With the tech requirements of SMB customers constantly changing there are lots of ‘hot’ or potentially attractive markets opening up for MSPs. In the web security market these demands are driven by changes in the mechanics of cyber threats. The threat vector has changed. This guide outlines these changes in cyber threats and the added role web filtering plays in preventing them. Furthermore we’ll demonstrate how MSP’s and Service Providers can thrive in this new environment.
The threat vector has changed. The web has replaced email as the primary point of attack; 80% of malware is now web related. “The average business user now encounters an average of 3 malicious links per day” Mr. Neil Farrell, CTO, TitanHQ
Email had always been the preferred vehicle for cybercriminals but changing developments in email security have seen scammers move to a less challenging and more lucrative target – the Internet. Instead of using email, attackers simply put their malicious content on a website. Malicious sites include Malware, Ransomware, phishing links and botnets. This shift from email to the web also means cybercriminals reach a much larger audience. As the internet has gradually been woven into everyday life, attackers have shifted their focus.
Gartner predicts there will be 6.8 billion connected devices in use in 2016, a 30 percent increase over 2015. They stated that by 2020, that number will jump to more than 20 billion connected devices. The recent explosion of free, public Wi-Fi has been an enormous boon for working professionals. By 2025, Gartner suggests that the number of connected devices will rise to 75 billion. Gartner states that every second 127 devices get connected to the internet.
Since these free access points are available at restaurants, hotels, airports, bookstores, and even random retail outlets, you are rarely more than a short trip away from access to your network, and your work.
This freedom comes at a price and few truly understand the public Wi-Fi risks associated with these connections and the risks of carrying infection back into an office environment.
Malware can enter an organization through simple web surfing if legitimate web sites have been compromised. According to Google there are now 293,747 phishing sites on the internet. Up from 113,132 July 2015. This represents growth of over 150% in a mere seven months. According to IDC, Up to 30% of companies with 500+ staff have been infected as a result of Internet surfing. New malware is released every four seconds. Through analysing 500 million web users we can accu-
rately categorise the websites and categories that bring the biggest threat.
Our increasingly mobile workforce means that Wi-Fi expectations have risen significantly. With pervasive Wi-Fi mobility comes the growing expectation of security and privacy. Consumers now have choices about where to connect and will expect home and public Wi-Fi providers to protect their privacy and security.
Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and public Wi-Fi access are driving substantial opportunities for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to help organizations deploy these mobility solutions with value-added security services. In fact in certain industries there is a legal obligation on business to protect their Wi-Fi users, Education being a key vertical. MSPs are taking advantage of this growing business opportunity by delivering mobility, managing Wi-Fi access and offering value added security services.
Threat vectors are becoming more serious as criminals increasingly focus on sophisticated methods ofsocial engineering to trick users into clicking on links and introducing malware into organizations.They develop improved and stealthier malware as the benefits from cybercrime pay larger dividends. At TitanHQ we are filtering no less than 60,000 new malware sites every single day.
• Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks will permit seemingly safe Web sites to generate requests to different sites.
• CSRF attacks have exploited vulnerabilities in Twitter, enabling site owners to acquire the Twitter profiles of their visitors.
• Internet applications that leverage XML, XPath, JavaScript and JSON, Adobe Flash are frequently vulnerable to injection attacks using these environments. These technologies are often used to evade anti-virus defences, motivating attackers to leverage them.
• Cross-component attacks can occur when two harmless pieces of malware code appear on the same Web page. Individually, they are harmless and difficult to detect. However, when they appear simultaneously on a single page, they can infect a user’s machine with malware.
• SQL injection attacks occur when SQL commands and meta-characters are inserted into input fields on a Web site, the goal of which is to execute back-end SQL code. Cross-site scripting attacks
embed tags in URLs – when users click
The hard facts on ransomware :
1. Last year there was a reported loss of more than $24 million as a result of ransomware attacks, according to the FBI
2. Ransomware threat on the rise as 'almost 40% of businesses attacked'
3. Security firm Malwarebytes surveyed 500 companies in four countries and found one-third of victims lost revenue as a result of an attack
SMBs now realise the seriousness of the threat landscape – they know that they need to implement appropriate technologies. MSPs have less convincing to do now as the threat is in mainstream media and the potential losses are real and increasingly costly. In our experience it’s actually the lower level ransomware threats that are causing the most problems – the $1,000 ransomware threat that has locked down the graphic design business for three days.
This is driving SMBs to demand service providers include added protection in all offerings. A robust security capability must protect an organization’s data, financial and other assets at an acceptable level, balancing the level of security with the security of the assets being protected.
The average cost to an organization of a malware infection was $1.8 million last year (Ponemon Institute). More than three-quarters of all malware and computer viruses are entering networks via social media. Use of the “Big Three” social networks – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – as well as the 1,000+ social networks in use worldwide, creates serious security problems. Amongst these problems is the fact that social media tools can be used to proliferate malware.
A recent study by Osterman research found that malware has infiltrated 24% of organizations through Facebook and 7% of organizations through Twitter and LinkedIn. More troubling, however, is the fact that a large proportion of organizations simply are not sure whether or not malware has entered through these tools. It’s estimated that around 28% of the working day is spent on social media sites, wasting the American economy around $650 billion a year.
Businesses need the ability to completely block Social Media or create a tailored social media policy to suit user and group requirements. The reality is that a sledge hammer approach doesn’t work – certain sectors of your business are much more likely to become compromised than others.
These 8 examples demonstrate how the threat vector has changed. This seismic change has created optimal market conditions for TitanHQ’s high margin, best of breed cloud service. We are now seeing a significant increase in Service Providers adding our web filtering solution to their service stack.
From our perspective there are a number of key things that if taken care of will significantly reduce the security risks that your customers are facing. The threat vector has changed, while there are many angles of attack, Web more specifically, HTTP is number 1. As part of your overall security approach, nail down HTTP(s) and take a very significant step to mitigate the risk that your users are exposed to. Security at the HTTP(S) level justifies the need for advanced web content filtering.
Our team detect 60,000 new malware attacks every single day. New malware is released every 4 seconds and it’s our job to eradicate it immediately. Of course we offer zero day updating and regularly push immediate updates to our customer base. This has been our business for 20 years and it’s what we do every minute of the day. Our cloud services are easy to bundle, have minimal IT support, no upfront investment and will increase partner revenue and cash flow.
Web content filtering is an essential added security layer that can drive growth for solution providers. TitanHQ makes it easy for MSPs and Service Providers to deploy, manage and sell web content filtering solutions using WebTitan Cloud for service providers.
The 8 security threats we have outlined have created optimal market conditions for MSP’s to earn high margins while offering best in class cloud security services. We are seeing a significant increase in service providers adding our web filtering to their service stack.
From a security perspective WebTitan Cloud for Service Providers is the ideal solution because:
• Information is gathered & analysed from 500 million users.
• Tens of thousands of new malicious URL’s are detected every day.
• We detect 62,000 malware variants daily.
• Our database is updated within minutes of new detections.
• Our expertise in the anti-spam world creates an ideal combination with web filtering
The key advantages for Service Providers in partnering with TitanHQ for their Web Filtering Solution are:
1. Remote management and monitoring via API.
2. Easily integrates into your existing service stack. Technology agnostic.
3. Can be hosted in your environment or ours.
4. Recurring revenue model on a high margin, subscription based SaaS solution
5. Minimal IT support – this is a set and forget solution
6. Marketing leading, industry recognised product which has been tried and tested in varied
environments with multiple customers.
Read blog: 3 Tips to Help MSPs Make Money using DNS Protection
TitanHQ offers the industry-leading technology that MSPs need to successfully rollout content filtering services. Any MSP will benefit from WebTitan Clouds' many advantages, including :
Along with low capital and operational expenditures and value-added incremental revenue, the bottom line with TitanHQ is a better bottom line for MSPs.
If you’d like to talk to us today please call : +1 813 304 2544 or you could try a free trial of WebTitan today
