Increase your cyber security with Huntress

Huntress is a cyber security service, which provides businesses with products that ensure the best possible security for their systems. These tools can be used to help identify cyber security concerns and breaches before they occur, so that your organisation stays as safe as it can possibly be. We had a chat with IT support engineer Dave Kennedy, to find out more about Huntress and how it can protect your business from cyber threats.

'Huntress monitors your computer systems for threats that might be running in the background,’ says Dave.

‘Your computer is running hundreds of things at once, and most of the time these are just normal tools that keep the machine running. That means it’s really hard for most people to tell the difference between a useful script that’s helping your computer function, and a malicious script that’s sending your data to someone else.’

‘Huntress looks at your system, and keeps an eye on all of these things running in the background, to see if your computer is doing something that looks suspicious, like uploading the contents of your hard drive somewhere on the internet, or encrypting all of your information so that you can’t access your files.’ 

‘Whilst both antivirus and products like Huntress protect you from threats, they’re doing two different things,’ says Dave.

‘Antivirus and antimalware software works by scanning a file every time it is downloaded, or changed, or saved. It has a look to see if it contains anything malicious looking, and prevents anything dangerous from being installed on your machine in that way.' 

'With antivirus, when a file has been downloaded or a program has been installed, it’s been scanned before it’s opened, or it's started to run. Antivirus is incredibly useful, and absolutely necessary from a cyber security perspective.’

‘However, antivirus software has been used for a long time, and those stealing your information have had to become more creative as a result. The most common attack vector today is clicking on a link or opening something that runs a script in the background, and steals your credentials that way. There isn’t a file for your antivirus software to scan, something’s just started running quietly on your computer, taking your data and sending it across to a scammer.’ 

‘Rather than trying to detect malicious software, which is part of what antivirus does, Huntress monitors the actions being performed by your computer. And Huntress can also do this for cloud services, like your Microsoft 365 account. So if someone attempts to access your account from Bora Bora, and you live in London, Huntress can flag this and lock your accounts.’

Dave says that all organisations should consider Huntress as part of their cybersecurity. ‘It is the best protection mechanism we’ve got. Antivirus software on its own just isn’t sufficient, considering where most cyber attacks come from. Businesses need to make sure they’re securing themselves against every threat.

This isn’t to say that businesses should stop using antivirus software. Dave says that, ‘It’s like having locks on all the doors and windows of your house. You wouldn’t unlock the door because you’ve locked the windows. Huntress works alongside your antivirus software, so you’re preventing as many attack vectors as possible.’

‘It’s suitable for all businesses, and products like this are going to become typical cyber security services very quickly. The area that it provides the greatest protection is securing end users, which have always been our biggest security issue. Huntress is like a safety net for users who might accidentally click on something that they shouldn’t.’