Wiper Malware

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Wiper Malware is malicious software that wipes away everything that comes in its path. The sole purpose of this malware is to cause destruction of the victim’s devices. This malware destroys the Master Boot Record of a computer making it inoperable. While it can end up causing substantial financial losses for the affected parties, its primary goal is not to steal money or sell information to cybercriminals but rather the destruction of information itself and/or the device.

Many malware attacks affect the Confidentiality or Integrity of data, but this malware affects the Availability of the data and the device itself. These attacks have been allegedly been used by Russian aggressors in February 2022 to target the Ukrainian government, Ukrainian Banks, non-profit and IT organizations, and increased attacks against military targets. These attacks could be valuable in wartime, as they can take important infrastructure supporting the military (drone systems, anti-missile systems, radar, etc.). 

What does this mean for an SMB or MSP?

The vast majority of SMBs and MSPs are unlikely to see Wiper Malware itself but should be on high alert for other forms of malware, especially during conflicts involving nation-states. With that said, every SMB and MSP should have a process for handling critical vulnerability alerts in order to quickly assess risk and make important, time-sensitive decisions, on how to react. With a Vulnerability Alert Management Process (VAMP) in place, you can have a clear guide to when to jump and how high to jump for a given vulnerability or exposure.

In order to stay up to date at all times, it’s important to deploy a cloud-based patch management solution to automatically update software whenever and wherever necessary. Most Managed Service Providers leverage one of the big three Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solutions (Connectwise, Datto, and Kaseya) for patching their managed systems. These RMM solutions also provide monitoring, and remote access in addition to tested and validated patching services to their clients.

Standalone patch management solutions for companies not using the above-mentioned RMM solutions include ManageEngine and Automox.

Additional Cybersecurity Recommendations

Additionally, these recommendations below will help you and your business stay secure with the various threats you may face on a day-to-day basis. All of the suggestions listed below can be gained by hiring CyberHoot’s vCISO Program development services.

  1. Govern employees with policies and procedures. You need a password policy, an acceptable use policy, an information handling policy, and a written information security program (WISP) at a minimum.
  2. Train employees on how to spot and avoid phishing attacks. Adopt a Learning Management system like CyberHoot to teach employees the skills they need to be more confident, productive, and secure.
  3. Test employees with Phishing attacks to practice. CyberHoot’s Phish testing allows businesses to test employees with believable phishing attacks and put those that fail into remedial phish training.
  4. Deploy critical cybersecurity technology including two-factor authentication on all critical accounts. Enable email SPAM filtering, validate backups, deploy DNS protection, antivirus, and anti-malware on all your endpoints.
  5. In the modern Work-from-Home era, make sure you’re managing personal devices connecting to your network by validating their security (patching, antivirus, DNS protections, etc) or prohibiting their use entirely.
  6. If you haven’t had a risk assessment by a 3rd party in the last 2 years, you should have one now. Establishing a risk management framework in your organization is critical to addressing your most egregious risks with your finite time and money.
  7. Buy Cyber-Insurance to protect you in a catastrophic failure situation. Cyber-Insurance is no different than Car, Fire, Flood, or Life insurance. It’s there when you need it most.

All of these recommendations are built into CyberHoot the product or CyberHoot’s vCISO Services. With CyberHoot you can govern, train, assess, and test your employees. Visit CyberHoot.com and sign up for our services today. At the very least continue to learn by enrolling in our monthly Cybersecurity newsletters to stay on top of current cybersecurity updates.

Sources: 

MUO

ThreatPost

Additional Reading:

Wiper malware targets Ukraine as military conflict extends into cyberspace

Related Terms:

Patching

Malware

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