Understanding Fileless Malware Attacks

Cybersecurity faces new and advanced threats every day. The complex nature of technology keeps changing hence making itself vulnerable to errors and attacks. Hackers are using this to create new malware programs that can infect the systems without detection. These are known as fileless malware.
 

What is a fileless malware and how does it work?

Fileless malware uses a set of techniques to get into your system without a trace. It does not use any files to attack your systems. Therefore, attackers choose these malware programs to infect the hard drive to avoid detection through signature scanning by antivirus programs.

Fileless malware exists in the Random Access Memory (RAM) of your computer system. Since most antivirus programs do not inspect the memory directly, it is the safest mode for attackers to access your systems and steal data. The stealth nature of this type of malware gives them the ability to access and manipulate your systems and data for as long as possible without detection.
 

How to protect your computer against fileless malware infections

The best way to protect your systems from these attacks is to stop them before they occur. Traditional antivirus programs analyse the hard drive for malicious files. If detected, the program removes or quarantines the infected file, keeping your computer safe. Therefore, these programs cannot detect fileless malware since no files are dropped onto the system.

Recently, major antivirus companies have been including behavioural-based analytics on top of their signature-based defenses. Behavioural analytics are designed to detect the malware by scrutinising the behaviour of the users and the computers. They identify any abnormal occurences that could be a result of a fileless infection, for instance, a suspicious login activity, and gives alerts.
 

Conclusion

Although not as common as other attacks, the use of fileless malware is on the rise. Cybercriminals have enhanced their attacks to ensure that they go unnoticed. Therefore, it is important to patch and update software applications as well as the operating system regularly