Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    Contest Challenges Users to Bring Their Own Malware to RSA

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    April 20, 2015
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      malware challenge

      There are a lot of security companies that will be making a lot of claims at the RSA Conference that runs April 20-24 in San Francisco, but one company in particular is putting its money behind its claims. Security vendor SentinelOne is running a Bring Your Own Malware Challenge at the conference, with the winner being awarded $1,000.

      “Our solution [Endpoint Defense and Response] is taking a different approach to security than people are used to, and we wanted to take it to the crowd and show the capabilities that we have,” Tomer Weingarten, CEO of SentinelOne, told eWEEK. “There is quite a bit of noise in the security market, so we thought a contest would be a good way to show that the proof is the pudding and put our product to the test.”

      Endpoint Defense and Response (EDR) is SentinelOne’s core product and combines multiple techniques and technologies to detect potential threats.

      The SentinelOne Bring Your Own Malware contest is not a free-for-all with an endless prize pool. Weingarten said the $1,000 prize is the total prize pool, and if more than one person is able to defeat SentinelOne EDR, there will be a drawing among winning participants. Weingarten is not too worried, however, that his platform will be defeated.

      In contrast to other hacking challenges, the $1,000 prize might not seem like that much. Hewlett-Packard sponsors the annual Pwn2Own browser hacking challenge and in 2015 awarded a total of $557,500. Pwn2Own, however, is a contest that is designed to find zero-day flaws, while Weingarten is just looking for attacks that can bypass his company’s detection platform.

      “You don’t need a zero-day to bypass many malware detection solutions,” he said. “Our solution is tailored to give an adequate response to any type of attack.”

      An individual can come with a new exploit or a variant of a known exploit or anything that can be used to bypass malware detection, according to Weingarten. He emphasized that the challenge is more about detection of attack vectors rather than the discovery of a zero-day vulnerability.

      Multiple vendors have emerged in recent years with advanced emulation technologies to detect unknown malware. Weingarten explained that many forms of advance malware now actively seek to evade emulation and will only run on a real endpoint.

      “Our solution sits on the endpoint target itself, so we’re able to see the malware,” he said. “We’re running a complete dynamic behavior analysis in real time, with no emulation and no sandboxing.”

      Although SentinelOne runs directly on the endpoint, Weingarten said there is very little performance impact on the running system, with an average of between 0.4 and 0.5 percent CPU utilization on a Microsoft Windows system.

      From a product positioning perspective, Weingarten’s goal for SentinelOne is to replace a traditional antivirus product in an enterprise. Currently, SentinelOne is not certified as an antivirus vendor for compliance purposes, and as such SentinelOne is considered to be a complementary solution for an existing antivirus deployment.

      While SentinelOne is hosting its Bring Your Malware Challenge at RSA, the company has also been selected to be a finalist in the RSA Conference Innovation Sandbox Contest that aims to find the most interesting security vendors.

      “We’re trying to disrupt the antivirus landscape and bring a new approach,” Weingarten said. “If we’re successful, I think it will have a deep impact on the security industry as a whole.”

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×