Connected Devices most vulnerable to Cyber threats: A10 Networks

In a chat with VARINDIA, Sanjai Gangadharan, Regional Director, SAARC, A10 Networks, speaks about the risks associated with connected devices, data analytics helping to understand the cyberattack, and how A10 Networks is securing its customers data

From April 2017 to January 2018, in India 22,207 Indian websites including 114 government websites were compromised, according to CERT-India. Cyberattacks are getting more and more sophisticated and it is becoming harder to identify for the existing defence mechanism. Identifying cyberthreats is a task that requires considerable exposure to the threat, and notable computing and extensive personnel resources to analyze correctly. Moreover, the trend of connected devices is even more complicating the security landscape, making the entire network vulnerable.  
 

Connected Networks and Threats

As the trend of connected devices is increasing every day, the risk of cyberthreats for these devices is also increasing. Internet of Things (IoT) attacks can be launched in both within and outside the network of the connected devices.   

“Internet of Things has changed the technology landscape drastically. Not just people, machines are also connected now. But there are grave security concerns connected with these connected devices, because IoT attacks can now be launched by infected devices both within and outside of the network. One should also consider the unique performance requirements and profile compositions that these devices have. IoT devices are widely being enslaved to mount increasingly devastating attacks. There is a flood of connected devices making their way into our homes and businesses. Every new device announcement adds more weapons to an already stocked arsenal of connected gadgets which hackers have at their disposal that they can weaponize and leverage to launch DDoS attacks. Hence, connected networks have a wider chance of being attacked through the multiple entry points for a malware. IoT attacks range much broader and can impact millions of connected devices in one go, including security controllers, resulting in scaling up of DDoS attacks,” explains Sanjai Gangadharan, Regional Director, SAARC, A10 Networks.     

One infected device can put the rest of the devices on hold, resulting in the network being crushed down. The outcome of an attack targeted at the connected device is huge and can spread rapidly.   

“With IoT-powered connected networks, the attack on one of the devices will trigger malfunction of the rest and will lead to the whole network being knocked down. When connected networks are attacked, the consequences are massive. The repercussions would spread across everything that’s required for our daily lives,” adds Sanjai.
 

Analytics in Cybersecurity

For a proactive defence strategy, analysis of the data generated during an attempted attack can give deeper insight. Granular analytics and visibility provides transparency to develop enhanced cybersecurity solution.  

“A massive amount of data is being generated during attempted attacks every day. This raw data can be utilized to draw insights and develop a proactively improved DDoS defences. Granular analytics and visibility also strengthen transparency and security measures to make the cybersecurity solution more robust,” says Sanjai.  

“A10 has created the DDoS Threat Intelligence Map which helps visualize the DDoS threat landscape and prepare for the potential DDoS attacks against the organization’s infrastructure. The existing threat maps are only indicative of the attacks that have already happened. A10’s DDoS map provides insights into where the next DDoS attacks will come from. Our Threat Intelligence Map gathers information from the attack attempts and previous attacks on the network and utilizes analytics tools to predict the potential attacks that may happen in the future.

However, like I said before, “Threat Intelligence Map is not a sole panacea to prevent DDoS attacks. If we have intelligence but cannot act on it, it is as good as useless. The effort from organizations should be to combine threat intelligence with modern DDoS mitigation solutions, like the A10 Thunder TPS, for a proactive DDoS defence strategy. DDoS mitigation solutions like these must be precise, automation-friendly and have scalability properties,” adds Sanjai.  

A10 Networks Securing Customers

Talking about how A10 Networks is helping organizations protect themselves from cyberthreats, Sanjai elaborates, “The A10 Networks Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS) is the cornerstone for all our solutions. It is one of our most superior switching software helping us deliver futuristic security solution that provides the agility and efficiency to protect and deliver applications. With our open Application Program Interfaces (APIs), our products become compatible to be deployed with any standards-based infrastructure. ACOS also features shared-memory architecture to accelerate and secure today’s universal applications. 

With increased cyberthreats of immense power, from WannaCry to Mirai to the latest Memcached, organizations are under constant threat from hackers. We have solutions that can defend networks against modern cyberthreats with DDoS protection, SSL decryption and firewalls. We also offer solutions that can optimize application security and performance with automation and actionable per-app analytics.

At A10, we provide automation across our portfolio of secure application solutions services. We strive to enable intelligent automation with deep machine learning to ensure business- critical applications are protected, reliable and always available.”