X
Tech

Intel's 'Threat Landscape Dashboard' tells you today's worst digital threats

The new online platform keeps a real-time record of today's most significant cybersecurity threats.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer
screen-shot-2017-02-13-at-03-51-08.jpg
Intel

Today's cybersecurity landscape is in a constant state of evolution. Old malware resurfaces to attack new targets, phishing campaigns plague the enterprise, and ransomware targets our healthcare services.

It is a lot to ask for cybersecurity professionals to constantly stay on top of both new and existing threats, but Intel hopes to make the job easier.

Last week, Intel Security, formerly known as McAfee, launched the Threat Landscape Dashboard. The platform is a free online resource which allows users to view what the company considers today's most significant threats.

Malware and digital threats are ranked based on "the prevalence of attacks that exploit those vulnerabilities," according to Intel Security.

The dashboard includes information on threats as a whole, exploit kits, vulnerabilities, campaigns, and ransomware. Relationships between them are also illustrated; for example, how the RIG exploit kit takes advantage of specific vulnerabilities in software to spread different ransomware families.

"For the administrators responsible for safeguarding a company's systems, networks, and digital information, keeping up is an overwhelming task, made doubly difficult because it is often hard to determine the most significant threats," the team says.

To make life easier, Intel Security has also added a "risk score" for each threat and campaign, alongside a "media score" based on how much attention the press is giving specific threats.

At the time of writing, the company has ranked CVE-2016-7200, a Microsoft Edge vulnerability which allows remote attacks to take place, Cerber ransomware, the RIG exploit kit, and the Methbot fraud campaign as among the top 10 threats facing consumers and businesses today.

See also: Why did Intel buy McAfee for $7.7 billion?

In a blog post announcing the launch, Intel researchers said the dashboard is the result of nine months' work. However, Intel Security plans to further extend the platform with an RSS feed and reference links about threats including the original source, blogs, and whitepapers.

10 steps to erase your digital footprint

Do you pass off your security responsibility to others?

Editorial standards