Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Definition, Tools and Solutions

The vulnerabilities in your organization can be exploited by attackers to get inside. Threats are events that take advantage of vulnerabilities. To find the point of least resistance, attackers will create threats across multiple domains, such as email, identity, endpoints, and applications. Attackers can exploit the seams and threshold differences between defense solutions today to attack businesses, leaving them vulnerable to attack.  You can protect yourself from these attacks when you have good Cyber Security training. Nowadays' defense solutions protect, detect, and block threats separately for each domain, leaving them vulnerable to attack. 

There may be one aspect of an attack caught and blocked by email, but the same threat actor may have compromised identities by exploiting weak passwords, leaking credentials, or tricking people into giving out their passwords. As a result of their failure to register as significant, point solutions can also overlook critical signals entirely. This article will discuss ATP, ATP software, defender ATP, ATP components, ATP Examples, ATP Security, ATP Benefits, and ATP Firewall. 

As cyber threats continue to rise, cybersecurity teams are facing a constant flood of threats. However, security experts have developed agile, adaptable defense systems using advanced security analytics, machine learning, and their own intuitions. Tens of thousands of cybersecurity alerts can be scanned for legitimate threats by security teams-but attackers can slip through the cracks unnoticed and cause significant harm. 

What is Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) in Cyber Security?  

So let's begin with what ATP is. Advanced threat protection (ATP) aims to protect sensitive data from sophisticated cyberattacks such as malware and phishing campaigns. As the threat landscape changes, ATP technology enhances your organization's defenses by combining cloud security, advanced email threat protection, endpoint security, advanced threat analysis, advanced threat protection software, and more. This allows you to anticipate and prevent costly security breaches before they happen. 

As cybercriminals continue to move their data to the cloud, attack surfaces are expanding, and new attack vectors are taking hold. Cybercriminals' attack methods and tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated all the time. To overcome these new avenues and types of cyber threats, cybersecurity technology has evolved in kind, moving beyond firewalls and traditional network security. 

ATP Examples

It is possible to differ in approaches or components underlying advanced threat protection solutions, but the most common ones include an endpoint agent, a network device, an email gateway, a malware protection system, and a centralized monitoring and management console for correlating alerts and managing defenses. 

Why is ATP Necessary for Threat Prevention?

Recent years have seen a rapid evolution of cyber threat landscapes. In addition to the shift to the cloud and response to COVID-19, organizations' IT environments have undergone significant transformations. As a result, cyber threat actors have become more sophisticated and professional, which has increased the impact and cost of attacks. The endpoint has become the first line of defense for many organizations' cybersecurity programs as remote work becomes more prevalent. ATP solutions provide this advanced protection by protecting these endpoints from sophisticated attacks, which means sophisticated attacks target them. Cyberattacks are identified early on using next-generation security solutions, which helps them prevent damage to endpoints before the attack chain can be broken. 

Importance of Advanced Threat Protection

Cyber attackers are becoming increasingly difficult to gain access to networks through ever-more sophisticated strategies. Such attacks are usually well-financed, targeted, and involve complex malware that is intended to bypass common security measures. It is essential to have advanced analytic tools that can provide immediate visibility, analysis, context, and response to malicious network traffic to counter advanced threats. 

How Does Advanced Threat Protection Work? 

An organization's endpoints are protected from advanced and sophisticated threats with Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions. Their technologies include artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). ATP tools minimize the risk and potential impact of advanced attacks by focusing on threat prevention rather than detection and response. There are certain core capabilities that ATP solutions need to accomplish their purposes of risk reduction and threat prevention: 

1. Real-time visibility 

Real-time visibility into the events occurring on a protected endpoint is crucial to preventing a threat rather than responding to it later. As a result of this visibility, an ATP in cyber security is able to detect potential cyberattacks and stop them before they begin quickly. 

2. Contextual Awareness 

An array of security solutions and ongoing attacks create a barrage of security alerts that overwhelm many security teams. Security teams need contextual information to understand and respond to real threats to the enterprise in a timely manner when using advanced threat protection. 

3. Data Understanding 

Data within an organization's possession is at risk from advanced attacks, so ATP solutions are designed to manage this risk. For the tool to identify attacks targeting it and respond accordingly, it must understand the sensitivity and value of the data. 

Key Features of Advanced Threat Protection

Using ATP's advanced security features, you can protect your organization against viruses, spoofing, and malware. There are four types of security features that ATP offers, making it an ideal option to consider for your security infrastructure. 

1. File Analytics 

In recent years, cybercriminals have increasingly targeted mobile devices as targets for malware attacks, posing a significant threat to all endpoints of an organization. Before allowing files to be executed on an endpoint, strong endpoint security must be able to analyze all files entering it (regardless of origin or delivery mechanism) and determine whether they contain malicious functionality. 

2. Attack Surface Management 

Enterprises have a massive attack surface, so attackers have plenty of opportunities to exploit their endpoints. ATP solutions include sandboxed file analysis and execution, application control, and application control to manage an organization's attack surfacing. 

3. Combined Prevention and Detection 

In addition to preventing attacks before they occur, ATP solutions can detect and respond to threats that slip past an organization's defenses. A key feature of ATP solutions is detecting and responding to threats quickly. 

4. Rich Threat Intelligence 

ATP solutions should have access to robust cyber threat intelligence that provides them with up-to-date information on the latest cyberattack campaigns. Because cyber threats are evolving rapidly, having access to the right information can make the difference between successfully preventing new threats and letting them slip through—automated contextualization and understanding of threats and events using rich threat intelligence embedded in analyst tools. 

Benefits of Advanced Threat Protection 

Among the primary advantages of advanced threat protection software is its ability to detect, prevent, and respond to complex and new attacks designed to circumvent traditional security solutions, including antivirus and firewalls. By identifying and eliminating advanced threats before data is compromised, ATP solutions take a proactive approach to security to counteract increasingly targeted, stealthy, and persistent attacks. A global network of security professionals dedicated to monitoring, tracking, and sharing information about emerging and identified threats is one of the benefits provided by advanced threat protection services.  

In addition to their own threat intelligence and analysis, ATP service providers typically have access to global threat information-sharing networks. The global community effort contributes considerably to maintaining enterprises' security because it allows ATP service providers to update their defenses when new, advanced threats are detected. By implementing advanced threat protection, businesses can detect threats early and formulate a response to minimize damage and recover more quickly if an attack occurs. 

An effective security provider manages threats in real time by focusing on the lifecycle of an attack. In addition to notifying the enterprise about attacks that have occurred, ATP providers also inform it of the severity of the attack and the response they have initiated to stop it or minimize the loss of data. The security of critical data and systems is ensured by advanced threat protection solutions, regardless of where the attack originates or how serious the attack may appear. 

Best Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Software

1. Palo Alto Networks WildFire 

A cloud-based threat analysis service from Palo Alto Networks, WildFire, detects and prevents highly evasive zero-day exploits and malware using the industry's most advanced analysis and prevention engine. To detect and prevent even the most evasive threats, this service employs a multi-technique approach combining dynamic and static analysis, machine learning techniques, and bare metal analysis. 

2. Morphisec Breach Prevention Platform 

The Morphisec Breach Prevention Platform uses a three-step process to block evasive attacks proactively. 

Step 1: Morphing and Concealing  

Morphisec morphs processes as they load into memory, so attackers do not know what to do with the memory.

Step 2: Protection and Deception  

A skeleton of the original structure is left as a trap as the code memory for legitimate applications is dynamically updated to use morphed resources. 

Step 3: Prevention and Exposure of Attack 

There is immediate prevention of attacks as well as trapping and logging. Attackers cannot find the resources they expect and need because they cannot find the original structure. 

3. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series 

Next-generation Palo Alto Networks firewall is available in the virtualized form factor known as VM-Series. VM-Series firewalls are available in a wide range of private and public cloud computing environments that meet the growing need for inline security across diverse cloud and virtualization use cases. This includes VMware, Cisco ACI and ENCS, KVM, OpenStack, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft private and public clouds, OCI, and Google Cloud Platform. 

4. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 

Your organization can use Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to protect itself from advanced threats to email and collaboration tools, such as phishing via advanced phishing protection, business email compromise, and malware attacks, thanks to its cloud-based email filtering service. In addition to identifying, prioritizing, investigating, and responding to threats, Defender for Office 365 also offers investigation, hunting, and remediation capabilities. 

5. Check Point SandBlast Network 

As a result of a combination of evasion-resistant threat emulation, revolutionary AI engines, and threat extraction, Check Point SandBlast Network provides the world's best zero-day protection. SandBlast Network protects organizations from the most devastating threats, including unknown ransomware, Trojans, phishing, and social engineering, by taking a prevention-first approach to cyberattacks. In addition to providing fully automated policy configuration, SandBlast Network integrates seamlessly with your existing infrastructure, ensuring business productivity and agility are not compromised. 

6. IRONSCALES 

To protect against today's advanced threats, email security must be rethought. In addition to leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, IRONSCALES' email security platform is enhanced by threat intelligence gathered from thousands of customer security teams to identify and immediately remove threats in the inbox. Besides being fast to deploy, easy to operate, and unparalleled at stopping email threats like BEC and ATO, it is also easy to operate. 

7. RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets (RSA SIEM) 

As a top ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) tool, RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets (RSA SIEM) is ranked No. 7. In top SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools, it is ranked No. 11. With RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets, you can detect and investigate sophisticated attacks using real-time behavior analytics. 

8. FireEye Network Security 

Cyber threat protection solutions such as FireEye Network Security help organizations prevent costly breaches by accurately detecting, stopping, and responding to advanced, targeted, and other evasive attacks hiding in Internet traffic, thereby helping minimize the risks. Using concrete evidence, actionable intelligence, and integration of response workflows, enables efficient resolution of security incidents in minutes. These threats can either be directed at the headquarters or branch offices in a large volume of inbound Internet traffic that needs to be monitored in real-time. You can opt for the CEH v12 training online and learn more about all these things comprehensively. 

How to Choose Advanced Threat Protection Software

In addition to ensuring the ATP solution chosen demonstrably meets the company's budget and coverage needs, organizations should ensure the chosen offering includes reputable results and meets the company's security requirements. As some organizations place greater importance on simplicity, while others place greater emphasis on advanced reporting capabilities and broader application capabilities, companies should pay particular attention to features and functionality. In addition to on-premises software programs, cloud-based protection is available as well, including for databases, CRM and ERP platforms, Active Directory domain and identity administration, and email. 

Advanced Threat Protection Solutions (How to Implement)

There are different steps in setting up different Advanced Threat Protection Solutions on different platforms, but the one which we will demonstrate here is the one in Office 365: 

1. Office 365 ATP Setup 

Now we have  three parts of setting up Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection: 

• Office 365 ATP Safe Attachments 
• Office 365 ATP Safe Links 
• Office 365 ATP Anti-Phishing 

To enable Office 365 ATP, you will need one of the following licenses: 

• Office 365 ATP Plan 1 
• Office 365 ATP Plan 2 
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium (formerly known as Microsoft 365 Business) 
• Office 365 E5 
• Microsoft 365 E5 

2. Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) 

As part of Microsoft's advanced threat protection (ATP) product, enterprise-class organizations can identify and respond to security threats with Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). The features of ATP are standard in many high-end anti-malware packages, which include preventative and post-detection, investigative response. In addition to Windows Defender, Advanced Threat Protection, Windows 10 Education E5, and Windows 10 Enterprise R2 all include Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, a combination of Windows 10 features and services running within Microsoft's cloud. Volume licenses are required in either case. 

Common Threats

The threat landscape today includes credential theft, malware, phishing, and infrastructure attacks. Mimikatz, password spraying, and breach harvesting are examples of credential theft. Malware includes viruses, ransomware, etc. A phishing attack lures users into clicking a link to a fake website that appears to be genuine in an email to get them to reveal credentials or pay money. Phishing attacks use tricks or lures to get a user to reveal credentials or pay money. A virtual machine or resource that is not properly secured is an example of an infrastructure attack. 

Examples of targeted attacks include: 

1. The preparation for the attack involves researching the company (e.g., going through social media, using open intelligence sources, and analyzing data from previous attacks). 
2. This attack uses elevated privileges (typically through the theft of credentials, but it can also be conducted by exploiting administrative/advanced threat management tools or configuration weaknesses). 
3. Our incident response team has observed that attackers extract data for illicit purposes and remain undetected for over 200 days. This is similar to what other industry members report. Due to the loss of evidence of "Patient 0" after such an extended period of time, it is hard to produce precise numbers. 

It has been observed that attackers extract data for illicit purposes and remain undetected for over 200 days, as has been reported by other industry members. We cannot produce precise numbers because "Patient 0" has lost his or her evidence after such an extended period of time. 

Conclusion

As a key component of improving security awareness and alerts within an organization, Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) plays a major role in detecting threats and protecting network devices, email gateways, and many more via a centralized console. This can be learned in more detail through KnowledgeHut CEH v12 training online, which gives a more detailed explanation of each of the above.