Do rule-based security tools miss new attack paths?
Often, by design. A rule describes something already known: a file hash, a domain, a sequence of events someone has seen before. It is precise and cheap, and it works well against commodity malware. It fails when attackers change a detail, use legitimate tools, or take a path through your network that nobody wrote a rule for, such as a new server, a forgotten supplier account or an unusual chain of hops. Behaviour-based detection asks a different question: is this host doing something it has not done before, compared with its own history and its peers? It catches new paths but needs time to learn what is normal, and its alerts need judgement. Most mature setups combine both. NetSenX detects behaviour on the network, such as beaconing, scanning, lateral movement and unusual outbound volume, and explains each alert, so that you can tell a new attack path from a new business process.
Read next
Related questions
- Why would a printer scan our network, and can printers be used to attack other computers?
- How do we stop an attacker who is already in our network?
- How fast do attackers move once they are inside?
- How do we know if the PC we use for online banking is infected?
- How would we know if our ERP database was copied out of the company?