File Integrity Monitoring
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File integrity monitoring (FIM) is an internal control or process that performs the act of validating the integrity of operating system and application software files using a verification method between the current file state and a known, good baseline. This comparison method often involves calculating a known cryptographic checksum of the file's original baseline and comparing with the calculated checksum of the current state of the file.[1] Other file attributes can also be used to monitor integrity.[2]
Generally, the act of performing file integrity monitoring is automated using internal controls such as an application or process. Such monitoring can be performed randomly, at a defined polling interval, or in real-time.
Changes to configurations, files and file attributes across the IT infrastructure are common, but hidden within a large volume of daily changes can be the few that impact file or configuration integrity. These changes can also reduce security posture and in some cases may be leading indicators of a breach in progress. Values monitored for unexpected changes to files or configuration items include:
FIM is a technology that monitors and detects file changes that could be indicative of a cyberattack. Otherwise known as change monitoring, FIM specifically involves examining files to see if and when they change, how they change, who changed them, and what can be done to restore those files if those modifications are unauthorized. Companies can leverage the control to supervise static files for suspicious modifications such as adjustments to their IP stack and email client configuration. As such, FIM is useful for detecting malware as well as achieving compliance with regulations like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Every security breach begins with a single change. A small alteration to one file can expose your whole network to a potential attack. File integrity monitoring, in its simplest sense, is about keeping track of change from an established baseline and alerting you to any unexpected change that may represent a security risk or a compromise in regulatory compliance.
File integrity monitoring (FIM), sometimes referred to as file integrity management, is a security process that monitors and analyzes the integrity of critical assets, including file systems, directories, databases, network devices, the operating system (OS), OS components and software applications for signs of tampering or corruption, which may be an indication of a cyberattack.
In recent years, cybercriminals have become increasingly sophisticated in their use of malware and other techniques to alter critical system files, folders, registries and data end endpoints to carry out advanced cyberattacks. Left undetected, these hackers can steal data, IP, and customer information or otherwise disrupt business operations.
FIM provides an important layer of protection for sensitive files, data, applications and devices by routinely scanning, monitoring and verifying the integrity of those assets. It also helps identify potential security issues more quickly and improves the accuracy of remediation efforts by the incident response team.
In the early stages of a complex cyberattack, cybercriminals may need to alter critical files related to the OS or applications. Very sophisticated attackers may even alter the log files to cover their activity. However, FIM tools can still detect such modifications because it reviews the current file against a baseline, as opposed to simply reviewing the file logs.
Defining the file integrity policy: Before the FIM tool can be deployed, the organization must first specify what assets will be monitored and the types of changes that it wants to detect.
Monitoring, analyzing and verifying file integrity: The FIM tool compares the hash values on the files to quickly and clearly detect anomalous changes. As part of this process, the IT team can also exempt certain changes from monitoring to avoid triggering alerts for planned changes or updates.
FIM software will scan, analyze, and report on unexpected changes to important files in an IT environment. In so doing, file integrity monitoring provides a critical layer of file, data, and application security, while also aiding in the acceleration of incident response. The four primary file integrity monitoring use cases are:
If a cyber attacker intrudes upon your IT environment, you will need to know if they have tried to alter any files that are critical to your operating systems or applications. Even if log files and other detection systems are avoided or altered, FIM can still detect changes to important parts of your IT ecosystem. With FIM in place, you can monitor and protect the security of your files, applications, operating systems, and data.
Often, file changes are made inadvertently by an admin or another employee. Sometimes the ramifications of these changes may be small and go overlooked. Other times, they can create security backdoors, or result in dysfunction with business operations or continuity. File integrity monitoring simplifies forensics by helping you zero in on the errant change, so you can roll it back or take other remediation.
In Linux and Unix environments, configurations are much more exposed as part of the overall file system. This makes Linux and Unix more vulnerable to direct attacks and hacked binary executables. Updating and replacing core files in Linux or Unix means that attackers can easily inject malicious code.
Ideally, FIM should track changes to OS, database, directory, application, and critical business files, and alert you to any potentially sensitive or suspicious changes. Some key areas to audit change control include:
At minimum, an enterprise solution should provide change management, real-time logging, centralized logging and reporting, and alerts. Often, file integrity monitoring is part of a broader auditing and security solution that will also include capabilities such as automated rollback of changes to an earlier, trusted state. An ideal solution will give you clear, rapid information on the who, what, where, and when for every access and change event.
File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) best practices include defining a baseline of normal file activity, monitoring critical files and folders, setting up alerts for unauthorized changes, regularly reviewing and updating policies, and integrating FIM with other security technologies for a holistic security approach.
FIM (file integrity monitoring) uses the Azure Change Tracking solution to track and identify changes in your environment. When FIM is enabled, you have a Change Tracking resource of type Solution. If you remove the Change Tracking resource, you'll also disable the File Integrity Monitoring feature in Defender for Cloud. FIM lets you take advantage of Change Tracking directly in Defender for Cloud. For data collection frequency details, see Change Tracking data collection details.
Deciding the monitoring scope is a challenge for the most compliance and security teams. Qualys FIM provides out-of-the-box monitoring profiles and automated incident generation that helps you to kick-start your monitoring efforts and comply with PCI-DSS Sections 10.5.5. and 11.5.
Qualys Cloud Agent continuously monitors the system files and registries specified in the monitoring profile and captures critical events which are sent to Qualys Cloud Platform where it enriches the event data with threat intelligence by adding Trusted Source and File Reputation context that control noise and prioritize events as either malicious or suspicious.
Continuously monitor critical assets for changes across diverse cloud and on-premises environments of all sizes, including the largest ones. This is made possible by a unique combination of Qualys Cloud Agent technology, broad platform support, unparalleled scalability, and a powerful but easy to configure real-time monitoring engine.
Report via native Splunk integration: The Qualys App for Splunk Enterprise with TA provides a dashboard for Qualys FIM events data. It pulls and indexes the data to produce dashboards and reports. The dashboard gives quick information bites on total changes, events by severity, and file and directory changes by change action. It also has widgets to show top changes by user, process, and operating system. You also have options to search for Qualys FIM events, ignored events, and incidents.
Malware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) often access and modify local files. Security Event Manager file integrity monitoring software is built to correlate logs from anti-virus tools and IDS/IPS with file audit events to more easily detect APTs, malware, and improve FIM security.
Security Event Manager file integrity monitoring is built to help you more easily demonstrate these requirements. You can use built-in file integrity monitoring templates to audit key files, folders, and generate out-of-the box reports to help demonstrate compliance.
In line with the SolarWinds commitment to customization, you have the option to set up your Windows FIM tool to monitor either individual nodes or an entire connector profile. During the configuration process, you can customize the files, folders, or access criteria you want to monitor. You can also specify the conditions for the FIM security monitoring, so highly critical data can be scrutinized more thoroughly than less sensitive files.
There are several ways a file could become vulnerable to a security threat, including when a privileged user account is compromised. Since this type of user typically has access to data modification credentials, they could be at a higher-risk of being the target of zero-day malware, advanced persistent threats, and other kinds of malware targeting files from outside the system.
For cyberattackers, gaining access to sensitive and private data can be desirable targets, such as bank and credit card information, system access credentials, and confidential customer information. File integrity monitoring software is designed to help detect threats by tracking unauthorized file changes potentially threatening file integrity. A FIM security tool typically integrates with your server to help protect your system from threats seeking to access your sensitive data 59ce067264