HP Wolf Security – Protection for the hybrid workplace in the era of blurred lines

The post-covid, work from home era poses new challenges for IT security. Changed working practices are opening up new vulnerabilities, made worse by fragmented technology ecosystems and overstretched IT teams. In the home, lines are blurring between business and personal endpoint devices. A recent report for HP Wolf Security, titled Blurred Lines and Blindspots, found that 63% of UK office workers working from home during the pandemic had used business devices for personal use, or vice versa. 12% had let someone else within their household use their work device.

In response, cybercriminals are growing ever more relentless, hunting down opportunities to exploit these new weaknesses to attack employees, the enterprise and its data. 54% of ITDMs from around the globe who responded to the HP Wolf Security survey had seen evidence that phishing attacks were on the rise, while 85% feared that employee behaviour was increasing their organisation’s risk of a security breach. 45% had seen evidence of compromised printers being used as an attack point in the past year.

Organisations can’t shy away from these challenges. They need to meet them head on through a security approach that transforms potential weaknesses into points of strength. They must combine the power of AI with the latest, hardware-based security technology and a zero-trust model that takes nothing for granted.

This is the approach HP outlined at a recent Security Masterclass event. ‘A more digital world doesn’t have to mean a more vulnerable world’ said Dave Prezzano, Managing Director, HP UK and Ireland. ‘It does mean that we must be constantly flexible, proactive and reactive to ensure resilience in continually evolving digital environments.’ For HP, the key to doing so lies in HP Wolf Security; a new breed of endpoint security[I] rooted in zero trust principles and designed to aid organisations in protecting themselves, their customers and their employees from attack.

HP Wolf Security works through defence in depth, covering endpoints with layers of protection that, together, both guard against attacks and minimise their impact. Starting at the hardware level and extending across software and services. HP Wolf Security helps organisations to defend themselves against both known and unknown threats – combining hardware-enforced software and security features with industry-leading endpoint security services[ii]. HP Sure Click Pro and HP Sure Click Enterprise[iii], key parts of the HP Wolf Pro Security and Wolf Enterprise Security[iv] platforms, open files, applications and webpages inside micro Virtual Machine containers, so that any malware that attempts to execute can only affect and access what’s in the container, not the operating system, applications or data beyond. Email is neutralised as an attack vector, while it becomes more difficult to steal credentials through phishing attacks.

HP Sure Sense and Sure Sense Pro[v] provide another layer of protection, leveraging cloud-based, deep learning technologies to guard endpoints against evolving threats, even extending to the zero-day exploits which conventional anti-virus solutions can’t detect. And where internal IT teams find themselves stretched, HP’s Wolf Pro Security service can step in to help, providing endpoint security and specialist expertise to monitor and manage the whole fleet.

Yet HP Wolf Security goes further, securing endpoint devices at and below the operating system level. With HP Sure Start[vi], the BIOS recovers automatically from firmware attacks, restarting from a known safe copy and self-healing, while HP’s in-memory breach detection capabilities spot signs of intrusion and provide automatic remediation. HP Sure Run[vii] keeps vital security processes up and running even if malware attempts to shut them down, while HP Sure Recover[viii] allows a compromised PC to restore its OS automatically over a network connection, with no IT support required.

And when IT needs control, HP Wolf Security technology delivers it through technologies like HP SureAdmin[ix], which creates a digital signature that allows IT admins to securely manage BIOS configurations over the network. Meanwhile, the HP Endpoint Security Controller puts an embedded security processor into corporate laptops, where it operates as an isolated control centre through which IT can monitor vulnerabilities and quickly recover a compromised PC.

Beyond this, HP understands that PCs are not the only attack surface. Printers, whether in the home or accessible across a network, can also be repurposed by cybercriminals as a beachhead for further assaults on local or office-based systems. That’s why HP developed not only the world’s most secure PCs[x], but the world’s most secure printers[xi]. Here, HP Wolf Security delivers continuous hardware-based protection and firmware updates, while also ensuring the privacy of documents during scanning, printing and sending, with dynamic passwords to safeguard against unauthorised access.

We’re in an era of change, where employees and organisations across different industries are still adjusting to different styles of working, and attackers are ready to exploit any weakness. Yet with the right approach and HP Wolf Security technology and services, organisations of every size have the means to fight back. Where lines get blurred, HP Wolf Security puts endpoint security back in focus – and IT back in control. ‘Endpoint security is more vital than ever before as the first line of defence’ says Dave Prezzano ‘and HP Wolf Security unifies all of HP’s endpoint security into one formidable force.’

To find out more about the new security landscape and how HP Wolf Security can help you navigate it, watch the HP Masterclass on-demand at HP Security Masterclass.

[i]HP Security is now HP Wolf Security. Security features vary by platform, please see product data sheet for details.[ii]HP Services are sold separately and are governed by the applicable HP terms and conditions of service provided or indicated to Customer at the time of purchase. Customer may have additional statutory rights according to applicable local laws, and such rights are not in any way affected by the HP terms and conditions of service or the HP Limited Warranty provided with your HP Product.[iii]HP Sure Click Enterprise is sold separately and requires Windows 8 or 10 and Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Chromium or Firefox are supported. Supported attachments include Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and PDF files, when Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat are installed.[iv]HP Wolf Enterprise Security is an optional service and may include offerings such as HP Sure Click Enterprise and HP Sure Access Enterprise. HP Sure Click Enterprise requires Windows 8 or 10 and Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Chromium or Firefox are supported. Supported attachments include Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and PDF files, when Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat are installed. HP Sure Access Enterprise requires Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. HP services are governed by the applicable HP terms and conditions of service provided or indicated to Customer at the time of purchase. Customer may have additional statutory rights according to applicable local laws, and such rights are not in any way affected by the HP terms and conditions of service or the HP Limited Warranty provided with your HP Product. For full system requirements, please visit www.hpdaas.com/requirements. [v]HP Sure Sense is available on select HP PCs and is not available with Windows10 Home. HP Wolf Pro Security Edition (including HP Sure Click Pro and HP Sure Sense Pro) is available preloaded on select SKUs and, depending on the HP product purchased, includes a paid  1-year or 3-year license. The HP Wolf Pro Security Edition software is licensed under the license terms of the HP Wolf Security Software - End-User license Agreement (EULA) that can be found at: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_3875769-3873014-16 as that EULA is modified by the following: “7. Term. Unless otherwise terminated earlier pursuant to the terms contained in this EULA, the license for the HP Wolf Pro Security Edition (HP Sure Sense Pro and HP Sure Click Pro) is effective upon activation and will continue for either a twelve (12) month or thirty-six (36) month license term (“Initial Term”). At the end of the Initial Term you may either (a) purchase a renewal license for the HP Wolf Pro Security Edition from HP.com, HP Sales or an HP Channel Partner, or (b) continue using the standard versions of HP Sure Click and HP Sure Sense at no additional cost with no future software updates or HP Support. [vi]HP Sure Start is available on select HP PCs. [vii]HP Sure Run is available on select HP PCs. [viii]HP Sure Recover is available on select HP PCs and requires an open network connection. You must back up important files, data, photos, videos, etc. before using HP Sure Recover to avoid loss of data.[ix]HP Sure Admin is available on select HP PCs and requires HP Manageability Integration Kit from http://www.hp.com/go/clientmanagement and HP Sure Admin Local Access Authenticator smartphone app from the Android or Apple store.[x]Based on HP’s unique and comprehensive security capabilities at no additional cost among vendors on HP Elite PCs and HP Workstations with Windows and 8th Gen and higher Intel® processors or AMD Ryzen™ 4000 processors and higher; HP ProDesk 600 G6 with Intel® 10th Gen and higher processors; and HP ProBook 600 with AMD Ryzen™ 4000 or Intel® 11th Gen processors and higher.[xi]HP’s most advanced embedded security features are available on HP Enterprise and HP Managed devices with HP FutureSmart firmware 4.5 or above. Claim based on HP review of 2021 published features of competitive in-class printers. Only HP offers a combination of security features to automatically detect, stop, and recover from attacks with a self-healing reboot, in alignment with NIST SP 800-193 guidelines for device cyber resiliency.