Preventing a malicious code from running in your networks

Best practice rules about how to prevent unauthorized malicious code from running in your networks

By NJP

 This post discusses the importance of using secure code-signing certificates. Use of self-replicated security architectures. become accountable for the safe code deployment in your network. Finally, we recommend that organizations should also have visibility into their networks (see extension at the end). 

Here are 4 (four) solutions suggested in the article to prevent unauthorized code from running in your network:

Use secure code-signing certificates - Code-signing certificates are used to verify the identity of the publisher of a piece of code. This helps to ensure that the code is from a trusted source and has not been tampered with.

Use a self-replicate security architecture - Self-replicating security architectures are designed to detect and prevent unauthorized code from running even if the network is compromised. This is done by replicating security controls across the network so that there is always a backup in place if one part of the network is compromised.

Nominate a risk owner of safe code deployment -  It is important to have a clear understanding of who is responsible for deploying code to production. This helps to ensure coding inspection measures will hold in your organization, that only authorized code is deployed, and that there is a process in place for reviewing and approving code changes.

Network visibility (Monitoring and control) allows organizations to have a better awareness of the behavior of traffic on their networks and can use it to improve the efficiency, security, and performance of those networks, to prevent unauthorized code from running in their networks. These include:

• Using IDM network access control list (ACL) to control who can access the network. An ACL is a list of rules that specify which users and devices are allowed to access certain resources on the network.
• Using a Firewall/WAF to block unauthorized traffic. A firewall is a network security device that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic.
• Using intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS). An IDS/IPS is a network security device that monitors network traffic for suspicious activity.

And, 'last, but not least' Educating employees about the risks of unauthorized code. Employees should be aware of the risks of running unauthorized code and should be trained to identify and report suspicious activity.