© 2021 by Nick B. Nicholaou, all rights reserved Ministry Business Services, Inc. President Reprinted from MinistryTech
Malware, in all its forms, is a constantly moving and evolving threat. Protection is essential! My firm, MBS, recently changed its spec to a solution called SentinelOne 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 — 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 before that vulnerability was known about — zero hour. We had SentinelOne 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’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.
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 for less than $3/computer/month!
There are a couple of caveats:
- To get SentinelOne for that low price, you need to setup a Pax8 account. This not restricted to MBS clients! Any Christian church or ministry can do this! Contact us at support@mbsinc.com for assistance.
- SentinelOne 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 on every computer– Windows, Linux, and macOS– and server.