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Most people who have been around a server or two know SonicWall – they have been leaders in technology for decades.

This week on Federal Tech Talk, host John Gilroy spoke with Bill Conner, CEO of SonicWall, and a former White House cybersecurity adviser. During the interview, Conner talked about enterprise cybersecurity and brought up two topics that may be a surprise to listeners: Security of the Adobe’s “bulletproof” PDF file and multi-layer attacks that could include Microsoft.

It is shocking to think that there are 1 billion malware attacks in the typical week. These attacks are automated and take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning like anyone else. In a never-ending search for vulnerabilities, the venerated PDF file has finally been breached. Adobe’s PDF has been a trusted method since 1993. Now, one must be able to screen PDFs for malicious code.

Microsoft has also been the victim of advanced malware attacks. Microsoft Defender is reported to have been attacked in a peculiarly pernicious manner. All the attacker does is disable protection.

When you are looking at protecting federal assets you will have to understand that tradition “safe” technologies may not be safe anymore. During the discussion, Conner talked about attacks on non-standard ports, encrypted communication, advanced threat protection.

Yes, it is a brave new world when the technology that has been proven for decades has been compromised.

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