Modern web applications have evolved into a primary form of data communication as well as a platform where end users can easily collaborate, upload documents, images, or other files. However, this has led to applications being able to accept file uploads with any extension or type, giving attackers the opportunity to upload malicious files into applications that exploit both the organisation and its clients. Therefore, filtering uploads by validating for file types or extensions is no longer an effective way of defending against such attacks.
In the recent past, in-house sandboxing techniques have been used in company networks to detect malware in files. However, deploying an appliance for sandboxing and analysing local network files is not scalable, and it also adds severe latency and administrative overhead, which results in badly implemented security.
Additionally, enhanced inspection techniques that send notifications and adequate logging are required to defend against today’s file injections. By immediately notifying the administrator when an attack occurs, they have a better chance of combating threats.
Why anti-virus scanning isn’t enough
Running a business is becoming more dynamic, yet more complex. Unfortunately, this also applies to the business of malware and ransomware. Popular types of malware are being used to target websites, and are rarely detected by traditional anti-virus services.
The origin of these infections is typically through simple actions like file uploads in web applications. Today’s threats spread at a high velocity, making it difficult to detect a threat, isolate the signature, add the signature to databases, and make it publicly and continually available in a very short time. By the time the database update is available, the threat has already compromised a network’s systems and has successfully covered up its tracks.
While these signature-based legacy systems are still important as a first line of defense for prefiltering network traffic, organisations still need an additional security layer to protect against targeted malware.
Read this whitepaper from Barracuda to find out how to secure web applications against malicious file injections.
Want to learn more?
Complete IT Systems have a team of Barracuda specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.
To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.
