Page 20 - Check Point 2013 Security Report

03 _ APPLICATIONS IN THE ENTERPRISE WORKSPACE
021
P2P Applications Open a Backdoor
to your Network
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications are used to share files
between users. P2P is increasingly favored by attackers
to spread malware among shared files. P2P applications
essentially open a backdoor to networks. They allow users
to share folders that could leak sensitive data, they also
could make organizations liable for users acquiring media
illegally through P2P networks. We see a very high rate of
P2P applications usage, more than half of the organizations
(61%) were found to be using P2P applications. The most
prominent P2P file sharing tools used are BitTorrent clients.
From a regional perspective, the following chart shows
that in Asia Pacific, P2P file sharing applications are more
popular than in other regions.
OF ORGANIZATIONS, A P2P FILE
SHARING APPLICATION IS USED
61 %
IN
Top P2P File Sharing Applications
(% of Organizations)
More info on top P2P applications is available in Appendix B.
20 % eMule
19 % SoulSeek
7 % Windows Live Mesh
6 % BoxCloud
10 % Sopcast
11 % Gnutella
40
%
BitTorrent
7 % iMesh
Chart 3-A
Usage of P2P File Sharing
Applications Per Region
(% of Organizations) 72
%
APAC
62
%
Americas
55
%
EMEA
Chart 3-B
Source: Check Point Software Technologies
Source: Check Point Software Technologies
Anonymizer Applications Bypass
Organization Security Policy
An Anonymizer (or an anonymous proxy) is a tool that
attempts to make the user’s activity on the Internet
untraceable. The Anonymizer application utilizes a proxy
server that acts as a privacymask between a client computer
and the rest of the Internet. It accesses the Internet on the
user‘s behalf, hiding personal information by concealing
the client computer‘s identifying information and the
destination the user is trying to reach. Anonymizer
applications can be used to bypass security policies
which are essentially built around users’ identities and