Cyberattacks pose a tangible threat to businesses of all sizes. This should come as no surprise.
In this article, we aim to substantiate this fact with concrete, real-world data specific to Belgium. At AXS Guard, we place a strong emphasis on proactive prevention to avoid the need for incident resolution.
These statistics offer insights into the genuine nature of threats and their origins. The data is sourced from over 1,500 Belgian
AXS Guard customers.
By increasing cyber awareness, implementing access controls, keeping software up to date, securing the network, encrypting data, and establishing an incident response plan, businesses can effectively fortify themselves against both external and internal threats. This represents an ongoing effort in order to safeguard corporate data and avoid reputational damage, and it is an investment that will prove to be invaluable in the long run.
External Threats
A robust cybersecurity approach is a combination of various technologies that must work together on multiple fronts. Based on the measures that every company should implement, we distinguish between external and internal threats. Let's start by identifying some external threats.
Hackers continuously scan the internet for vulnerabilities through a vast number of compromised systems. This process is entirely automated, and it's only when a vulnerability is discovered that they may attempt to exploit it in a more manual fashion.
The AXS Guard firewall incorporates multiple tools designed to thwart these kinds of scans or attacks.
- Relying on blacklists and threat intelligence that are automatically and continuously updated, we've analyzed that on average, we block around 13,000 connections per day. Per week, the average per system is just under 100,000, and when looking across all systems, we block over 10 million connections every day. Each of these attempts represents a potential cybersecurity threat.
- Furthermore, we use Intrusion Detection & Prevention tools. These are security technologies designed to monitor and safeguard networks against unauthorized access, malicious activities, and potential threats. They play a vital role in maintaining the security and integrity of digital assets by identifying and responding to suspicious or malicious behavior in real-time. With over a 1000 active rules, we thwart approximately 2,600 dangerous attacks per day, or to put it another way, we prevent nearly 2 advanced intrusion attempts per system per day thanks to this IPS feature alone.
- GeoIP filtering
Door bepaalde landen of regio’s uit te sluiten om met het door AXS Guard beveiligde bedrijf te communiceren, verminderen we opnieuw de risico’s.
Een analyse van de ingestelde landen/regio’s bij onze klanten en partners leverde volgend top-10 overzicht op. Het is geen verrassing dat Rusland en China hier (momenteel) hoog scoren.
TOP 10 INGESTELDE LANDEN
1) Russian Federation
2) China
3) Korea
4) Iran
5) Afghanistan
6) Iraq
7) Kyrgyzstan
8) Armenia
9) Azerbaijan
10) Pakistan
Terwijl hackingpogingen doorgaans terecht in verband worden gebracht met landen uit deze lijst, onthult grondige log analyse dat eveneens een substantieel aantal van deze pogingen afkomstig is van omliggende landen. Een gerangschikte lijst van landen met de hoogste incidentie omvat zie je rechts.
GeoIP filtering is absoluut een nuttige en noodzakelijke tool, toch blijkt het gevaar niet noodzakelijk van ver te komen en blijft waakzaamheid zeker geboden.
TOP 10 HOOGSTE INCIDENTIE
1) USA
2) Duitsland
3) Nederland
4) China
5) Rusland
6) Verenigd Koninkrijk
7) Roemenië
8) Hong Kong
9) Bulgarije
10) India
Email
It's worth noting that email is a significant source of danger. Even if you use Microsoft 365 or other email applications, it's essential to scan your email traffic through AXS Guard's email content scanners for increased security. On our network alone, we intercept over 8,400 individual and dangerous email messages on a daily basis.
Internal Threats
We consistently advise our customers to take a layered approach to cybersecurity, including technical measures on the internal front, cyber awareness training, and social controls. Our focus is on prevention, as it is the best way to protect against cyber threats.
- Blokkeer ongewenste (web)applicaties
Sommige applicaties kunnen een reputatie hebben vanwege hun kwetsbaarheden of beveiligingsrisico's. Door proactief deze applicaties te blokkeren, beperk je het potentiële aanvalsvlak en verminder je het gevaar van inbreuken, malware-infecties en datalekken.
Ook omwille van productiviteit redenen wordt er soms voor gekozen ze te blokkeren. Het blokkeren van sociale media of online games kan de focus en efficiëntie van je team verbeteren.
Tenslotte is er ook nog efficiëntie winst, want geblokkeerde applicaties verbruiken geen bandbreedte
Dagelijks blokkeren AXS Guards ruim 390.000 applicaties.
Onze klanten blokkeren, in volgorde, het meest de volgende applicaties:
- DNS Security
DNS Security serves as an additional layer of protection, complementing the existing solutions provided by AXS Guard. Its purpose is to safeguard customers against cyber threats like malware, ransomware, and phishing. Research indicates that a staggering 91% of all malware leverages insecure DNS queries. By scrutinizing and, when necessary, blocking these DNS requests upfront, organizations can effectively eliminate a significant portion of these risks.
With our DNS Security solution, we can stop potential threats before they reach your network. Because every internal DNS request, both legitimate and malicious, must pass through AXS Guard, we can intercept and block unwanted requests. We can also trace blocked requests back to the user level, helping us identify the source of potential threats and take further action.
In the past 30 days, AXS Guard blocked over 4.2 million DNS requests. We categorize these requests into the following areas: - Malware, Spam, Scam & Phishing:
SecureDNS has the capability to analyze DNS requests and identify malicious domains associated with phishing attempts, malware distribution, and other harmful activities.
Total requests blocked: Malware: 2.000.000 hits, Spam: 694.000 hits, Phishing: 374.000 hits, Scam: 224.000 hits. - DNS filter:
Content Blocking: A DNS filter can be configured to block access to specific websites or website categories (e.g., 18+, social media, games, and more).
Total requests blocked in the past 30 days: 673,000. - Botnets (194.000 hits) and Advanced Persistent Threats (120 hits):
These alerts are urgent because they suggest that hackers are in the process of carrying out an attack. - Certs (50.000 hits):
These are specific domains reported as malicious by the federal Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) and thus require blocking. - New Domains (7000 hits):
These are new domain names that are blocked for 24 hours since they are often created solely for initiating new abuses.
- Malware, Spam, Scam & Phishing:
Conclusion
From small startups to large enterprises, it is absolutely critical to fortify yourself against both external and internal cyber threats.
The numbers above represent real-world data from Belgian companies that are already protected by our managed security service. We have measured what we are blocking, giving us a clear picture of what these companies face every day. Just imagine what could happen to your company if you don't take these precautions. Can you afford that risk?
Cybersecurity is simply too complex for most companies to manage on their own. "This is true even for companies with their own in-house IT teams," says Alex Ongena, Managing Director of AXS Guard. "These teams are often overworked and may not have the right expertise to deal with the latest cyber threats. Choosing the right security partner to assist them may be the most critical decision every organization will have to make."
“Many existing managed security solutions have historically focused on large enterprises, making them unaffordable for SMEs."
With our Observe & Protect managed security service, we offer a specific solution tailored to the needs and budgets of SMEs. Our solution provides enterprise-level security at a price that SMEs can afford.
Furthermore, a traditional SOC (Security Operations Center) is often nothing more than a monitoring service that sounds the alarm when a threat is detected. However, it may not take any active steps to mitigate the threat. "Therefore, it is important to choose a security partner who looks at the bigger picture and takes immediate action when necessary," concludes Ongena.
» Feel free to contact us for more information without any obligation.
AXS Guard thwarts a staggering 10,000,000 cyberattacks per day, safeguarding the heart of Belgian SMEs.