Protecting Your Enterprise from Ransomware with MixMode

Christian Wiens Director of Marketing

Christian Wiens is Director of Marketing at MixMode. He has 10+ years of experience as a cybersecurity professional. He has his BA from The University of California, Berkeley and resides in Austin, TX.

At this point in the battle against ransomware, it’s time to hold Cybersecurity providers accountable for what they are actually providing to their clients.

Monthly reports that lack relevant details about an organization’s true risk level are insufficient and not representative of the further steps an organization should take to protect itself. This approach leaves organizations feeling secure against the threat of ransomware while they are actually left exposed to potentially expensive, wide-scale damage.

Often, monthly reports are so lengthy and jargon-filled that one must assume they are intentionally complex to discourage clients from trying to interpret what they mean. These customers often look at topline information or graphics and call it good.

Organizations can vastly improve their risk levels by implementing a few common sense policies. For example:

● Performing solid backups

● Maintaining up-to-date firewalls

● Implementing user education programs

● Fostering strong operational control support

MixMode and Ransomware

MixMode is not a tool that can prevent ransomware (if you find one let us know), but it is a highly valuable intelligence tool when implemented alongside robust processes and good network hygiene that can ultimately provide preemptive identification of attacks.

MixMode uses the most advanced AI in the cybersecurity industry to examine data streams like networks from within and across every entry point, establishing a generative baseline of network behavior as it evolves. The platform can give insight into concerns like what users are clicking on, whether firewalls are performing as expected, and the effectiveness of newly installed security patches.

A good example of this is the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack which took down the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S. and led to shortages across the East Coast. This attack could have been stopped by an advanced self-learning AI like MixMode.

The legacy cybersecurity platform deployed by the pipeline at the time of attack was unable to detect the origin or the extent of the breach due to the limited visibility it produced. When the pipeline was hacked, this left security teams completely in the dark as to what was happening, how it was happening, and where it was happening which caused an inadvertent “denial of services” to their operational technology.

Because MixMode’s AI is always watching intercommunication, and continually updating its generative baseline, the attack would have been visible as soon as an attempt was made and deviation of observed behavior occurred. MixMode observes and defines what is expected and any deviations would have immediately surfaced the attack and alerted the security team. This would have eliminated the need to suspend services due to the “unknown potential” and business could have continued with thoughtful controls and successful containment.

Events that would likely be overlooked by traditional Cybersecurity and ransomware defense tools can be identified by MixMode and alerted as soon as they occur. Even seemingly small deviations, like unusual email activity, and embedded attachments can be detected and reported on for further evaluation.

MixMode’s ability to respond in real-time is a major capability other cybersecurity solutions don’t have. For example, many legacy SIEM solutions are reliant on retroactive log analysis for identification of threats. This, by its very nature, means that the ransomware attack has already been successful. Instead of waiting for an infection to spread far enough to be detected and alerted on for days — or often, weeks — MixMode delivers alerts within minutes.

In addition, the platform’s comprehensive dashboard eliminates the majority of information organizations typically have to sort through. Fewer analysts are needed to handle events when threat details are boiled down to strictly actionable intel.

Find out how MixMode can help your organization gain confidence about mitigating future risks, including ransomware attacks. Reach out to our team to set up a demo today.