Non-Malware-Based Attacks – What Are They and How to Protect Yourself

Non-Malware-Based Attacks – What Are They and How to Protect Yourself

Malware impacts over 4.1 million websites, and if you or someone in your organization downloads an infected file and opens it, the malware can affect your servers and multiple employees. However, one common misconception we see at our Miami cybersecurity company is that you need to download a file and run a .exe file for malware to impact you. That isn’t necessarily true.

Fileless attacks are on the rise and pose a serious risk to any business that is not taking preemptive measures to stop fileless malware.

What are Non-Malware-Based Attacks and How Do They Work?

Non-malware-based attacks, also called fileless malware, are a hidden threat to all businesses. With traditional malware, there is a known footprint that makes it easy to detect, but the fileless malware runs inside of your system’s random access memory (RAM).

Fileless malware injects the malicious coding into:

  • Trusted processes
  • System tools

Preventing, detecting and removing fileless malware is challenging, but you can clear it out with a simple reboot of your system.

Types of Fileless Attacks

Malware is always serious, and with fileless attacks, the most common types of attacks are:

  • Memory code injection: Most fileless attacks use vulnerabilities in your programs, such as Java or browsers, to execute malicious code that then resides in the system’s RAM.
  • Windows registry: Malicious links are often used to manipulate Windows registry through trusted processes.

Protecting against fileless malware is possible.

How to Protect Yourself Against Fileless Malware

There are several steps you can take to protect yourself against fileless malware. Some of the most important ones include:

Monitor Application Behavior

One way to protect against fileless malware is to monitor applications running in your environment to see if they are behaving abnormally, such as PowerShell. If certain applications are running in an abnormal way, this may indicate a fileless malware attack.

Other signs of a non-malware-based attack can also include:

  • Strange processes being executed in the main memory
  • Changes in user privileges that were unauthorized
  • Suspicious changes to the Windows registry
  • Remote commands being executed via PowerShell

Keeping Your Systems and Software Updated 

As a general rule of thumb, you should be keeping your systems and software updated. By keeping your systems up to date, you minimize the risk of exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities.

Using Indicators of Attacks (IOAs)

Rather than searching for malicious files, monitor your system for signs of suspicious or unusual activity.

Managed Threat Hunting

Managed threat hunting is a proactive strategy that aims to identify and mitigate potential threats. Rather than going through your system manually to find fileless malware, you work with an experienced cybersecurity team to locate and mitigate the attack for you. Managed services are also available, which provide continual monitoring of your system. If suspicious activity is detected, they flag and address the problem immediately.

Summary 

Non-malware-based attacks use existing and legitimate programs to execute stealthy attacks that can be challenging to detect. Because they have no identifiable signature or code, traditional defense strategies, like antivirus programs, struggle to detect them.

Due to the sophisticated and stealthy nature of fileless malware, it’s best to work with an agency experienced in cybersecurity in Miami to protect against and eliminate non-malware-based attacks. 


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