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Neosoft has entered into a partnership agreement with the Russian developer of information security tools ARUDIT SECURITY (ARUDIT SECURITY). Now the integrator's customers will be able to use SoftControl solutions that provide multi-level protection measures against targeted hacker attacks, destructive effects of malicious software, including those not detected by antiviruses, and insider threats.

The latter cause particular concern - in the first half of 2022, the number of offers from abroad to employees of Russian companies to become insiders increased 4 times compared to the same period in 2021. In the summer, this trend began to decline, but experts predict its resumption in the fall.

The Neosoft company is one of the largest system integrators of the Volga region and a popular supplier in the territory of the Russian Federation and CIS countries. For 11 years of operation, the company has representative offices in six cities of Russia. The team has extensive experience in the fields of information security, business process automation and IT asset management.

The company ARUDIT SECURITY is a developer of advanced software solutions in the field of information security, is the receiver of the SafenSoft project. ARUDIT SECURITY develops and provides technical support for SoftControl software products, distributes SoftControl software products through a network of authorized partners.

"SoftControl family products provide multi-level protection measures against the destructive effects of malicious software, including those not detected by antivirus tools, targeted hacker attacks and insider actions. SoftControl functionality allows you to replace the solutions of foreign manufacturers common in Russia. We look forward to effective cooperation with our new partner," said Svetozar Yakhontov, CEO of ARUDIT SECURITY LLC.

The SoftControl product line has been developing since 2003 and includes innovative software solutions to protect against external and internal threats to the endpoints of the corporate network and servers, ATMs, payment terminals, automated control systems, embedded computers of medical equipment. The implementation of multi-level protection measures based on precise methods allows you to ensure low consumption of system resources, the absence of false positives, compatibility with any application software.

The functionality of monitoring the start and activity of all processes in the system allows you to meet the requirements of Regulators on critical infrastructure:

on workstations and servers, ATMs and payment terminals, computerized cash registers, allowing you to meet the requirements of the international PCI DSS standard and the requirements of the Bank of Russia GOST R 57580.1-2017.

on terminals and controllers of automated process control systems, medical equipment running Microsoft Windows operating systems, allowing you to meet the requirements for the protection of CII (Federal Law No. 187-FZ of July 26, 2017 "On the security of the critical information infrastructure of the Russian Federation").

Currently, the manufacturer's solutions are used in banks, industrial enterprises, fuel and energy complex and transport facilities, in the software manufacturing industry, in education and science.

The SoftControl system is a product line that is designed to ensure the integrity of the software environment of network endpoints and protect data from unauthorized access by personnel and intruders.




Among the important features of the new version of SoftControl:

A new SysCmd client module has been added that allows you to safely perform operational impact on the protected system and applications, to implement a safe operation mode of the system and applications.

API capabilities have been expanded to integrate centralized security management mechanisms with event monitoring systems and software administration tools on the device network.

Implemented the ability to additionally collect system log events of the protected system, which allows you to quickly conduct a comprehensive analysis of events on the protected device.

In addition, minor corrections have been made in the new version of the SoftControl product line, the functionality of the keyboard control mechanism has been enhanced, and support for event sending protocols to SIEM systems has been expanded.

About ARUDIT SECURITY

The company ARUDIT SECURITY is a developer of advanced software solutions in the field of information security, was founded in 2021 in Moscow and is the recipient of the SafenSoft project. ARUDIT SECURITY develops and provides technical support for SoftControl software products and distributes SoftControl software products on the territory of the Russian Federation and CIS countries through a distribution network.

The SoftControl product line includes innovative solutions for information protection of ATMs, payment terminals, for the protection of corporate network endpoints and servers.

The company "Informzashita" has entered into a partnership agreement with the Russian developer of information security tools ARUDIT SECURITY (ARUDIT SECURITY). Now the integrator's customers will be able to use SoftControl solutions that provide multi-level protection measures against targeted hacker attacks, destructive effects of malware, including those not detected by antiviruses, and insider threats.

The latter cause particular concern - in the first half of 2022, the number of offers from abroad to employees of Russian companies to become insiders increased 4 times compared to the same period in 2021. In the summer, this trend began to decline, but experts predict its resumption in the fall.

ARUDIT SECURITY company is a developer of advanced software solutions in the field of information security, is the receiver of the SafenSoft project. ARUDIT SECURITY develops and provides technical support for SoftControl software products, distributes SoftControl software products through a network of authorized partners.

General Director of LLC "ARUDIT SECURITY", Svetozar Yakhontov:

"SoftControl family products provide multi-level protection measures against the destructive effects of malicious software, including those not detected by antivirus tools, targeted hacker attacks and insider actions. SoftControl functionality allows you to replace the solutions of foreign manufacturers common in Russia. We look forward to effective cooperation with our new partner."

The SoftControl product line has been developing since 2003 and includes innovative software solutions to protect against external and internal threats to the endpoints of the corporate network and servers, ATMs, payment terminals, automated process control systems, embedded computers of medical equipment. The implementation of multi-level protection measures based on precise methods allows you to ensure low consumption of system resources, the absence of false positives, compatibility with any application software.

The functionality of monitoring the start and activity of all processes in the system allows you to meet the requirements of Regulators on critical infrastructure:

on workstations and servers, ATMs and payment terminals, computerized cash registers, allowing you to meet the requirements of the international PCI DSS standard and the requirements of the Bank of Russia GOST R 57580.1-2017.

on terminals and controllers of automated process control systems, medical equipment running Microsoft Windows operating systems, allowing you to meet the requirements for the protection of CII (Federal Law No. 187-FZ of July 26, 2017 "On the security of the critical information infrastructure of the Russian Federation").

Currently, the manufacturer's solutions are used in banks, industrial enterprises, fuel and energy complex and transport facilities, in the software manufacturing industry, in education and science.

Svetozar Yakhontov, CEO of Arudit Security, told Cyber Media about the prospects of young information security specialists, the difference between real working conditions and the media image, current conditions and ways to combat professional burnout..

Cyber Media: In the context of increased cyber attacks on both CII facilities and commercial resources, how has the demand for information security services changed? Which ones, in your experience, are preferred?

Svetozar Yakhontov: It is possible to divide the demand into supply-generated demand and demand generated by practical information security, new regulatory requirements, incidents that have occurred.

In the first case, these are third-party SOC services. Despite the decade of existence of commercial SoCs, demand in the country is still formed more by supply.

In the second case, the demand for DDoS protection services based on practical needs has grown. Also, tender sites are full of announcements of procurement procedures for local technical support of solutions from foreign manufacturers as a substitute for previously available vendor technical support.

The rest either remained as it was, or was temporarily postponed until the solution of the priority tasks of migration to the IT and information security infrastructure available in the new realities.

Cyber Media: In the view of many people, an information security specialist is a white hacker who fights cybercriminals and constantly searches for vulnerabilities in his infrastructure, promptly eliminating them. How does this stereotype differ from reality?

Svetozar Yakhontov: As in other professions, the image formed by cinema is rather different from everyday reality.

Information security functions are regulated. The implementation and monitoring of the implementation of regulations are routine tasks. Naturally, special situations are superimposed on the daily routine: urgent corrections of the causes and consequences of false positive triggers of protective equipment (this is when colleagues from IT departments resort and complain that everything has stopped working due to blocking of protective equipment), testing and implementation of new protective equipment, and work with real incidents.

In a small organization with only one and a half information security specialists, the functions are completely blurred - the specialist deals with the development of internal organizational and administrative documentation, and the preparation of reports for industry regulators, and the administration of protective equipment, and interaction with related departments, and feeds fish, and waters flowers.

Such a wide range of tasks has its advantages: you can acquire a wide range of knowledge and practical skills in a relatively short time (1.5-3 years). And in conditions of low competition for the position of head, there are more chances to get the position of the latter with the rotation of personnel.

There are also disadvantages - you can become a specialist in one organization, when you switch to a new job in another organization, it turns out that knowledge and skills are limited only by the list of tools and questions available at such a first job.

In a large IT-dependent organization, which has significant industry requirements for information security, the nature of the work can be completely different.

In such organizations, it is possible to grow "up" - the importance of interaction with other departments will increase: IT, legal services, business.

And "horizontally" - to develop strong technical expertise, interaction more with manufacturers of information security tools and technologies.

In recent years, a career in information security has become more technocratic - specialists with strong technical expertise and sufficient communication skills have more chances for a managerial position than just pleasant sociable managers.

Cyber Media: And where is the romance with hackers?

Svetozar Yakhontov: Such romance can occur either in specialized organizations engaged in threat intelligence, or in large banks that have their own division with such tasks. Or in the relevant departments of law enforcement agencies.

Cyber Media: In large organizations, again, more often in banks from the TOP 20, there are departments that are engaged in identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities. What does it look like?

Svetozar Yakhontov: Option one: we bought a commercial vulnerability scanner, launched it on the network, received N-million responses (the bank is large, there are many devices and systems). After checking the scanner settings (something somehow found a lot of things), you will have to accept that the world is full of holes, and get to work:

 



classify the found vulnerabilities according to the degree of criticality;

eliminate false positives;

compare critical vulnerabilities with the threat model;

create a plan to eliminate vulnerabilities;

request available security updates from the system manufacturer;

make a test plan for such updates and compensatory measures;

achieve the allocation of resources to create a test zone (you can't install an untested update on a combat system without testing);

to ensure the allocation of resources for conducting vulnerability exploitation tests and other tests specific to the system.

Then, finally, output such an update to the combat network and make sure that the update was installed everywhere.

Option two: we ordered a commercial penetration test from "white hackers" from a specialized organization.

Having delayed the deadlines three times, the "white hackers" will give a report on the vulnerabilities found. Then - as in the first version. The peculiarity is that such "white hackers" will find, the system manufacturer may not consider it a vulnerability and refuse to provide a fix. After all, there is no such vulnerability in the CVE registries yet. Then a months-long correspondence begins with the expectation of a release.

And dealing with vulnerabilities becomes routine. A routine that requires the use of professional knowledge, a creative approach in working with participants in the process. If in the first year and a half you learn to perform routine tasks with the muscle memory of your fingers (there are no muscles in your fingers, it will be done "by itself" quickly), you will have time and energy for a creative approach to tasks.

There is a universal recipe for not getting stuck in an unpromising routine: work hard, work well, study constantly. And in 1.5 years you will become a specialist. After 3 years, he will become a strong specialist, solving problems that others rather cannot solve. In 6 years - to become, perhaps, the best in the industry. These are qualitatively different career and professional opportunities.

Cyber Media: What role does self-education play in the work of an information security specialist?

Svetozar Yakhontov: Self-education should become a natural habit. Information security is an expert area of expertise. Both technologies and knowledge in this area are constantly being supplemented.

To get a chance for a young specialist to get a job in a large IT-dependent company (a large bank, a telecom operator), today it is not enough to have a diploma of graduation in the specialty.

By the time you start your career, it is significant to already have one or two certificates of completion of training in applied courses of an information security equipment manufacturer in demand in the industry.

It is better to give priority to basic technologies (knowledge of industrial DBMS application techniques will also be useful in information security). Knowledge of at least one popular programming language, even interpreted scripting, will also be a plus. They will take in some project to "plug holes" in local automation, and this is already a practical task solved in a team with experienced colleagues.

When you have already gained a foothold in the workplace, you will have to study a lot outside of working hours. On the way to and from work, with printouts and textbooks in hand, driving should become the norm. What you didn't finish at the university - you'll have to catch up quickly.

And the best help in such self-education is to be surrounded by strong specialists. 80% of the answers to the question "how to approach the solution of a new unfamiliar task?" you can get it from them.

Cyber Media: Many experts note non-regulation as a lack of work in the field of information security. Attackers, as a rule, "time" their attacks to Friday evening or weekends, holidays. An illustrative example is the Log4j vulnerability, which deprived the security guards of "New Year's holidays". What, in such conditions, helps a specialist not to burn out?

Svetozar Yakhontov: The information security industry does not have its own specifics of the recipe "how not to burn out". There are universal principles. When you wake up, make your bed. With this, an orderly day begins, there is a sense of solvability of tasks, until the end of the day. Feeling the result is the best prevention of burnout.

Update and supplement the circle of communication periodically - also prevents the feeling of being blinded. It is important to feel life through new observations. Find an interesting outdoor hobby.

I do not impose, I share my observation - I joined mountain tourism with colleagues in the industry. Even after a week of adventures outside of civilization and communication, thoughts calm down, anxiety that someone will call or write about "everything has fallen again!" disappears.

Cyber Media: Now all spheres of life are somehow affected by the geopolitical crisis. In your opinion, what should profile specialists prepare for now?

Svetozar Yakhontov: There is an opinion that it is necessary to update knowledge about *nix operating systems. So knowledge should always be updated. Perhaps, in these circumstances, new career chances appear for young professionals if they have completed courses on *nix and practice solving professional tasks on them.

But it is not worth hoping only for this. It is necessary to look at the changes not only globally, but also under the microscope, in a substantive way. It turns out that a confident knowledge of basic technologies is applicable in solving any problems.

A problem is a task for which there is not enough resource to solve. Information, money, people, time, will. Learn. Save money for courses and new hobbies. Work in an organization that generously allocates money for information security.

Update and supplement your social circle, appreciate colleagues, help each other. Do not waste time on minor matters, you will not do everything, do what is important. Got up - make the bed, this is the first thing that happens every day, the rest will catch up.

Read the full text on the portal - Cyber Media

We are glad to inform you that on November 18, 2021. The Federal Service for Intellectual Property has registered the transfer of the exclusive right to the SoftControl computer program to the company ARUDIT SECURITY, LLC. The corresponding Notification No. RD0380479 dated 18.11.2021 was posted on the official portal of Rospatent.

ARUDIT SECURITY, LLC company is the legal successor of the SafenSoft project, develops and provides technical support for SoftControl software products, distributes SoftControl software products in Russia and CIS countries through a network of authorised Partners.

The company ARUDIT SECURITY, LLC fulfills its obligations to service licenses for SoftControl software products under previously concluded agreements with the previous copyright holder - the company Protection Technology, LLC.



Svetozar Yakhontov, CEO of ARUDIT SECURITY, LLC:

«Being an object of venture investments, the SafenSoft project has confirmed the validity of market hypotheses, the maturity of the technical implementation of products and service model. The breakthrough projects implemented by the project team over the past few years have shown the validity of the chosen development strategy. The accumulated experience and new technologies, proven in real conditions of protecting our Customers' critical infrastructure, will be developed in new upcoming product versions».

Software products of the SoftControl line include innovative solutions for the protection of workstations and servers, ATMs and payment terminals, automated process control systems and embedded computers of medical equipment. Unique proactive protection technologies based on precise methods make it possible to effectively protect the critical infrastructure of the enterprise with zero probability of false positives and impact on the software environment of the protected systems.

Protection Technologies, LLC, the owner of the rights to software products for protecting end devices from targeted attacks known under the brand SoftControl, announces that on August 31, 2021, it concluded a general partnership agreement with the Russian company ARUDIT SECURITY, LLC. Under this agreement, the latter has all rights to distribute SoftControl software products throughout the world.

Software products of the SoftControl line are supplemented with a new SysCmd module for secure maintenance of application and system-wide software on protected devices.

Now users of SoftControl products will be able to perform application software maintenance operations remotely and without the risk of reducing the effectiveness of information security measures.

The new module is supported on devices running Windows XP x86 SP2 and later, including the latest releases of Windows 10. The possibility of operating the module on devices with weak communication channels with observed packet loss has been implemented.

The functionality of the SysCmd module was designed with the participation of experts from Customers, and has been comprehensively tested in real-world operation.

SafenSoft and Tinkoff Bank received the award at the tenth annual award ceremony of innovations and achievements in the financial industry FINAWARD 2019 in the nomination " Information security integration or anti-fraud service" for the project "ATM security management System".

The award ceremony was held on August 27 at the Golden Palace in Moscow.

About FINAWARD:

The annual Award for innovative achievements in the financial industry since 2013 has been celebrating the brightest product and IT integration in the financial sector. The business magazine "Banking Review", as the awards founder, collects the most significant banking and financial products, services, their integrations ways and creators.

About the project:

Tinkoff Bank has implemented the ATM and payment terminals software secure maintenance mode using SoftControl TPSecure products. The solution provides control over making changes to the hardware and software configuration of devices. Whitelisting technologies for processes and applications allow to use only trusted software on the devices to be protected. Dynamic integrity monitoring and process activity monitoring allow to perform only clients operations' trusted scenarios on the device.



Unique selling proposition:

The first project in Russia and in the world to bring the network of self-service banking devices running in the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system into compliance with the requirements of the international standard for processing payment card data PCI DSS;

Strong implemented protection measures do not complicate the introduction of payment application updates on the devices' network, which allows to quickly launch new banking products with a strong push-out offer model and provide the Bank with technological leadership in the financial services market;

Together with Tinkoff Bank experts a new unique functionality of the proactive information security solution SoftControl was created. the new ATM hard disk encryption module takes into account the peculiarities devices operation of banking self-service - the disk decryption key is linked to the hardware characteristics of peripheral devices without using the TPM module of the ATM motherboard. This allows to implement measures for trusted loading of a device operating in self-service mode without affecting the operation of special electronics;

The security measures implemented on the device network have been repeatedly tested by penetration tests by leading companies in the field of security analysis of critical IT infrastructure.

SafenSoft chief business development officer, Svetozar Yakhontov:

«This year the nominees were very strong professional teams. It was an honor to find ourselves in such people's company. And it was double pleasure that our colleagues had the opportunity to be happy for our success».

Alexey Baklanov, Tinkoff Department of Payment Risks and Claims Work Head:

«We are glad that the jury of the respected award highly appreciated our joint solution with SafenSoft to improve the operations in ATMs security. SafenSoft - our reliable partner, with whom we introduce the most advanced technologies in our innovative ATMs, which makes them one of the safest on the market. We plan to continue and expand cooperation for the benefit of our customers in order to protect their funds from any threats as effectively as possible».

About SafenSoft:

SafenSoft is a company-developer of information security software. Currently, more than 20 software products are combined under the company's brands to protect the IT infrastructure from targeted attacks, protect information from illegal copying and distribution, as well as code obfuscation and data encryption tools. The company has a distribution network in 89 countries around the world. The company's popular product, SoftControl TPSecure, is installed on more than 180 thousand ATMs and payment terminals in Russia and 24 countries around the world.

Tinkoff - an online financial ecosystem built around the needs of the client. The Tinkoff ecosystem provides a full range of financial services for individuals and businesses. Tinkoff pays special attention to the development of lifestyle banking: the ecosystem gives customers the opportunity to analyze and plan personal spending, invest savings, receive bonuses under loyalty programs, book trips, buy movie tickets, book tables in restaurants and much more. All Tinkoff services are available through mobile applications and the website Tinkoff.ru.

The core of the ecosystem is Tinkoff Bank, founded in 2006 — the largest independent online bank in the world, serving more than 10 million customers. The bank was recognized as the best in ensuring information security and countering fraud in Central and Eastern Europe by the Global Finance magazine in 2019. The company's payment terminals and ATMs comply with the requirements of the international PCI DSS standard.

The SoftControl system provides a range of products designed to ensure integrity of the software environment for network endpoints and to protect data from non-authorized access by personnel and hackers.


Features of the new version of SoftControl include:

Support of the new antivirus scanner used by virustotal.com

Enhanced API possibilities for integration of centralized management by means of protection using event monitoring systems and by means of software administration on a device network

Enhanced audit mode, which allows 1) using simple methods for precise determination of the technology used for processing of protected information and 2) implementing multi-level protection measures which account for specifics of software operation on a device network

Continued support of Windows XP x86 SP2, which is still used on special devices (ATMs, payment terminals, ñomputer-aided process control systems, medical equipment)

Also, some minor modifications have been introduced in the new SoftControl range; we have extended the list of DeCrypt events and their details, and implemented a new mechanism for restoration of the client module.

About SafeNSec Corporation

SafeNSec Corporation is a leader in developing software products for banks and financial organizations in the field of information security. The company was founded in Moscow in 1999. Now it works under the StarForce and SoftControl brands. By now, the company has released more than 20 software products which are intended to protect IT infrastructure against targeted attacks, to protect information against illegal copying and distribution, as well as to obfuscate and to encrypt code.

The distribution network has over 300 partners in 89 countries. Over 70 000 000 licenses have been sold worldwide.

The ATM and payment terminal cyber security project for Tinkoff Bank, which uses SoftControl TPSecure products, has been selected for the "Information security innovation or anti-fraud service" nomination.

FINAWARD is an annual award given since 2013 for innovative achievements in the financial industry. The award commemorates the most noticeable products and IT innovations in the financial sphere. The business magazine Bankovskoye Obozreniye, the award establisher, selects the most important banking and financial products, services, methods of their implementation, and people who created them.

"Very strong projects and participants have been nominated for the award. For example, the National System of Payment Cards (NSPK) and the Research Institure for Molecular Electronics (NIIME) created the first chip in Russia that facilitates contact and contactless payments. Previously, only two enterprises in the world had been making that product: in France and in South Korea. While a project by the Russian Agricultural Bank and SafeTech implemented the first mobile electronic signature in Russia. It allows to make payments with your smartphone that are not just convenient, but also safe. We are very happy to be nominated along these incredible teams. It is especially satisfying to know that these projects have been implemented using Russia's most advanced technology solutions," Svetozar Yakhontov, the Head of Business Development at SafenSoft, says.

 

Information about the project that uses SoftControl TPSecure solutions:

Tinkoff Bank has introduced the secure mode of software maintenance for ATMs and payment terminals, using products of the SoftControl TPSecure range. The solution provides control over changes made to the hardware and software configuration of devices. Whitelisting processes and applications allows using only trusted software on protected devices. Dynamic integrity control and control over process and application activity allows running only trusted scripts of client operations.

 

Why this project is unique:

This is the first project in Russia and in the world that makes a network of self-service banking terminals running on Microsoft Windows 10 comply with PCI DSS requirements.

Companies leading in the sphere of critical IT infrastructure security analysis have run multiple penetration tests on the implemented defense measures.

At the same time, these measures do not encumber updating payment applications on the terminals network. This allows timely release of new banking products by means of the push strategy for supply and provides the bank with technology leadership on the financial services market.

In collaboration with experts from Tinkoff Bank, we created new unique functions for the SoftControl protection solution. Thus we created the new module for ATM hard disk encryption, which accounts for operation specifics in self-service banking terminals: the disk decryption key is bound to hardware characteristics of peripheral devices and does not use the ATM motherboard's TPM. It facilitates trusted computing for a device in self-service mode without affecting operation of special electronics.