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As part of our Cyber Security awareness campaign, we’ll be covering a new and important topic each month to help boost your knowledge and keep you and the University safe and secure. 

This month we discuss endpoints, malware and anti-virus and endpoint security. Not sure what these things are or why they’re important? Read on to find out more. 

Cybercriminals like to target endpoints because they act as a doorway to an organisation’s data and are vulnerable to attack. 

Why are endpoints vulnerable? 

Endpoints sit outside network security and rely on you, the user, to put security measures in place. This means human errors can sometimes happen giving cybercriminals the opportunity they need.  

As we work more remotely, keeping endpoints secure becomes more and more challenging. 

Some common endpoint threats include: 

• Phishing, a type of social engineering attack that manipulates targets into sharing sensitive information.  
• Ransomware, malware that holds victim’s information until a sum of money is paid.
• Device loss, one of the leading causes of data breaches for organizations. Lost and stolen devices can also lead to costly regulatory fines.
• Outdated patches, which expose vulnerabilities in systems, creating opportunities for bad actors to exploit systems and steal data.
• Malware ads, or malvertising, which uses online ads to spread malware and compromise systems. 
• Drive-by downloads, the automated download of software to a device without the user’s knowledge.  

 Antivirus software, endpoint security and malware 

 To protect endpoints, organisations use a combination of antivirus software and endpoint security: 

• Antivirus software - a program designed to detect and remove viruses and other kinds of malicious software from your computer or laptop.
• Endpoint security - a range of processes, services, and solutions to protect endpoints from cyberthreats. Usually installed on multiple machines that are networked together it is managed centrally by an organisation’s IT team. 

Both antivirus software and endpoint security help to protect us from malicious software or ’malware’. Malware is code that can harm your computers and laptops, and the data on them.  

Your devices can become infected by inadvertently downloading malware that's in an attachment linked to a suspicious email, or hidden on a USB drive, or even by simply visiting a dodgy website. Once it's on your computer or laptop, malware can steal your data, encrypt it so you can't access it, or even erase it completely.   

What measures do we use at Sussex and am I protected? 

At Sussex, many of our university managed devices already have Sentinel One endpoint security in place. The software is installed and managed by our IT team, but there are still devices / endpoints that we need to secure.  

If you are contacted by a member of the IT team about Sentinel One, please get back to them – it is vitally important that we protect all of our endpoints to keep you and the University safe and secure.  

If you’re not sure if you have Sentinel One installed on your device, simply type ‘Sentinel One’ into the search bar on your desktop. If the Sentinel One Agent app. appears, you have it installed.  

How to learn more 

Each month to support these articles we’ll be releasing a matching bitesize training via Proofpoint, our online learning platform.

This month’s update is in your email inbox now.