Malware
What is Malware?
Malware is a discreet, hidden piece of software that is intentionally developed and strategically placed within a computer system. It is created with the sole intention to destroy, disrupt, and exploit systems and gain illegitimate access to sensitive data.
What does malware do?
Malware has a variety of abilities including disruption of computer systems, destruction of workflows and operations management, and exploitation of sensitive or classified information. Malware can be found in several formats—and the more legitimate it looks, the harder it is for security managers to detect the fraudulent activity occurring.
What happens in a malware attack?
During a malware attack, an organization’s privacy becomes compromised. During a successful attack, the malware goes undetected and deliberately interferes with the normal functions of the computer system. When this occurs, not only is there a chance for data leaks or compromised security, but often malware will prevent authorized users from accessing the systems, further disrupting the ability to recover from the attack.
How can I prevent a malware infection?
By creating and deploying software that patches and updates continuously across all computer systems, organizations have a better chance at preventing a successful malware infection. Establishing the proper antivirus and antimalware software is also one of the best lines of defense against such attacks, as trusted software programs offer the most extensive protection for your organization.
Conducting regular scans for odd activity or red flags within your operating system will keep your system current and establish healthy regulation of your data architecture. This effectively boosts security across your entire organization through simple, strategic routine checks. Through effective examination of your systems, firewalls, and endpoints, you will have a higher chance of catching attacks quickly and preventing extensive damage.
Training your employees on security best practices is an additional element of preventing malware infections. While this may seem outdated, it is easily one of your most effective strategies against attack, as it promotes urgency and awareness across your organization. By keeping this top-of-mind within your employee culture, your organization will be more equipped to maintain the health of your computer systems throughout your enterprise infrastructure.
How can I get rid of malware if attacked?
Removing malware from your computer systems is not only critical to protecting your organization’s sensitive data, but necessary to reestablishing healthy function of your data architecture. If your computer systems have become compromised due to a malware attack, there are a few steps to take to remove the malware:
1. When malware has been discovered within your systems, the antivirus or antimalware software can either permanently delete the infected files or put them into a type of “digital quarantine” that will prevent the attack from propagating.
2. The next step in restoring systems within your enterprise architecture is through a backup, restore, and restart process. This is essential to rebuilding a healthy operating system. Often, malware will root deep within your OS and install new tools that can cause exponentially greater harm to your organization’s systems and structures.
3. Quick response to incidents helps prevent further damage, but IT teams must take time to ensure the system has been rebuilt and restored to be certain that the malware is not still embedded within your computer infrastructure. Locking down your system while you patch and reconfigure its components is critical.
4. In order to rebuild the infected and deleted systems, your IT team must ensure the malware has been fully eradicated. If this is not immediately attainable, your antivirus software should at least offer a “disable” feature that will temporarily protect your data environment while further investigation and cleanup occurs.
HPE and Malware Security
Secure your data and adopt a zero-trust framework with HPE GreenLake. This not only closes gaps and reduces complexities within your data architecture, but also builds security elements into every part of your infrastructure. With HPE GreenLake, you can enjoy true protection where it matters.
The silicon-to-cloud approach is the only way to secure your data infrastructure—from clouds to data centers to edges. With HPE Edge-to-Cloud Adoption Framework, your enterprise can evolve to a cloud operating model, everywhere. And with HPE’s extensive data modernization experience, your organization can enjoy HPE’s proven framework to transforming and protecting your data.
Continuous data protection (CDP) is essential to enable swift recovery from malware, ransomware, and other attacks. With continuous backups, you can achieve a full restore across your computer systems that undoes any malicious changes that occurred within a given time. Available on a pay-per-use model, with HPE GreenLake for Security.