Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 32 | Page 57

FEATURE: BLOCKCHAIN the user’s knowledge. Many cryptojacking operations will utilise small quantities of power from many different machines to create a pool of processing power. This technique makes large corporations and businesses an ideal target for easy infection of multiple machines once access is gained. According to a recently published report, ‘around 10% of organisations received (and blocked) cryptocurrency mining malware at some point throughout the course of the year’. “Security practitioners need to be casting the ‘visibility and analytics net’ far wider, to better detect, investigate and remediate against these. Identifying changes in the behaviour of these credentials is the key to successfully uncovering an attack. This means gaining a clear understanding of the normal behaviours of everyone that accesses your network, allowing you to spot the anomalies more easily when they happen – and they will. The faster you can do this, the less time attackers have to ‘dwell’ in the network and more data – or in this case, reputation – you can potentially save.” Security vendors are working to find preventative methods and solutions to these types of attacks. BlackBerry Limited is one such example and has announced the release of BlackBerry Optics v2.5.1100 with cryptomining and cryptojacking detection for Intel-based commercial PCs. Josh Lemos, VP, Research and Intelligence, Cylance To detect advanced cryptojacking malware, the BlackBerry Optics Context Analysis Engine (CAE) leverages unique CPU telemetry from Intel Threat Detection Technology (Intel TDT) to provide enterprises and SMBs unparalleled detection of cryptojacking attempts. BlackBerry has collaborated with Intel on technology that effectively stops cryptojacking. With virtually no processor impact and easy configuration, organisations can detect and mitigate cryptojacking with greater precision and consistent results across all types of workloads executing on Windows 10 operating systems. Cryptojacking is the installation of malware on a device in order to hijack computing power to mine cryptocurrency without “Given the cost associated with mining cryptocurrency and the payments of ransomware demands on the decline, cryptojacking becomes an attractive option for threat actors to generate revenue,” said Josh Lemos, VP, Research and Intelligence, Cylance. “With our new cryptojacking detection and response capabilities, we’re looking to make this practice a thing of the past, providing enterprises and their employees with a turnkey solution that will enable them to thwart cryptojacking attempts and ensure their software and hardware are used for their intended purposes. The days of exploiting unsuspecting users for free CPU time are over.” “As hackers use more sophisticated tactics to bypass detection, it’s more important than ever to have built-in hardware security features,” said Stephanie Hallford, Intel Vice President of the Client Computing Group and General Manager of Business Client Platforms. “Building on top of the builtfor-business Intel vPro platform, enabled by Intel Hardware Shield, BlackBerry takes advantage of hardware visibility to offer advanced security protection and we applaud it for this release.” • WE’RE LOOKING TO MAKE THIS PRACTICE A THING OF THE PAST, PROVIDING ENTERPRISES AND THEIR EMPLOYEES WITH A TURNKEY SOLUTION THAT WILL ENABLE THEM TO THWART CRYPTOJACKING ATTEMPTS. www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 57