There are other platforms that can use Microsoft’s security features as well. Not only Windows is a target for attackers.
“There has been a considerable increase in the amount of vulnerabilities discovered and reported in non-Windows platforms and in general malware and threat campaigns,” said Tanmay Ganacharya, director of Security Research Partners at Microsoft, to TechRepublic.
Windows was the most popular desktop operating system, making it the target of choice for attackers, but his MITER statistics on CVEs reveal a sharp rise in the amount of flaws discovered on other systems.
“Windows protections have gotten better and better over the last few years, so now the easy goal is not Windows endpoints, but some of the other endpoints that people assume are secure.” He said Ganacharya.
BYOD policies have made the corporate network more diverse, and devices that previously could only connect to the corporate network are now available on the Internet. Attackers are also now targeting credentials and identities, not just trying to compromise endpoints.
“Yes, they can break in, but wouldn’t it be better for an attacker to be able to log in anyway?” he said. “One of the devices an employee uses to log into a particular network could have her identity stolen.”
The importance of an end-to-end approach to security
Detecting and preventing attacks on endpoints is just one part of protecting your network and associated resources, and it’s not always possible to know everything in time. You need an end-to-end approach.
“When modeling network threats, you have to think about everything that is running software and code on your network and then plan,” says Ganacharya. “How do you identify these devices? How are you going to secure them? How are you handling alerts from all kinds of devices? Do you have a handbook for responding to alerts? If threats are detected without protection, how do you follow up or respond when alerted?”