Not long ago, small and medium-sized businesses considered a basic firewall and anti-virus program enough to keep their confidential data safe from cyber intruders and data disasters. Back in those days, that could’ve worked. However, in today’s technological environment, that isn’t enough. As today’s cyber threats continue to grow exponentially, business owners and their computer security systems have to evolve as well in order to stay one step ahead of them.
The FBI recently teamed up with European Cyber Crime Police agencies to take down a criminal botnet – a network of remotely controlled PCs – that used a virtual shape-shifting virus to prevent detection by antivirus scanners. The development of polymorphic software was a huge step forward for cyber criminals in the computer security arms race, but skilled human technicians and their advanced security technology were able to stop them.
This network, known as Beebone, officially infected 12,000 computers; however, police agencies estimate a total of 5 million computers and mobile devices were infected.
Beebone first arrives disguised as basic code. It then takes advantage of security flaws to gain control of the machine. Once it took control it acted as a downloader, installing other forms of malicious software on victims’ computers without their consent or knowledge. It constantly changed its virtual appearance in order to not be recognized by updated anti-virus programs. The secondary infections installed by Beebone included software that steals banking logins and passwords, as well as fraudulent anti-virus software and ransomware. The FBI, working with Europol and the Department of Justice, seized approximately 100 domain names used by the botnet.
Today’s computer networks require comprehensive security systems, as suspicious files are no longer singular threats. Perimeter defenses and other forms of intrusion detection systems are necessary to detect suspicious network traffic as well. Because viruses can now morph to camouflage themselves to hide from anti-virus software, neither you nor your company can afford to be unprotected. Monitor your systems for any suspicious activity and reach out to professionals if you see anything abnormal.