MENDEL: SECURITY AND VISIBILITY IN NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Network management is a stressful proposition, comprising not only the administration of the network, but also maintaining its performance, provisioning devices, etc. With the number of devices in a network growing – due in part to IoT within the office and BYOD which come and go frequently, and the risks of advanced persistent malware, the stress is only increasing.

Luckily, GREYCORTEX MENDEL helps reduce the stress of network administration. According to recent studies, 76% of IT Professionals cite lack of visibility as a challenge in addressing issues in their networks. MENDEL offers full network visibility, up to, and including the application layer, without profiling a specific subnet or host. This means that whenever a new device enters the network, or a subnet or host is moved, identifying vulnerabilities or reconnecting appropriate devices is easy to accomplish.

MENDEL also helps network administrators improve their security, especially against advanced threats hiding within a network. It is common to use firewalls, antivirus, but also SIEMs, IPS, sandboxes, etc to protect a network. These various solutions all overlap for layered security, but each can be defeated.

Currently it takes 46 days to detect a network breach. MENDEL steps into these gaps by identifying anomalous network traffic activity, differentiating between human and machine activity, and integrating robust IDS rulesets to identify threats before they can do damage – often within hours. In some cases, like the recent WannaCry ransomware attack, MENDEL was able to identify the attack in a matter of minutes, well before it could start encrypting files.

MENDEL is based on machine learning and big data analysis. It installs in 30 minutes and can be configured in under two hours. It monitors networks using network traffic analysis without slowing traffic. Because deployment is painless, and network speed is preserved, a risk free 30 day trial is truly “risk free.” To find out more about MENDEL, or to see what may be hiding in your network from a 30 day trial, contact your local distributor or GREYCORTEX directly.

 

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About GREYCORTEX
GREYCORTEX uses advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining methods to help organizations make their IT operations secure and reliable.

MENDEL, GREYCORTEX’s network traffic analysis solution, helps corporations, governments, and the critical infrastructure sector protect their futures by detecting cyber threats to sensitive data, networks, trade secrets, and reputations, which other network security products miss.

MENDEL is based on 10 years of extensive academic research and is designed using the same technology which was successful in four US-based NIST Challenges.

WE ARE CESA AWARDS NATIONAL FINALISTS IN 3 CATEGORIES

For the second year in a row, GREYCORTEX has been nominated as a National Finalist at the Central European Startup Awards (CESA) – http://centraleuropeanstartupawards.com. The awards select the best startups from across 10 Central European countries, with the winners qualifying to go forward to the Global Startup Awards.
Last year, GREYCORTEX won Best Early Stage Startup, given in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This year, GREYCORTEX is nominated in three categories:

  • Startup of the Year
  • Best AI Startup
  • Best Newcomer

The Czech winners will be announced at the Czech National Finale on September 25th in Prague. Public voting GREYCORTEX in these three categories is currently open, and may be found here: http://centraleuropeanstartupawards.com/vote


About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About GREYCORTEX
GREYCORTEX uses advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining methods to help organizations make their IT operations secure and reliable.

MENDEL, GREYCORTEX’s network traffic analysis solution, helps corporations, governments, and the critical infrastructure sector protect their futures by detecting cyber threats to sensitive data, networks, trade secrets, and reputations, which other network security products miss.

MENDEL is based on 10 years of extensive academic research and is designed using the same technology which was successful in four US-based NIST Challenges.

GREYCORTEX RELEASES MENDEL V 2.6.1

In the newest version of GREYCORTEX MENDEL (2.6.1) we have implemented several new features to improve performance, including a new flow scheme. This new scheme will also store more flow data and metrics. Existing data will be automatically transferred into this new scheme to ensure its continued usability. This data transfer process will run in the background, allowing you to continue to work with new flow data. Depending on the amount of existing flow data, the transfer may take few days, but it will not affect system usability.

We have also added a new DHCP application parser. This means you can now use DHCP data to identify hosts by their hostnames, giving you better knowledge/information about hosts; for better and more effective action.

Additional Features

  • Added new aggregated flow structures and their visualizations to achieve better performance
  • Added an additional severity decision mechanism for outlier detection to better highlight larger anomalies
  • Added a new DHCP application parser
  • Added the capability to display unfinished flows
  • Added an additional metric:  UET – User Experience Time – to network flows

Improvements

  • Improved database query performance
  • Improved the precision of the Round Trip Time and Server Application Response Time metrics computation
  • Optimized the performance of the Peers graph for faster loading
  • Upgraded the database to achieve greater performance
  • Set default log interval in log reporting to 7 days

Bugs Fixed

  • Fixed SMB protocol identification
  • Fixed network services model calculation
  • Removed queries to root DNS servers
  • Fixed missing DNS server configurations, which occurred in rare cases
  • Fixed settings for RX queues in network drivers
  • Fixed timezone usage
  • Fixed filtering issues in Incident Management
  • Fixed data inconsistency between Peers and Hosts graphs
  • Fixed report generation where data fields did not display correctly
  • Fixed hyperscan support on non-Intel architectures
  • Fixed password escaping issue
  • Fixed custom server certificate handling
  • Fixed system monitoring data propagation
  • Fixed DNS server settings
  • Fixed ICMP event and flow pairing
  • Fixed MS-SQL protocol parser
  • Fixed time handling in False Positives for different time zones
  • Fixed color configuration for Port Sweep detection
  • Fixed flows search in Outlier events
  • Fixed issue with duplicate hostnames
  • Fixed flow search in limit events
  • Fixed network configuration calculation
  • Fixed Url Share functionality in the comments field in Incident Management
  • Fixed filtering issue in Incident Management
  • Fixed pagination in Incident Management
  • Fixed issue in Url Share
  • Fixed transfer data calculation in the Peers graph
  • Fixed firewall autoconfiguration when enabling Netflow source
  • Fixed events filtering by name
  • Fixed subnet traffic calculation
  • Fixed allow/deny configuration description
  • Fixed the “To Filter” button in Peers graph
  • Fixed port and service name filtering
  • Fixed other issues related to Incident Management
  • Fixed subnet icons in Events
  • Fixed vulnerability to CVE-2016-2183
  • Fixed empty service description editing
  • Fixed false positives value editing
  • Fixed ICMP flow filtering on services
  • Fixed the assignment of hosts into incorrect subnets
  • Fixed host information display in the Analysis module
  • Fixed invalid DHCP transaction IDs in individual flows
  • Fixed DHCP parsing issues on flows from the DHCP relay
  • Fixed the password warning message when the password is shown as invalid during installation
  • Fixed the event payload display in IDS events
  • Fixed issues with special characters during installation
  • Fixed an issue with filtering port number and service name together
  • Fixed an issue with flow duration calculation
  • Fixed cancel button functionality in Flows view
  • Fixed calculation of the number of subnets in Events
  • Fixed the use of an incorrect filter in subnet to filter function in the Events tab
  • Fixed the filling service in False Positive
  • Fixed traffic information in incident links

“TALES FROM THE MALWARE LAB” IS LIVE!

Following the success of our video describing the WannaCry ransomware, we are happy to announce an ongoing series of YouTube videos: “Tales from the Malware Lab – Powered by GREYCORTEX.” In it, we will leverage our in-house malware lab, complete with the latest version of GREYCORTEX MENDEL to provide useful information about emerging network security threats in an easy-to-follow visual format.

 The videos will provide an overview of each threat’s activity within the network, and visualize these attacks from the network traffic analysis standpoint. We are releasing these videos as a public service to the greater network security community, which will benefit from this video-based approach to malware.

 The first video, addressing the “EternalRocks” malware, is available here: https://youtu.be/vI1lRi5e-SM


About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About GREYCORTEX
GREYCORTEX uses advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining methods to help organizations make their IT operations secure and reliable.

MENDEL, GREYCORTEX’s network traffic analysis solution, helps corporations, governments, and the critical infrastructure sector protect their futures by detecting cyber threats to sensitive data, networks, trade secrets, and reputations, which other network security products miss.

MENDEL is based on 10 years of extensive academic research and is designed using the same technology which was successful in four US-based NIST Challenges.

GREYCORTEX PROTECTS AGAINST WANNACRY

GREYCORTEX is happy to report that MENDEL, our network traffic analysis solution, affirmatively detects infection by the WannaCry ransomware, its possible variants/clones, and protects users more effectively than rule-based detection tools alone.

Because GREYCORTEX MENDEL uses advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis to identify network anomalies, it easily identifies threats like WannaCry, allowing network security teams to take rapid action and stop threats before they do damage.

In the case of WannaCry, GREYCORTEX tested the ransomware in our malware lab. It was found to engage in aggressive and anomalous practices, like port-scanning behavior on an SMB port (445), attempting to connect to over 4000 devices in 175 countries across the Internet in five minutes, and downloading TOR network software. All of these behaviors were identified by MENDEL’s advanced network behavior analysis.

MENDEL users are better protected from malware like WannaCry and its variants/clones than users of firewall, IDS, or other rule-based security solutions alone. Rule-based security solutions require a known malware signature in order to create a rule. This means an attack must happen before the signature of the attack can be added as a rule. MENDEL doesn’t need a signature to identify the attack. It’s network behavior analysis features detect the attack’s symptoms before it harms the network. This means security teams have the peace of mind to know that should an attack happen, they will see it, and be able to stop it before it does damage.

If you are concerned about malware attacks, either from WannaCry or from other ransomware or malware, you may benefit from a 30 day Proof of Concept (PoC) from GREYCORTEX. During the PoC, MENDEL automatically learns your network to identify threats which may exist, including ransomware which is lying dormant in your network, or unpatched applications, which may leave you vulnerable. Do not hesitate to contact your network security professional, or GREYCORTEX  directly to arrange a PoC.

 

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About GREYCORTEX
GREYCORTEX uses advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining methods to help organizations make their IT operations secure and reliable.

MENDEL, GREYCORTEX’s network traffic analysis solution, helps corporations, governments, and the critical infrastructure sector protect their futures by detecting cyber threats to sensitive data, networks, trade secrets, and reputations, which other network security products miss.

MENDEL is based on 10 years of extensive academic research and is designed using the same technology which was successful in four US-based NIST Challenges.