Tag Archive for: Prioritize

How to Prioritize and Apply Patches

/in


Every IT environment and cybersecurity strategy has vulnerabilities. To avoid damage or loss, organizations need to find and eliminate those vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.

Some of those vulnerabilities will be found and fixed by vendors, who will provide patches and updates for their products.

Other vulnerabilities cannot be patched and will require coordination between IT, cybersecurity, and app developers to protect those exposed vulnerabilities with additional resources that mitigate, or reduce, the risk of exploitation.

Regular and efficient execution of the following vulnerability and patch management stages can provide strong protection for organizations of all sizes:

Don’t want to handle it yourself? See also:

How to Find Vulnerabilities

Some vulnerabilities will be announced and other vulnerabilities need to be found through testing. However, every IT and cybersecurity team should designate specific people and processes to focus on detecting and managing vulnerabilities.

The first priority will be to collect the advertised vulnerabilities. Vendors will announce exploits and usually produce patches or mitigations for the vulnerability simultaneously.

Vulnerability detection teams need to monitor news feeds and vendor websites to act promptly because attackers move quickly. Mandiant’s research determined that: 

  • 42% of exploits occurred after a patch was issued
  • 12% of exploits occurred within the week after the patch availability date
  • 15% of exploits occurred within the month, but after the first week the patch was available

Of course, these will not be the only vulnerabilities that exist in the IT environment. Outdated or unpatched software is just one of the top seven types of vulnerabilities noted by Crowdstrike; the others are:

Source…

Consumers Prioritize Protection Over Convenience in McAfee 2022 Trends Survey | News

/in


SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan 14, 2022–

McAfee’s 2022 Global Trends Study, released today, reveals U.S. consumers’ greater perceived risk of exposure to online threats for individuals and family members, and a corresponding desire to invest in online protection. These findings come as more consumers shift their daily lives online, with greater use of internet banking, more investment in virtual assets, and a proliferation of online activities due to COVID-19.

“Almost every aspect of our lives now intersects the digital world. This requires greater levels of information to be shared with an increasing number of applications and organizations through the Internet. Safeguarding this information requires a combination of strong security architecture of applications along with good user hygiene, such as strong passwords and multi factor authentication,” said McAfee’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Steve Grobman. “The potential loss of sensitive personal information is a major concern for our customers and their families. Our mission is to educate people and provide tools to deliver privacy and protection to enable customers to safely maximize the benefits of our digital world.”

A reoccurring theme throughout the survey was a shift to being fully protected over other benefits such as convenience and cost. This emphasis on strong protection is particularly acute in healthcare, for which 69% of respondents opted to keep their information private and secure, over utilization of new capabilities like AI.

In-depth findings for the top seven trends are available in the country specific factsheets.

Country Fact Sheets

2021 presented unique risks, further increased digital adoption, and shifts around traditional activities online. It is imperative that consumers around the globe take action to keep themselves and their families safe, secure, and protected to best enjoy life online in 2022. For more information on how to stay safe online, visit our blog.

Survey Methodology

McAfee, LLC commissioned MSI-ACI to conduct an online survey about possible shifts in needs, attitudes and actions around online safety. The study spanned…

Source…

Microsoft’s Failure to Prioritize Security Puts Everyone at Risk

/in


It has been a very busy year when it comes to Microsoft zero-day attacks. According to KrebsOnSecurity, May is the only month in 2021 that Microsoft didn’t release a patch to defend against at least one zero-day exploit. And Microsoft vulnerabilities are playing a bigger role in the spate of ransomware infections organizations are grappling with than most probably are aware of (more on that below).

Artboard 1-2The issue is not the mere presence of vulnerabilities in Microsoft code – that’s something that unfortunately is almost unavoidable when you’re dealing with billions of lines of code, and most developer shops make a serious effort to weed them out before the code goes into production. 

Until we find a way to reliably automate vulnerability remediation at scale, there are going to be exploitable bugs now and again.

The issue here is Microsoft’s lackluster track record in assuring fewer vulnerabilities make it to market so their customers can be more secure – and it’s security that is the real rub here. 

Over the last few years, Microsoft has been making huge investments in security, but those investments are not focused on making their products more secure, they are directed at developing new product offerings in the security space.

To be clear here, Microsoft as an organization has made a conscious decision to forgo improving their product security in favor of going after new revenue streams as a security vendor. 

So essentially, Microsoft – arguably the most prolific and ubiquitous IT products and services providers on the planet, and thus the biggest target for attackers – is looking to cash-in by offering to protect everyone from the vulnerabilities they introduce into the market. 

Enlarge the infographic here… 

This is akin to a fast food chain deciding not to make their food healthier but instead choosing to invest in fitness centers, or Big Tobacco funding cancer research instead of just ceasing to sell cancer-causing agents. And, after they have successfully conditioned us to accept the fact that their products are perpetually vulnerable with the monthly Patch Tuesday fire drills, they now want organizations to trust that they are the best choice to…

Source…

IT Security Leaders Prioritize Investments in Automation, Zero Trust and API-based Security to Protect a Rapidly Transforming IT Ecosystem

/in


Global Independent Study of 500 Senior Level Respondents Provides Clear Picture for the Future of Network Security

Dallas, Texas | March 23, 2021 | – Distinct priorities have emerged when it comes to responding to the needs of IT security’s rapid transformation, independent research sponsored by FireMon has found. The survey of 500 cybersecurity leaders across North America and EMEA uncovered the key investments organizations are making, and the rationale behind their decisions.

“The study shows that a cocktail of multiplying threats, the proliferation of hybrid and cloud architectures, blended with a pandemic-fueled explosion in distributed and remote work has created a perfect storm for network security teams,” said Satin H. Mirchandani, President and CEO of FireMon.  “It’s no wonder that they’re adding new technologies, architectures, and approaches to ensure their networks remain protected.”

The survey identified five major areas for network security investment:

  • Automation – More than 50 percent of organizations are currently investing in automating policy management to safeguard against inefficient and risky functions and 79 percent say they’ll implement security orchestration and automation within two years to improve agility and responsiveness.

  • Zero Trust – 45 percent of organizations plan to implement a Zero Trust in the next 12 months, adding to the 17 percent of organizations that have already begun this process. The biggest drivers are a greater need for secure remote access (72 percent), reducing cybersecurity risk (70 percent), and supporting the transition to cloud architectures (51 percent).

  • Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) – 85 percent of organizations have either already implemented a SASE platform or plan to do so within two years.

  • Security-Development Misalignment: 82 percent of IT leaders admit their application development (DevOps) and network security operations teams are not well aligned.

  • Heterogeneity and Integration: With growing complexity and heterogeneity, 95% of respondents are concerned about the lack of integration of network security platforms and their IT infrastructure.

From an automation perspective,…

Source…