Smartphones, smartwatches, smart fridge, smart tv, but what about smart security? Organizations realize that IoT (internet of things) security is rapidly becoming the new frontier for their security ecosystem.
In today’s ever accelerating digital climate, cybersecurity risks grow in number and complexity by the day. Hackers outpace US firms’ cyberdefense efforts, necessitating constant vigilance. And attacks aren’t just launched by rag tag criminals; US intelligence agencies are working around the clock to identify and protect against organized attacks launched by foreign nationals. They’re also advising that every company create and maintain a vulnerability management policy.
For companies looking to shore up their cybersecurity, vulnerability management tools and practices are some of the most important areas to look into. Some of the more architectural pieces of your framework, like firewalls and network security, might seem like higher priorities. But vulnerability management is less an individual tool than a pervading process that makes all other cyberdefenses operate more effectively. It’s arguably the most important piece of all.
Security breaches continue to increase every year. In 2005 alone, roughly 157 data breaches were reported in the United States, with 66.9 million records exposed. That number more than quadrupled in 2014, with 783 reported data breaches and at least 85.61 million total records exposed.
A vital advantage for security professionals is the ability to come up with robust vulnerability assessment reports. A clear and concise vulnerability assessment report aids an organization’s network security team in fixing and alleviating vulnerabilities, the risks they pose, and the possible occurrence of cyberattacks.
In this article, we will explore how to create a strong vulnerability assessment report and understand the aims of its creation. We will also provide you samples of best practices in making these reports to help your organization prepare for future threats and attacks.
The vulnerability assessment report is a part and most crucial step of vulnerability assessment. The findings of this assessment are all included in the vulnerability assessment report. When creating a report, it is necessary to understand the vulnerability assessment process. First, we need to explore the things that comprise vulnerability assessment and define its components to get real value from the vulnerability assessment report.
Vulnerability management is a crucial part of any e-commerce business. Whether you are a technical engineer, IT manager or CIO, you should be aware that basic vulnerability scans alone are not enough to secure your business. Decreasing cyberattacks and threats require a strategic, robust and holistic method of vulnerability management.
E-commerce businesses face unprecedented amount of cyberattacks and this happens more frequently. According to a Big Brother Watch study, 19.5 million attacks happen in the UK each year. That’s 37 cyberattacks within a minute. Because of this, every individual in an e-commerce business should put in mind that vulnerability management best practices are necessary to secure its networks and information.
In September 2017, Equifax, a consumer credit reporting agency, has suffered a major data breach that exposed the personal data of 148 million American consumers. This data breach is related to the “critical vulnerability” in the Apache Struts software that was publicly disclosed in March 2017. According to a report by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform released in December of 2018, “Equifax used Apache Struts to run certain applications on legacy operating systems. The following day, the Department of Homeland Security alerted Equifax to this critical vulnerability.”
On March 9, the Global Threat and Vulnerability Management team of Equifax sent this alert via email to more than 400 individuals. They told anyone who had Apache Struts to apply the necessary patch within 48 hours.
Equifax, however, didn’t apply the necessary patch. This led to the exposure of their system and data for 76 days. The report implies the need for any business to reinforce, emphasize and enhance the vulnerability scanning and patch management processes and procedures.
Vulnerability scanning and patch management are two terms that are seemingly identical, but that is not the case. While they have a compatible relationship, they are not the same. It is important for a business to learn the difference between these terms or else it could suffer from a cybersecurity attack similar to that of Equifax.
Let’s define these two terms and see the difference.
When conducting experiments, scientists will carefully set up control measures to provide parameters for results. These controls help define the outcome by marking what ways the experiment did or did not meet expectations.
Likewise, as you decide to gauge the effectiveness of your security, you will set up parameters that will help drive results. A penetration scan or a vulnerability assessment can help you evaluate the performance of your system.
This guide below will lay out in detail the difference between the pros and cons of penetration tests and vulnerability assessments, their differences, and why you might choose one or the other.
The legal marijuana industry is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years. This is spurred not only by the legalization of recreational marijuana in many states in the US as well as in countries like Canada, but also the growing adoption of cannabis as a pharmaceutical product.
According to the State of the Legal Cannabis Markets report from BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research, legal pot sales will hit $40.6 billion in 2024. This represents a 24.5 percent growth over the period 2018 to 2024.
The burgeoning cannabis retail industry is, therefore, a prime target for cybercriminals who look to steal valuable and sensitive information ranging from credit card information, trade secrets, and personally identifiable information (PII).
Aside from the consumer information they store and manage, online cannabis retailers are being targeted because many of them have yet to incorporate cybersecurity practices. Small to medium-sized online marijuana retailers are also highly vulnerable to cyberattacks because they normally don’t have the resources to hire an IT staff who can implement security measures to mitigate cybersecurity risks.
When it comes to cybersecurity risk, it’s easy to overlook one of the primary targets that hackers are starting to go after: your own employees. More specifically, cyber criminals are now going after what’s known as companies’ “Shadow IT” ecosystem, hacking into software and apps employees use without the approval and/or knowledge of your IT department.
According to Gartner, by 2020 approximately one-third of successful enterprise cyber-attacks will be on data and systems located in shadow IT resources. And that’s not to mention the regulatory compliance risks that organizations run by having sensitive data potentially being handled, transferred, and passed around on apps that may or may not have the proper security measures.