What is Whitelisting?

Whitelisting is a cybersecurity method that restricts system or network access to pre-approved or trusted users, entities, or actions.

IT security teams use this technique to identify trustworthy agents, applications, and sources pre-approved for access to a specific system rather than attempting to stay one step ahead of malicious entities in identifying and blocking harmful codes.

In a more straightforward explanation, whitelisting allows trustworthy entities, such as software applications, email addresses, or IP addresses, to have unique access and privileges that other entities do not have by default.

Whitelisting Pros

Whitelisting is a denial-by-default security method that, when properly applied, can prevent various cybersecurity issues. It also prevents unauthorised access and can significantly minimise the risk of data breaches and malware infections. Hence, it can give IT security providers control over what can operate or access company systems.

Whitelisting can also be set up to give security admins precise access control. This approach simplifies security by allowing admins to monitor approved entities. Therefore, the feature can reduce the number of false positives that can occur with traditional blacklist approaches.

Whitelisting Cons

Whitelisting is a relatively strict lockdown strategy that can be complex and frustrating for end users. It also requires careful setup and continuing administration. However, it is still not an impenetrable defence mechanism against threat actors.

Whitelisting Disadvantages:

1. Depending on the implementation, maintaining whitelists can be resource-intensive. The approach requires administrators to provide accurate, updated access lists even as those entities’ underlying factors change frequently.
2. When an entity is mistakenly left off a whitelist, access to a critical system is denied.

Furthermore, Whitelisting can be annoying for users when it is used to restrict specific actions, such as what software can be downloaded, that prevent them from doing work quickly and autonomously without going through IT approvals.

Types of Whitelisting

Whitelisting is used in various situations, each has its own distinctions of implementation, including the following:

1. Application whitelisting: This security strategy tries to keep malicious code from operating on systems and networks by only allowing approved software apps to execute on them.
2. Email whitelisting: This type is developed to lessen the risk of phishing attempts. The domains from which email will be accepted are limited to those that have been pre-approved and trusted by an organisation.
3. IP address whitelisting: This technique restricts access to a system exclusively to permitted IP addresses. Traffic that is not whitelisted is automatically denied.
4. URL whitelisting: Some organisations utilise URL whitelisting, which restricts web access to pre-approved sites, to decrease web-based attacks or impose company standards.
5. Device whitelisting: This strategy limits which devices are allowed on a company network. It can lower the risk of untrusted persons or entities accessing company systems and data.

Whitelisting Implementation

Application whitelisting effectively protects systems against two types of security threats. One of these threats is malware, the most common payload that could damage a system.

However, whitelisting can also be employed to prevent eavesdropping. End users or departments may attempt to install insecure or improperly licensed apps on their computers. If the apps are classified as whitelisted, the attempts are denied, and the admins are notified.

There are two techniques for building an application whitelist. One option is to utilise a standard list of programs appropriate for the environment provided by a whitelist software vendor. The other option is to scan a system that a company is confident is free of malware and other unwanted apps and use it as a template for different workstations. However, the second option is suitable for kiosks or other public-facing devices that run a small number of programs and do not require extensive customisation.

Whitelisting is essentially about knowing which attributes to utilise and how much weight to give each one. For example, suppose a company’s whitelisting software enables any application with a particular file name or folder to run. In that case, all hackers should do is circumvent that protection and deploy malware with that file name in the approved location.

Specifying a precise file size or requiring a check against a cryptographic hash makes it more difficult to mislead the whitelisting program. Still, this information must be maintained in the whitelist every time the application file changes, such as when it is updated. Lastly, accepting patching because it may conflict with whitelisting software might also lead to security flaws.

How can iZOOlogic help my Company or Organisation?

Find out how iZOOlogic can provide Whitelisting services through our Digital Asset Management solution.

To find out more about how iZOOlogic can help protect your company’s cyber security, schedule a demo.