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At StrataMax we have received a number of reports recently concerning a particularly nasty computer virus which has been responsible for disrupting many computing environments, causing significant business impact. It is commonly known as the Cryptolocker virus.

 

Although this virus is not new it now seems to be finding its way into many Australian businesses disguised as an email from Australia Post. Other known fake emails have also been from FedEx, Xerox and UPS.

 

While you may have local antivirus software installed, this particular type of virus doesn’t appear to be picked up and is launched when a user clicks on a link within the email.

 

So what should you do? We recommend informing your staff of these fake emails and under no circumstances should they click on any links.  If clicked they run the risk of infecting your computers, your network and destroying your data.

 

The days of having one anti-virus solution are in the past and it is now important to have several layers of protection to give you some peace-of-mind that you will not be infected.

 

Protection at StrataMax

 

Following are some of the measures we use at StrataMax to give our office maximum protection from harmful viruses:

 

• Staff Awareness and Training – At StrataMax we implement company-wide security awareness training to ensure our staff are well informed and have a solid understanding of company security policy, procedure and best practices.
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• Central Antivirus Console - We operate a centralised anti-virus solution that monitors all end-users and their internet activity. This way, we are able to monitor alerts of viruses or out-of-date virus definitions in real time as they happen. Without this central management console, alerts or updates could be missed if relying on each individual staff member to know what to do.
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• External Email Server Filter - Email initially comes through an external mail server where anti-virus software is used to protect our internal mail server against malware, virus and spam. Similar software is also run on our internal mail server as a secondary guard.
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• Internet Proxy - An Internet Web Proxy is utilised to guard against malicious links being clicked or malware websites being accessed. If a user tries to click the link it will come up as being restricted.
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• Firewall - A sophisticated firewall is used with only the ports needed for outbound traffic open, along with features like an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). With over 65,000 basic ports available, it makes sense to restrict the scope a virus can access your system by limiting the number of ports open.
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• Virtual Network Segments – Our complete network is separated to reduce the risk of a virus spreading. Essentially, instead of having all end-users on the same network we divide our teams into smaller virtual networks. In the unlikely event that a virus does infect one group, all of the others are still protected therefore limiting our risk and exposure.
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• Central Windows Monitoring Software – Lastly, we use central monitoring software to collect details from windows event logs along with services and registry changes, and alerts on unplanned changes. Again using a central monitoring system, nothing is missed.

Always have a back-up

 

At the end of the day there is still a chance that you may be infected in which case it is important to have solid backups. As such this is the perfect time to ensure your back-up system is adequate and well tested. 

 

Stay safe

Please don’t ignore the threat and remember to contact your IT department/provider if you have any concerns.

 

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