Types of threats prevented
Datto SaaS Defense is designed specifically to protect the Microsoft 365 suite of applications (see the Article: What is Datto SaaS Defense?). Understanding the types of threats it protects against enables you to identify and monitor attack trends. This article describes the specific types of attacks Datto SaaS Defense prevents:
- Malware: This threat occurs when the attacker sends an email containing malicious links or files that when accessed can infect an environment. SaaS Defense flags the malicious content allowing you to investigate the attack and understand its key components (artifacts).
- Phishing: In this situation, the attacker impersonates a legitimate entity by sending a fraudulent email that may include links to a fake website, hoping the user enters his/her credentials. SaaS Defense analyzes the body of the email, the URL of the website, and the website the user would have landed on and determines whether it is a legitimate website.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): In this attack, the perpetrator sends an email whose contents impersonate a legitimate corporate email account in an attempt to gain information or money from the recipient. Typically these emails don’t contain malicious content in the form of links or files. To prevent this attack, Datto SaaS Defense verifies the sender is authentic, analyzes the content of the email, and builds a sender profile to ensure the sender is legitimate.
Datto SaaS Defense classifies a BEC attack based on specific contents in the malicious email.- BEC phishing: A BEC attack where the email contents include a link to a fake website.
- BEC CEO fraud: A BEC attack where the email contents impersonate the CEO of the company for which the recipient is employed.
- BEC scam: A BEC attack that does not include phishing or CEO fraud elements. Examples include receiving a bogus invoice, a request for wire transfer or company information.
- Spam: This is an email usually sent to many recipients for commercial advertising purposes.
