Keeping Samlink’s Clients Digitally Safe and Cyber Secure

A Threat Actor is someone in a hostile action trying to hack into an IT environment. The potential threat actors that Samlink faces range from highly sophisticated nation states through organized criminal groups to script kiddies and hacktivists.

Gathering and analyzing intelligence related to threat actors and the way they work is essential for adjusting protection and capabilities to detect and respond to them. Most of the information is available from trusted sources on the Internet but also personal connections in the security network are utilized to share sensitive information about threat actors and their modus operandi.

In general, a threat actor gains access to an IT environment either through the user, mainly by sending phishing emails with a malicious link or attachment, or by using a vulnerability to hack or buying access from a hacker into the IT environment.

Constant monitoring for abnormal behavior

The different threat actors have different modus operandi that Samlink’s security team systematically and critically scrutinizes. They constantly monitor the infrastructure for abnormal behaviors and utilize numerous automated security tools, but also manual methods requiring human intelligence and judgement.

The Mitre Att&ck framework is used, which is an effective way of describing malicious activities and defending oneself against them. With it, the attack tactics and techniques used by the threat actors are monitored throughout the entire life cycle of the attack.

The work of the security team helps Samlink in being adequately prepared by knowing what to expect, but also it is a strategic tool for the management to plan how to prevent costly breaches and keep Samlink’s clients digitally safe, cyber secure and happy.

Keeping the quote from Sun Tzu’s Art of War in mind is always a useful reminder:

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”