The term “malicious network activity” refers to any action that aims to harm, compromise, or abuse a network’s security in any way. If you can’t protect the network from these threats, things can be pretty awful. But before that, you need to check the network to see if there is any malware. So, how to check network for malware?
To check your network for malware, start by establishing a baseline for your network’s normal operations. Keep an eye on the network all the time and look into any alerts that come up. Quickly fix problems and keep your security tools up to date.
In this article, we will discuss the steps we just outlined in a broader fashion. We will also give some additional tips to strengthen your network’s security. Keep reading to thrive without any threats.
How to Check Network for Malware in 5 Steps
Cybersecurity experts need to be able to spot malware on the network. It can help keep data safe and stop service interruptions and financial losses. Some common steps and tools for finding malware are listed below, along with instructions on how to use them in various situations:
Step 1: Baseline Your Network
The first step is to create a baseline of typical network behavior and performance. A baseline is a point of comparison. It helps you find changes, errors, or patterns that could point to a threat.
To start off, you need to collect and look at all sorts of data about the network. We’re discussing items such as
- Data packets
- Gadgets connected to the network
- People using them
- Applications running
- How well everything is working
- How much data is going through
It is possible to get and store network data with tools like network analyzers, packet sniffers, and flow collectors. Also, you must keep refreshing the basic data you gathered to match the new changes in your network.
Step 2: Monitor Your Network
The next step is to constantly monitor your network for any indications of compromise, intrusion, or attack. To monitor your network, you need to compare the data from now to the data from the beginning of the monitoring period.
Next, you must check for any abnormal phenomena, happenings, or warnings that don’t seem right. Some tools out there can help you keep an eye on things more smoothly and automate tasks, like:
- Intrusion detection systems (IDS)
- Security information and event management (SIEM)
- Network security monitoring (NSM)
IDS scans networks for any signs of danger or policy breaches. On the other hand, SIEM gathers and evaluates threat information to ensure safety. And lastly, NSM is all about gathering and analyzing data to spot security breaches.
Plus, you need to fix your tools to shoot your alerts and sort them by how bad and damaging what they discover is.
Step 3: Investigate Your Alerts
Now, you need to check your warnings. Make sure they’re correct, important, and fit the situation. Investigating your warnings entails seeing the origin, destination, and timing of the online content. The activity data should also be linked to other useful information, like
- Records
- Information about possible threats
- What other users say
To learn more about the specifics and patterns of network activity, you can use different tools. This includes malware and forensic analysis and packet capture (PCAP) analysis.
Also, you should write down what you find and share it with the right people.
Step 4: Respond to Incidents
After looking at the warnings, you’ve got to handle the situations that come up. You must do whatever’s necessary to put an end to, ditch, and bounce back from the danger.
When you respond to an incident, you need to follow a predefined incident response plan. It describes the roles, duties, steps, and tools needed to handle a network security incident.
You can separate, delete, or restore the affected network parts with different tools. Take firewalls, antivirus software, or backup and restore, for example. You should also look over your answer and think about what you learned and what you could do better.
Step 5: Update Your Tools
Finally, check that your tools are up-to-date with the latest versions, fixes, and settings. Your network security programs, equipment, and built-in software must be updated and patched, if available.
Software like vulnerability scanning, patch management, and configuration management can help you automate and check the update process. You should also go over and change the settings and parameters of your tools. This will help you get the most out of their performance and features.
Tips to Protect Your Network from Malware
The above discussion will guide you in checking the network for malware. Afterwards, you can remove it by taking the necessary measures. However, some additional tips can make your network secure from such issues in the first place. Let’s look into them:
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Perform Regular Backups
Making regular backups is really key to fighting off bad software hacks. You must copy all the good content—that means files and your computer system—often. Don’t leave the copies lying around where anyone can see them. Put them somewhere safe that’s not connected to the internet. This stops nasty viruses from ruining them. Also, keep on top of things by making sure your backed-up content hasn’t been in shambles. You should be able to get it all back if you need to.
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Implement Strong Password Policies
Hackers will jump at the chance to use weak passwords. A strong password policy that includes both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters can greatly lessen the likelihood of malware attacks. For an extra safeguard, consider using multi-factor authentication.
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Enable Firewall Protection
A firewall protects your internal network from outside interference. An effective way to stop unauthorized access and suspicious network traffic linked to known malware is to enable firewall protection on both the network and individual devices.
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Limit User Privileges
Many people use the same computers, like at the office. Giving users less control over settings can help a lot when bad software tries to damage things. This way, people can’t get into important files or put new programs on the computer without permission. Use this rule, where people only get to access what they absolutely need for their jobs and nothing more.
Conclusion
Checking your network frequently for malware can help you protect your data from breaches. You need to be alert to such threats as they prevail in the information technology world.
First, you need to gather and study different kinds of network data. Then, with the help of tools like IDS and SIEM, you have to analyze all the potential threats. You need to follow a preset incident response plan when you are called to a situation. You should set up backups and policies to make sure that something like this does not happen again.
If you get professional network support, all this will be much easier. And Crown Computers is the best option here. For more than twenty years, we have helped businesses in San Diego with their computer networks. We know that the data our clients give us is private and needs to be kept safe. After the assessment, we will give you a flat rate and choice on all our plans to protect your network. Contact us today to discover more.