Think You Know Tripwire? Think Again
Fortra’s Tripwire has always been widely known as a File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) solution, and a very good one at that. The good news is that it still is – only when you look closely, it’s a lot more. And it always has been.
Besides its traditionally known role as an integrity and security configuration management tool, Tripwire’s powerful capabilities make it a comprehensive cybersecurity solution. Did you know that with Tripwire, you could:
- Detect advanced persistent threats (APTs)
- Identify ransomware
- Discover zero-day attacks
- Implement zero trust policies
Far more than facilitating integrity monitoring alone, it empowers organizations to engage in active, comprehensive cybersecurity defense. Tripwire is more than a mere file integrity monitoring tool. It is a robust cybersecurity asset.
Here’s how.
Tripwire can detect APTs
APTs, or advanced persistent threats, are a key concern of government, finance, and numerous critical infrastructure sectors today. Their primary motive is espionage (60-70%), and their methods are only getting more advanced thanks to the force-multiplying benefits of AI.
Consequently, powerful nation-states and highly compensated individuals are trying to hack into critical systems worldwide using the same tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that Tripwire is trained to pick up on.
Whether it is custom initial access techniques, abuse of red team tooling, or other tools, tactics, and procedures applied by financially motivated actors, they all leave traces that Tripwire can help you find.
Tripwire can detect ransomware
Tripwire’s combined set of security controls can be leveraged to have multi-vector visibility on ransomware in your network. At its root, ransomware changes fundamental elements in your systems for malicious purposes. That’s why Tripwire leverage security configuration management (SCM) and file integrity monitoring (FIM) to undermine those attempts. Left to itself, a FIM solution can report on too many changes. When faced with alert fatigue, many SOCs leave notifications unattended. That is a death sentence when it comes to ransomware, as longer dwell times lead to higher overall costs. Tripwire FIM can detect and report on changes to files on the endpoint in real-time, allowing you to see when the ransomware has created a new (and encrypted file).
Using SCM, Tripwire can serve as an early detection mechanism for changes to server or application configurations – one of the early tell-tell signs of ransomware. It can also provide remediation aid by suggesting next steps and even leveraging automated remediation scripts. By catching these key elements of ransomware in the act, Tripwire helps defenders reduce fallout and increase their chances of preventing a full-blown compromise.
Tripwire can discover zero-day attacks
Security alerts about zero days found in common utilities can offer a lot of valuable information if you know how to use it. Included in the report will be artifacts about the vulnerable file, such as the:
Organizations can feed this information into Tripwire to run a scoped detailed changes report that will locate any instances of the zero day within the organization’s systems. Plus, using Tripwire, a new scan does not need to be run every time a new zero-day alert comes out; instead, a “simple report can be run to show how many of each version of the application is running using the most recent scan data.”
Tripwire can implement zero trust policies
Maintaining a zero trust environment depends on setting zero trust policies and making sure they stick. Policy implementation is one thing, but in an ever-changing digital enterprise, those policies are bound to drift. As soon as they do, zero trust is at stake.
There are three architectural pillars that underpin a zero trust strategy, and which Tripwire supports:
- Network Access Control (NAC) | The “hard shell” keeping attackers on the outside, NAC validates every connection to the network.
- Micro-Segmentation | The practice of securing networks individually, according to data sensitivity, compliance requirements, or the principle of least privilege. It introduces the concept of using policy to determine access and prevents many of the risks inherent in basic network access control.
- Trust Policy | Trustworthiness is determined by using existing security posture management tools to assess the risk (and therefore non-trustworthiness) of each vector. The tools that go into a Trust Policy Engine include vulnerability assessment, configuration management, change management, user behavior indicators, and malware detection.
Tripwire uses the following to ensure those three architectural elements of zero trust stand strong:
- Policy compliance, to ensure zero trust network policies are adhered to.
- Vulnerability assessment, to assign the correct level of risk to various vectors within the network that could threaten trust.
- Integrity monitoring, to ensure that once zero trust policies are in place, they don’t drift.
Putting it all together, Tripwire could just as easily be billed as an active defense for zero-day advanced persistent threats in ransomware as it could a FIM solution.
Tripwire: Beyond FIM to Comprehensive Coverage
Explore how Tripwire’s deep portfolio of security features gives organizations unparalleled visibility into their security posture.
