Malware: Painting a Picture

By Jacob Serpa, Product Marketing Manager, Bitglass

Part One

Now more than ever, companies are flocking to the cloud. Through a variety of software as a service (SaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS), enterprises are able to raise their efficiency, increase their flexibility, and decrease costs. However, pursuing these benefits does come with some risk. In particular, malware and ransomware have transformed from issues on endpoints to systematic threats to organizations’ suites of cloud apps.

While it may be tempting to run from the cloud (and the threats hiding in its billows), the fact remains that it is a staple of modern business - it’s here to stay. So, enterprises must take steps to understand malware and safely capture the benefits of the cloud. This process is similar to composing a painting in that there are many items to consider when trying to complete a picture of the ideal future. Each piece of secure cloud migration corresponds with one aspect of painting - see how in this two-part blog series.

The Saboteur: Types of Malware

Malware can be thought of as a sly saboteur waiting for an opportunity to throw paint at your canvas and ruin your design.

Malware can be divided into a number of smaller classifications. For example, horror stories often revolve around worms, spyware, trojan horses, ransomware, and many other types of Malware. Despite this lengthy list, two overarching categories are of primary importance. When evaluating malware, one must think in terms of known threats and unknown threats. While a known threat is a common piece of malware that has been seen in the past, an unknown threat (or zero-day threat) is malware that is relatively new and has not yet been identified. Zero-day malware is a particular risk because it is harder to detect - there can be months of damage, theft, and infection before it’s noticed. They each present different challenges and must be addressed in unique ways - as will be discussed in Part Two.