Question

A creative services firm has a limited security budget and staff. Due to its business model, the company sends and receives a high volume of files every day through the preferred method defined by its customers. These include email, secure file transfers, and various cloud service providers.

Which of the following would BEST reduce the risk of malware infection while meeting the company's resource requirements and maintaining its current workflow?

A. Configure a network-based intrusion prevention system
B. Contract a cloud-based sandbox security service
C. Enable customers to send and receive files via SFTP
D. Implement appropriate DLP systems with strict policies

Answer 1

Contracting a cloud-based sandbox security service is the best option for the creative services firm to mitigate the risk of malware while adhering to budget and staff limitations and maintaining their workflow.

Step-by-step explanation:

To reduce the risk of malware infection while adhering to the creative services firm's constraints of a limited security budget and staff, and maintaining the current workflow of handling a high volume of file transfers, the best option would be to contract a cloud-based sandbox security service. This service would allow the company to safely open and inspect incoming files in a virtual environment, thus mitigating the risk of malware entering the network through transfers. This option is also resource-efficient, because it does not require significant in-house security expertise and can be scaled according to the company's needs.

Although a network-based intrusion prevention system (IPS) might help with real-time traffic analysis and response, it could be more resource-intensive to manage properly. Using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) may be secure but might not suit customers' preferred methods and could disrupt the current workflow. Implementing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) systems would provide data security, but would not be as effective against malware and would likely require more complex policy management and oversight.