Malware, in all its forms, is a constantly moving and evolving threat. Protection is essential! My firm, MBS, recently changed its anti-malware spec to a solution called SentinelOne Control because it appears to be the strongest protection against ransomware and all other forms of malware.
The Challenge
Most anti-malware solutions rely on constantly-updating ‘signature’ files that help it recognize malware. This is relatively effective for known malware. But because the threat is constantly evolving, the challenge is how to quickly identify new malware and its method of attack. Those new attack mechanisms usually have their greatest impact when they are new – before they’re widely recognized as malicious.
Those new attacks are referred to as “zero-hour” threats. Barracuda Networks defines a zero-hour threat as “one that hasn’t been seen before and doesn’t match any known malware signatures. This makes it impossible to detect by traditional signature-matching solutions.”
SentinelOne Control – What Sets it Apart
A recent real-world example that got a lot of press was the March, 2021 Microsoft Exchange vulnerability. Our team was testing SentinelOne Control before that vulnerability was known about – zero hour. We had SentinelOne Control running on a client’s Exchange server we host, and it notified us of suspicious activity. That allowed us to contain and protect all of our hosted Exchange servers by alerting us to something that wasn’t in any signature files and wasn’t even widely known about.
SentinelOne Control’s difference is that it also uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to analyze suspicious activity. That success story prompted us to finalize our research and change our anti-malware spec to SentinelOne Control.
Cost
Through an arrangement with our preferred solution distributor, pax8, and because my firm (MBS) isn’t allowed in its by-laws to make money on hardware and software it recommends, Christian churches and ministries are able to get SentinelOne Control for less than $3/computer/month!
There are a couple of caveats:
- To get SentinelOne Control for that low price you need to setup a pax8 account via the form at mbsinc.com. This not restricted to MBS clients! Any Christian church or ministry can do this!
- SentinelOne Control is not a simple installation. You may have an IT department who can do it, or an IT vendor who can. If not, MBS is available to help at its normal hourly rate. To get help from MBS, simply email support@mbsinc.com.
We recommend running a good anti-malware solution like SentinelOne Control on every computer— Windows, Linux, and macOS— and server.
Nick Nicholaou is author of Church IT: Using Information Technology for the Mission of The Church and is president of MBS, an IT consulting firm specializing in church and ministry computer networks, VoIP, and private cloud hosted services. You can reach Nick at nick@mbsinc.com.
