Proactive Malware Defense: Why Organizations Need a New Approach

The threat of malware attacks casts an enormous shadow over organizations across every industry. The AV-Test Institute reports that 450,000 new pieces of malware emerge every day, adding to the estimated 1 billion malicious strains already in existence. And new technology, like artificial intelligence (AI), is weaponized as soon as it's introduced to enhance malware potency. 

In general, overburdened cybersecurity teams already struggle to stay ahead of the day-to-day burden of identifying and mitigating malicious threats. To free up security operations, organizations are turning to specialized support, like our Malware Analysis Service, to find advanced exploits and get expert mitigation advice. 

The case for proactive analysis

Escalating malware attacks are a major threat to organizations of every size. Their ability to infiltrate systems, steal sensitive data, disrupt operations and irrevocably damage brand reputations poses a serious challenge that must be addressed. However, overburdened in-house security teams often lack the time, resources and expertise needed for focused malware analysis to effectively stay ahead of malicious campaigns and attacks.

Our deeply experienced Malware Analysis and Research Team now offers two new services for security teams to investigate potentially malicious files, hashes, and URLs:

1. Rapid Analysis: Utilizes automated systems to generate actionable insights in under 30 minutes.
2. Deep Analysis: Extends Rapid Analysis automated reports with expert hands-on evaluation and reverse engineering, providing detailed findings for more obscure or emerging malware strains, typically delivered in three days or less.

Both services produce confidential in-depth reports on indicators of compromise (IOCs), contextual threat intelligence and practical insights to mitigate risk and protect business-critical assets. In addition, these services surpass standard scanning provided by most vendors, delivering confidential in-depth analysis, potential impact insights, and practical mitigation advice across a host of use cases such as:

• Malware research: Conduct in-depth analyses on new and emerging malware samples to understand their behavior and potential impact.
• Threat hunting: Proactively search for signs of compromise or emerging threats within enterprise networks or systems.
• Rapid defense, proactive containment: Quickly implement identified IOCs into security architecture to proactively contain threats and minimize the blast radius.
• Security operations: Integrate the service into existing security operations workflows to enhance threat detection and response capabilities.

The Malware Analysis Service extends our Threat Advisory Services suite comprising vulnerability research, penetration testing and adversary simulation offerings. Benefits of the Rapid Analysis and Deep Analysis services include:

• Streamlined security operations: Implement processes and technologies to reduce complexity and enhance efficiency across cybersecurity frameworks.
• Optimized resource allocation: Allocate resources to maximize the effectiveness of cybersecurity initiatives, ensuring that investments in tools, personnel, and infrastructure align with organizational priorities.
• Access to specialized expertise: Benefit from a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts equipped with specialized knowledge and experience to thoroughly analyze potentially malicious software, hashes, and URLs.
• Enhancement to existing investments: Collect IOCs that can be deployed to security infrastructure, augmenting existing tools and technologies, and extending their value to the business.

Key benefits of a proactive malware approach

As malware attacks become increasingly complex and evasive, posing significant risks to sensitive data, operational continuity and overall business health, it's clear organizations must shift toward proactive detection, analysis, and response to stay ahead of the ever-evolving threat landscape. Critical capabilities of our Malware Analysis Service offerings include:

• Rich contextual threat intelligence: Leverage advanced reverse engineering methodologies and file and URL analyses to identify malware strains and families and potential impact.
• Comprehensive reporting: Generate customized reports according to specific organizational requirements (available in PDF or JSON formats)
• MITRE ATT&CK mapping: Map finding to common tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used in advanced persistent threats to develop more effective defense strategies
• Practical implementation: Obtain confidential, user-friendly reports and practical recommendations for implementation in existing enterprise security tools and technologies.
• Compliance support: Uphold stringent internal policies and regulatory compliance requirements involving malware analysis and incident response.

When organizations prioritize proactive malware analysis, they reap numerous benefits. Proactive analysis strengthens their security posture, reducing overall attack surface and making them less attractive targets. In-depth threat intelligence enables informed decision-making, optimizing resource allocation and ensuring security budgets target the most critical vulnerabilities. By identifying and mitigating potential malware threats early, organizations minimize the risk of costly operational disruptions. Most importantly, proactive malware analysis plays a crucial role in protecting sensitive data, safeguarding organizations against the severe financial and reputational consequences of data breaches.

Want to learn more? Discover how to extend your security operations by putting our innovative Malware Analysis Service to work to find advanced exploits and gain expert remediation guidance to protect your business. Visit the webpage or explore additional resources below.

Additional Malware Analysis Service resources

Malware Analysis Service Overview Brief
How It Works Demo Video
Blog: Malware as a Disservice
Webinar: Detect, Assess and Mitigate Malware Threats