Cloudbric: Bringing Endpoint Security to Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

Endpoint security is a domain that falls under network security. It's a methodology aimed to protect the corporate network when accessed remotely i.e. via devices that include laptops, mobile devices, and other wireless devices. Endpoint security has emerged as an extremely crucial strategic product-based service to protect the corporate networks because it is estimated that more than 90% of malicious attacks are carried out by attacking the endpoints. It is not the server side security which is the weakest link. The corporate servers are already protected by multiple layers of security solutions such as WAF, CDN speed optimization, DDoS Protection, and SSL encryption. It is the end user or the employee of an organization who is an easy target for the cybercriminals and a convenient penetration point in the overall attack surface. Although plenty of solutions presently exist in the market for endpoint security, but none have been designed specifically to protect the users who deal with cryptocurrency - be it the day-to-day crypto traders, long-term bag holders or the employees working in the cryptocurrency exchanges. Despite having strong antivirus solutions, there has been a deluge of cryptocurrency miners being easily delivered and deployed over the systems across the world. Moreover, given the fact that owing to anonymous nature of transactions leading to cryptocurrency emerging as a favorite revenue generating model for cybercriminals across the world, the cybercriminals are not shying away from investing in financial and technical resources in designing sophisticated malware and strategizing in innovative delivery methods.

Disjointed Incrementalism in Crypto Endpoint Security

If crypto miners can be deployed so easily by the cybercriminals by bypassing the present day endpoint security solutions over the devices and the systems of the regular consumers, they can also use sophisticated social engineering techniques including spearphishing attacks, watering hole attacks and drive-by downloads to deliver sophisticated malware such as credential stealing Trojans over the systems of the employees of the cryptocurrency exchanges to steal funds en-masse from the exchange. In fact, it is the present reality of the security landscape in the crypto ecosystem. If any learnings are to be taken from past incidents, there is no better starting point than the 2014 Mt. Gox incident. In the infamous Mt. Gox incident, in which cryptocurrency worth $450 Million was stolen from the largest bitcoin exchange accounting for nearly 70% of all bitcoin trade, the attacker leveraged the poor endpoint security of one of the employee to penetrate into the company network and manipulate trade. The malicious attacker hacked into the system of an Mt. Gox’s auditor, deployed a malware, took control of the system and transferred a huge amount of bitcoin to himself. The attacker then exploited the infected system to use the exchange’s software to sell the stolen bitcoins which also led to the market crash and price of bitcoin falling steeply within minutes.

The consequences were not only to be borne by the exchange or its users but all crypto traders and investors across the world as price drop in bitcoin price decreased the value of coins held every trader and investor across the world. Furthermore, such a huge success with no attribution and no trails for law and order teams to trace the attacker attracted a whole lot of interest of the criminals across the world towards the cryptocurrency ecosystem. With more malicious manpower getting attracted towards this market, more sophisticated malware, Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures (TTPs) and attack models revolving around cryptocurrency were designed. The year 2016 witnessed the birth of ransomware with attacks like WannaCry (2017) and NotPetya (2017) causing extensive financial damage to organizations across the world along with compromise in the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive data being held by these organizations. To summarize it in simpler terms, lack of standard endpoint security solutions has led to a butterfly effect in the crypto ecosystem wherein incidents having moorings and genesis in the same root are taking different shapes via different attack vectors.

Cloudbric: VISION for a Secure Web Gateway

Presently, the endpoint security solutions being deployed to protect crypto assets suffer from the problem of “disjointed incrementalism”, which essentially means that there is a stark gap between what is actually required for the crypto ecosystem and what is being delivered. No endpoint security solution in the market acknowledges the fact that most general users mostly interact with mobile devices and PCs and web servers rarely form a part of their interaction. The problem has also increased for the crypto exchanges as policies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and Work from Home (WIF) permit employees to log in remotely or outside of server-side security. So how do we solve this dilemma? The answer is in a purely crypto focussed endpoint security solution and Cloudbric has taken that initiative. Being a leader already in the endpoint security market Cloudbric knows exactly what needs to be done to secure endpoints interacting with the crypto ecosystem. With over 30 years of cumulative experience in the domain of cybersecurity, the Cloudbric team is poised to break down the problem of disjointed security solutions presently available in the market and offer unique and focused security solutions for the users. Unlike typical ICO security vendors, Cloudbric has already proven its mettle by being recognized as the topmost security solution provider in the APAC region. Ranked at number 5 by world’s leading research and advisories agencies like Gartner and Frost & Sullivan, Cloudbric Endpoint Security Solution is going to set benchmarks for the crypto ecosystem.

Cloudbric’s security solutions will be built upon the foundations of a universal platform that will protect endpoint devices of all end users. Cloudbric will integrate its patented deep learning engine, VISION, to track malicious attacks, malware signatures and Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) including malicious domains, file hashes, phishing URLs, malicious emails in real-time to keep a track of threats as and when they develop, remove dependencies on periodic antimalware software updates and protect users by inculcating pure decentralization of threat intelligence. Cloudbric will consolidate all these solutions catering to the challenges of Oversaturation of Security Solutions, Centralization of Threat Intelligence and Uncertainty of Security Performance into a robust endpoint centric client known as Cloudbric’s Secure Web gateway. Users can easily download this client for their personal computers and mobile devices. Once downloaded, the client will automatically enable Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunneling over the device and connect the users over Cloudbric’s strategically located service nodes across the world. Cloudbric’s endpoint solution brings the explosive mixture of strategic and tactical solutions to give the crypto users what they actually need. It’s a solution that cryptocurrency users need and as well as deserve - given the time, energy and their hard-earned money they invest while looking towards a better future.