ZeroLock: How to Defend Against Ransomware on Linux

Written by Linux security expert and LinuxSecurity.com Founder Dave Wreski.

Attacks in network security targeting Linux have surged in recent years due to the mass migration of workloads to the cloud and the increase in IoT and other connected devices on such networks. Traditional endpoint security solutions for Linux typically rely on the same algorithms and techniques developed to secure Windows desktops and don’t address the attack patterns unique to Linux. Therefore, such mitigation efforts are no longer sufficient to secure modern Linux workloads against today’s dynamic and evasive network security threats.

Luckily, solutions addressing Linux-specific challenges to fortify the most sophisticated and damaging network security issues exist. I have been quite impressed with a newer automated and efficient platform I’ve been using to detect and remediate threats on my Linux environment, Vali Cyber’s ZeroLock. In this article, I’ll examine the modern Linux threat landscape, introduce ZeroLock, and demonstrate how ZeroLock works to mitigate ransomware exploits in cybersecurity. 

The Modern Linux Threat Landscape in a Nutshell

The popularity of Linux in recent years has put a target on the OS’s back. Linux malware reached an all-time high in the first half of 2022. The total number of cybersecurity vulnerabilities detected year-over-year shows that after Microsoft and Apple, Linux distros like RedHat and Debian have the highest numbers of network security issues reported. 

Traditional endpoint security solutions for Linux fail to address Linux-specific attack patterns, such as SSH exploits, cryptojacking, ransomware, and wiperware, which constantly evolve and can’t be identified by a simple file hash. Fileless attacks in network security are increasing against Linux systems, with over 50% of attacks now being fileless. This leverages cybersecurity vulnerabilities like log4J and others undetectable by file-based methodologies. Endpoint security attempts to protect targeted systems by using high overhead, resource-intensive, version-specific methods, and complex kernel modules, ultimately leading to challenges in customer environments.

In this complex and dynamic modern Linux threat environment, intelligent, automated solutions are required to secure Linux workloads against the increasingly evasive and dangerous network security threats targeting them.

Experience the Power of ZeroLock’s Automated, Easy-to-Manage Protection

I’m very impressed with how ZeroLock addresses the shortcomings of traditional Linux endpoint security agents to provide rapid detection of and remediation of various network security threats. ZeroLock meets Linux-specific challenges with automated lockdown configuration, sophisticated access control capabilities, and advanced behavioral threat detection technology. With ZeroLock, administrators can quickly and easily secure all of their Linux workloads against attacks in network security that would lead to compromise. Additionally, ZeroLock can detect any network security issues that breach the system so information can be recovered with minimal consumption of critical computing and human resources. 

ZeroLock taps into the heart of Linux to provide highly efficient, adequate protection. The solution intervenes in process creation and injects code into every new process, allowing it to monitor and control systems. This enables ZeroLock to defend against cloud security breaches that need access to the network, files, or other system resources via the Linux System Call Interface to be executed. ZeroLock intercepts all relevant system calls a process makes to examine and track them. Should a pattern of a process’s behavior be deemed suspicious, ZeroLock will intervene by either suspending or killing the process or caching file resources being attempted to be changed. This new hardening method enables ZeroLock to prevent more attacks than solutions that rely on traditional Linux hardening methods, detect any exploits in cybersecurity that get through by their behavior, and prevent or repair damage to files. 

ZeroLock’s distributed artificial intelligence and machine learning architecture is designed to support real-time detection and protection methodologies. Yet, it also helps you continually to learn from and adapt to the ever-changing malware analysis landscape. Vali Cyber has consolidated this intelligence into a constantly learning algorithm that operates in real-time to protect Linux workloads against file-based or fileless malware, ransomware attacks, and other malicious network security threats that target Linux today, with equally high efficacy regardless of the sophistication of the attack.

If an attack does happen, ZeroLock remediates it promptly by copying all deleted or written files (encryption is considered a write operation) to a protected cache area. At the same time, the actions and process(es) involved are evaluated. This approach makes it possible to automatically restore compromised, deleted, or encrypted files by malicious code. The ZeroLock agent also has self-protection functionality that prevents malicious code from disabling or removing the agent from the system.

Watch ZeroLock Mitigate a Ransomware Attack!

ZeroLock uses behavioral markers to identify attacks in network security. It understands how individual types of ransomware and cryptojacking issues work and monitors for that behavior.

ZeroLock focuses on specific network security threats (like RansomEXX and Log4j) and can discern a legitimate process for writing or deleting files from an actual ransomware attack.

ZeroLock copies all deleted or written files to a special place in memory so that when network security issues take place, ZeroLock can recognize that attack, stop it in real-time, then restore any memory the files may have lost in deletions and encryptions so the system can go back to its normal trusted state.

 

Maximum Security, Minimum Impact

ZeroLock provides maximum Linux security with minimum impact. It is clear that Vali Cyber recognizes that organizations today do not have a single monolithic OS across their entire infrastructure; therefore, they have engineered ZeroLock with this in mind. Running entirely in user space, ZeroLock does not require any kernel modules, is compatible with all Linux systems kernel version 3.5 or greater, and can reach across deployment environments (bare metal, VM, containers, cloud, and even embedded and IoT devices). This simplicity allows for streamlined deployment and uniformity of controls and protection. 

Administrators who deploy ZeroLock also enjoy the benefit of complete protection on workloads segmented from the Internet or air-gapped, and frequent updates are not required for ZeroLock’s behavior detection methods to remain secure.

Final Thoughts on Defending Against Linux Ransomware

As data and network security threats continue to evolve at an unprecedented rate, it is critical that defensive software keeps pace to meet new challenges. ZeroLock provides the type of intelligent, automated, and efficient protection necessary to fortify a modern Linux infrastructure against sophisticated network security issues like fileless malware and ransomware.

Interested in learning more? Stay tuned for upcoming articles that will dive deeper into Log4j exploit prevention, securing WordPress sites on Linux, and more!