Hackers Use SSL Certificates to Launch Malware Attack
The latest report published by Meno Security indicates that 52% of the top one million websites have “HTTPS” in their URL, not traditional “HTTP.”
Despite this, the data says that these organizations that don’t conduct satisfactory SSL reviews are more vulnerable to breaches and cyberattacks. According to recent research, hackers, while creating phishing websites, now use SSL as well, which endangers the organization’s effort to keep its workers safe. In 96.7% of all user-initiated website visits that work over HTTPS, a mere 58% (approx) of the URL connections are HTTPs in the email, which indicates that firewalls and proxies are unaware of the threat until the organizations conduct an SSL investigation.
If the users are in the illusion that the green lock sign of HTTPS means they are safe, they might want to consider it again, for the hackers use the encryption too. Many people still think that as long as they have an SSL certificate, their webspace is secure, which, unfortunately, is not valid. Recent cyberattacks show that the malware is prone to these types of SSL certificate, and is now hiding behind this sign, which was once a symbol of safety. Many organizations from the beginning have relied upon firewalls and proxies to ensure the safety of web access.
But many organizations in the present time ignore the decryption and inspection SSL certificates, which has become very crucial. Point to be noted is that when the SSL decryption is enabled, the operations of these devices are down by a factor of five, which is why these enterprises refrain from conducting SSL inspection. Since 2014, even Google started giving priority in rankings to HTTPS websites on its Search Engine Result Page, considering they are safer.
According to Kowsik Goswami, chief technology officer at Menlo Security, there are many reasons why many enterprises don’t turn SSL inspection. The main reason is privacy, as many organizations are concerned about their employees’ privacy when they investigate the links the employees have visited. The other reason is performance, as the operations turn down by a factor of 5 when SSL inspection is on.
