Cyber threats and successful attacks have been on the rise for years. Due to this, the inadequacy of antivirus is also becoming increasingly apparent. Antivirus often updates its systems, but its operation continues to lag behind; antivirus is built for yesterday’s problem. Cyber criminals are taking advantage of this and their successful attacks have unfortunately been increasing for years.
Malware, the fastest growing problem
This is especially reflected in one of the fastest growing problems in cybersecurity, malware. The Cyber Security Image Netherlands report for 2021 shows that almost all large companies are confronted with it every year, including 46% of SMEs in the Netherlands. It is considered the fastest growing cyber threat. Cybercriminals abuse functionality within document structures to trick antivirus into causing harm. This includes elements such as macros, scripts, triggers and embedded files. Malware attackers are often opportunists looking for a vulnerability to exploit, no matter where it comes from. It is very difficult to predict how or where a malware attack will take place. Therefore, any solution that relies on suspicious behavior or detection, such as antivirus, falls short. Unfortunately, even the most advanced next-gen antivirus solution still works by using databases of existing threats to look for known attack signatures or look for anomalies in traffic patterns and behavior. However, the threats and vectors used by attackers are constantly changing. It doesn’t feel that long ago when all we had to worry about was phishing and dangerous links. As ITenvironments become more and more complex, companies need to protect a lot more.
How CDR can help
The solution can be found in CDR technology, as the recent Gartner’s Hype Cycle report from Gartner shows that CDR has a high priority as additional network security. CDR is the necessary complement to antivirus. It is built for the current threat landscape. It ensures that malicious content (such as macros, embedded objects and actions) is removed from files. All this is done without affecting the usability and appearance of the file. The user himself does not even notice. The purpose of CDR is the same as that of antivirus, which is to prevent files with malware from causing damage. It does work in a different way. Unlike antivirus, it does not preemptively scan for the presence of known malware, but proactively removes all potentially malicious content from the file immediately. In this way, the latest threats are caught faster. CDR technology should be seen as a complementary security layer, the perfect addition to the existing antivirus.
