses the DNS lookup process that is required before any user is directed to a website after entering the domain name into their browser. The DNS server turns the domain name into an IP address to allow the web page to be found.

Why DNS Filtering is Best Way to Improve Wireless Access Point Security

The main difference between the two types of web filtering is the point at which access is blocked. With a traditional web filter, content is first downloaded before it is blocked, which is a risk. With DNS-layer filtering, content is blocked during the lookup process before content is downloaded.

If content is downloaded before being blocked, this will naturally have an impact on available bandwidth. DNS-layer filtering has no impact on bandwidth, since the content is blocked before it is downloaded.

DNS filtering does not need to be integrated with other systems and it works across all devices and operating systems, since they all use DNS servers to access websites.

DNS filtering is also quick and easy to implement. No appliances need to be purchased, hardware doesn’t need to be upgraded, and no software downloads are required. A simple change to the DNS is all that is required to point it to the provider’s DNS server. It is also much easier to maintain. No software updates are necessary and, in contrast to other security solutions, no patching is required. It is all handled by the service provider.

WebTitan Cloud for WiFi – The Leading Wireless Access Point Security Solution

TitanHQ has set the standard for WiFi security with WebTitan Cloud for WiFi. WebTitan Cloud for WiFi gives businesses the opportunity to implement bulletproof WiFi security to protect end users from online threats, block malware downloads, and carefully control the content that can be accessed by wireless network users.

Businesses that run WiFi hotspots can quickly and easily implement the solution and let TitanHQ secure their WiFi networks and provide the massive processing power to fight current and emerging web-based threats. With WebTitan Cloud for WiFi, businesses can instead concentrate on profit-generating areas of the business.

If you want to improve wireless access point security, contact TitanHQ for further information on WebTitan cloud for WiFi. Our security experts will be happy to schedule a product demonstration and set up for a free trial.

FAQs

Can I secure multiple access points at different geographical locations?

WebTitan is a DNS-based web filtering solution that sees all filtering take place in the cloud. Being cloud-based, WebTitan can be used to filter the Internet at any location, for both wired and wireless networks. You can protect multiple access points through the same solution, even if those access points are in different cities or countries. You can set controls for each access point through a single web-based user interface.

Can I set different filtering controls for employees and guest users?

With WebTitan you have full control over the content that can be accessed by all users of your access points. You can set different filtering controls for individuals, departments, user groups such as guest users, and the entire organization. You have highly granular control over the content that can be accessed, with filtering by category, keyword, and URL filtering.

Is it possible to bypass filtering on access points?

Most people will attempt to bypass filtering controls on access points by using an anonymizer service or proxy. If the Internet is accessed through the anonymizer website or proxy, the actual content viewed will not be visible via the web filtering service. To prevent users from bypassing the web filter you can block anonymizer services through the WebTitan UI.

Can I block specific websites on my access points?

You can use the blacklisting feature of WebTitan to prevent a specific website from being accessed via your access points. You can do this for the entire organization, for different departments or user groups, or for specific individuals. Conversely, you can use whitelisting to allow a website to be accessed even if it contravenes other filtering controls.

Is it possible to temporarily disable filtering on access points?

With WebTitan, you do not need to disable web filtering if you need to bypass your web filtering policies on a temporary basis. You can configure a cloud key that can be used to bypass filtering controls for a limited period and can set the duration that the cloud key is valid through your UI.

Internet Filtering to Improve Employee Productivity

In this post we explore the use of Internet filtering to improve employee productivity, including statistics from recent surveys that show how many companies are now choosing to control employee Internet access more carefully.

Employee Productivity Falls on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The staffing firm Robert Half Technology recently conducted a survey on 2,500 chief information officers (CIOs) across 25 metropolitan areas in the United States and more than 1,000 U.S. officer workers over 18 years of age to determine how Black Friday and Cyber Monday affect employee productivity.

The results of the survey provide an indication on what goes on throughout the year, but Black Friday and Cyber Monday were studied as they are the two busiest days for online shopping. The survey results show that three quarters of employees spent at least some of Cyber Monday shopping online on a work device. Four out of 10 workers said they spent more than an hour looking for bargains online on Cyber Monday while they were at work. 23% said they were expecting to spend even longer than that this year.

46% of workers said they would be online shopping on their work computers during their lunch hour and breaks, but 29% said they would be shopping throughout the day and would be keeping browser tabs open. 20% of workers said they would do online shopping at work in the morning.

While policies on accessing pornography may have been made crystal clear, online shopping is something of a gray area. 31% of employees were not aware of their company’s stance on online shopping on work devices. 43% said their employers permit it and 26% said it is not permitted.

The survey of CIOs shows 49% of companies allow online shopping within reason but that they monitor employee Internet use. 22% said they allow totally unrestricted Internet access while 29% have implemented solutions to block access to online shopping sites.

In June 2018, Spiceworks published the results of a survey that showed 58% of organizations actively monitor employee Internet activity and 89% of organizations use Internet filters to block at least one category of Internet content.

Most surveyed companies use Internet filtering to improve employee productivity. While only 13% block online shopping sites, many companies block other productivity-draining sites such as social media, gaming, gambling and dating sites.

Internet filtering to improve employee productivity is important, but the majority of companies are flexible when it comes to employee Internet use for personal shopping, provided employees keep it to a reasonable level.

Monitoring Employee Internet Access to Prevent Abuse

Many businesses use Internet filtering to improve employee productivity and enforce acceptable usage policies. Some control Internet access with an iron fist, others are much more permissive.

Regardless of the controls that are put in place, Internet filters also allow employers to keep close tabs on their employees’ Internet activity. An internet filter is a useful tool for monitoring employees, not just enforcing company policies.

Internet filters allow employers to easily check employee Internet use while maintaining a relatively permissive controls. This allows them to take action when individuals are abusing Internet access. Monitoring is easy as reports can be generated on user, group, or organization-wide activity while providing information on browsing activity in real time. Reports can also be automatically generated and sent to department heads or IT security teams.

Different controls can be applied to different user groups and time-based controls can be set, for instance, only permitting online shopping during lunch hours or other scheduled breaks. Such controls would be useful for stopping the 20% of workers that do their online shopping at work in the morning which, in many businesses, is the most important part of the day when productivity needs to be high.

Since controls can be applied for different types of Internet content, security can be maintained by blocking access to high risk sites and illegal or totally unacceptable content all of the time, while restrictions on other categories of content can be eased during relatively quiet periods.

In short, Internet filters should not be viewed just as a way of restricting employee Internet access, but as a tool for the management of Internet use to improve security and enjoy productivity gains while giving employees some flexibility.

How TitanHQ Can Help

Not all Internet filters offer businesses the highly granular controls that are necessary to carefully control Internet content. Many lack flexibility and have difficult to use interfaces.

Applying and managing Internet filters should be an easy process, which is why TitanHQ developed the WebTitan suite of products. WebTitan Gateway, WebTitan Cloud, and WebTitan Cloud for WiFi have been developed to make Internet filtering a simple process, while giving businesses the ability to precisely control employee Internet access to achieve productivity gains and improve security.

What Makes WebTitan the Ideal Choice for Businesses

Listed below are some of the key features of WebTitan that are often found lacking in other business Internet filtering solutions.

  • No hardware purchases necessary
  • No software downloads required
  • Quick and easy set up and application of Internet policies
  • Highly granular controls allow flexible policies to be applied
  • Links with Active Directory and LDAP allowing easy application of organization, department, group, or user-level Internet controls
  • Easily block content through 53 pre-defined categories and 10 customizable categories
  • Keyword-based filtering controls
  • Time-based filtering
  • SSL inspection
  • Dual anti-virus engines provide leading AV protection
  • Excellent protection from phishing websites
  • An intuitive web-based user interface places all information and controls at your fingertips
  • Highly scalable
  • Protect wired and wireless networks, including protection/content controls for off-site workers
  • Provides full visibility of network usage
  • Full reporting suite, including group and user activity, real time browsing activity, report scheduling, and real-time alerts

If you want to use Internet filtering to improve employee productivity, enforce acceptable usage policies, and improve security by blocking web-based threats, WebTitan is the ideal solution.

For more information on WebTitan and advice on the best option to suit the needs of your business, contact the TitanHQ team today. Our experts will be happy to book a product demonstration and help you take advantage of a free trial of the full product to see the solution in action and discover the difference it makes.