Do you want to identify potential security threats? Why do we need application control?
Why Do We Need Application Control?
Application Control is essentially a mechanism that can be used to prevent the execution of certain actions on the computer system. It can also be used in combination with other security technologies. This is such as host intrusion prevention software, anti-malware software, and virtualization platforms.
To understand how different types of attacks work we must first understand some basics of how Operating System (OS) works. In general, there are two types of application control mechanisms. An operating system-based mechanism and a user model-based mechanism work in different ways.
An operating system-based mechanism will look at the entire program header before making any decision regarding whether the file is safe or not. However, a user model-based system will only look at specific parts of the program header for this purpose.
Digital Certificates Authentication
A user model-based mechanism usually works by making use of application control signatures which are known as good applications. These are typically applications that are considered to be safe to execute on the computer system. It allowed execution without any issues.
However, if an application is not on the list of known good applications or is not signed. This is by a trusted certificate authority it will be blocked from executing on the computer system. Also, the majority of operating system-based mechanisms will rely on digital certificates.
This is for ensuring security and preventing the execution of unknown or malicious programs. These certificates can either be self-signed or issued by trusted certificate authorities. Also, the main purpose of these certificates is to ensure that the file has not been altered in any way.
Since it was digitally signed by the developer or publisher and hence proves that the file is genuine and has not been tampered with in any way.
Network Monitoring: Whitelisting and Blacklisting
Application control signature-based mechanisms can be further divided into two subgroups – whitelisting and blacklisting. Whitelisting involves listing all of the good applications that should be allowed to execute on the computer system. Also, blacklisting involves listing all of the bad programs which should be blocked from executing on the computer system.
In whitelisting, every program must be listed explicitly while in black listing everything that is not listed explicitly is considered to be bad. In whitelisting, every program on the list must be signed, while in black listing everything that is not signed is considered to be bad. The most common type of application control mechanism is a user model-based mechanism.
A user model-based mechanism typically works by making use of application control signatures which are known as good applications. Application control can be used in combination with other security technologies. The features include anti-malware apps, virtualization programs, and mobile device management solutions. So, the main purpose of this technology is to ensure that certain actions cannot be performed on the computer system.