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Endpoint Security

Achieving HIPAA Compliance: Dynamic Endpoint and Patch Management

By Blog, Cybersecurity, Endpoint Security

When you work in a sprawling healthcare complex, where are you going throughout the day?

​​It’s not just about the hospital. It’s about the outpatient clinic, the physical therapy center, the nursing home, and all of the buildings that make up your healthcare system.

It’s also about tracking all of those devices as they move between them—and making sure they’re always safe. How do you make sure they’re being used and updated properly? How do you keep track of their maintenance, especially when they’re moving between departments and floors?

And when costs aren’t trickling down to security, how can teams safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI) while dealing with mainframe and legacy software?

Such are the realities that IT teams in healthcare have to contend with when it comes to protecting patient health data. You don’t just need confidence. You need live data and proof.

How Legacy, Mainframe, and Other Everyday Operations Put HIPAA Compliance at Risk

Healthcare systems can be on-premises, in the cloud, or spread across multiple clouds.

Whether applications are fully cloud-based or on-premises, protection continues to be complex. Plenty of healthcare providers still use mainframe and other legacy on-premises systems as the core of their record systems.

Transactions within these older systems travel externally through cloud applications and back as part of a transaction. Unbeknownst to many cloud system users, legacy transactional system connections are part of the workflow.

Healthcare organizations patch systems they believe are involved in PHI but miss other systems where privacy data flows.

It’s impossible to be aware of all the little habits and everyday operations that can introduce vulnerabilities (or tell them to come on in and wipe their feet on the “Welcome Home” mat.) While healthcare facilities are designed to keep patients safe, what do you do when your own employees are a threat?

Practices like:

  • Account sharing
  • Reluctance to implement two-factor authentication (2FA)
  • Fractured teams
  • Using pagers and fax machines
  • Preferring to use an outdated version of software
  • Using legacy systems that haven’t been updated in 20+ years
  • Applications running on Windows XP, 2000, and 98
  • Having no documentation/playbooks for incident response
  • Being stuck in a reactionary cycle

… All create security risks.

While a healthcare system or cloud may seem completely protected, vulnerabilities still exist, ready to be exploited due to these weaknesses.

What’s Worse: Badly Done or Not Patching at All? They Both Lead to Data Breaches

Is it a case of choosing the lesser evil? Badly done patching or no patching at all? Unfortunately, both paths lead to data breaches.

If you don’t update your software, you’re leaving yourself open to attack by hackers who could easily exploit holes in your system—holes that could’ve been fixed with a simple update.

A study by the Ponemon Institute found that 68% of data breaches occur because patch management is poorly executed.

Among companies that suffered a data breach:

  • 61% of respondents said their organizations were at a disadvantage in responding to vulnerabilities because they used manual patching processes.
  • 55% added that their dependence on manual processes for patch management had led to backlogs and errors. (The report recommends replacing manual processes with automated patching solutions.)
  • 57% said these breaches probably occurred due to a patch being available for a known vulnerability that had not been implemented.

So what can you do?

  1. Make sure that all of your devices are up-to-date with their latest patches.
  2. Check for third-party software patches.

The downside is this requires manually searching for and applying patches. Doing this manually eats up a ton of time and resources for IT teams, which diverts skill away from other crucial tasks (not that patching isn’t crucial.)

Organizations are exploring automated patching to simplify and expedite the process. Tasks that would normally take hours or days to complete happen in minutes or seconds—without having to expand your team. In today’s world of security, it’s all about working smarter, not harder.

But what does it look like in a cyber-threat landscape that’s constantly evolving?

Build Your Own Dynamic Endpoint Management That Covers Vulnerability Scans, Patching, and Compliance

There will never be a “silver bullet” solution for cybersecurity. Instead, a successful approach is one that uses multiple tactics in concert with one another—a symphony of security.

Syxsense Enterprise is one platform that lets you be proactive instead of reactive.

With built-in workflow automation, you can offload the most time-consuming and painful parts of your cybersecurity practices—the parts that keep you from achieving higher goals. Like protecting your PHI, saving time, and money, and ultimately focusing on what matters most: healing people.

We speak with overworked MSPs and teams every day, and so many of them say they need a lead time of mastery that’s only a few hours—not six months. (Patients and hackers aren’t waiting for six months.)

Need help with all of the above?

There’s a real-time security solution for healthcare. Schedule a demo with us today.

Syxsense demo

Schedule Your Syxsense Demo

Syxsense combines IT management, patch management, and security vulnerability scanning in one powerful solution. Get started today.

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Automation Is the Key to Improving Time-to-Remediate and Time-to-Patch

By Blog, Cybersecurity, Endpoint Security, Patch Management, Vulnerability Management

Cybercriminals are notorious for their swift actions. Once a zero-day exploit is discovered, they waste no time infecting numerous systems in the hours that follow. This malicious activity persists for weeks, and in some cases, even months, due to the sluggish response of many organizations in implementing necessary patches and taking remedial measures.

Responding to a zero-day exploit can be a laborious and time-consuming process, especially for organizations lacking automated systems. The response time spans from just a few hours to several weeks, depending on the complexity of the exploit and the efficiency of the remediation process employed by the organization. One has to consider the time required to identify, validate, and fix the vulnerability, plus the additional time needed to deploy the patch across all affected systems. In many instances, the longer the time-to-remediate or resolve (TTR) and time-to-patch, the more severe the potential consequences, underscoring the critical role of automation in cyber risk response.

Similarly, if cybercriminals unearth a weakness in the organizational defenses or manage to compromise a user account, they don’t waste time capitalizing on it. Some launch a major attack in seconds by unleashing ransomware or other malware. Others use that foothold to gain access to privileged accounts or mission-critical systems. They move rapidly and then quickly cover their tracks. Their goal is not a smash-and-grab raid. They want to learn the workings and finances of the organization unobserved while they determine the most lucrative and opportune way to profit from their efforts. When they strike, the only thing preventing devastation is the ability of the organization to respond effectively with the minimum of TTR.

Rapid Patching Minimizes Time-to-Remediate Emergencies

Many cybersecurity response emergencies can be traced back to failure to effectively and speedily patch. The correlation between cybersecurity emergencies and a failure to patch quickly is largely about the window of opportunity. Cybercriminals strive to exploit the vulnerability before the organization can patch it. This situation often leads to a lag time between the discovery of a flaw and its patching – a window that cybercriminals exploit. This is why automation is so crucial in reducing the time-to-patch.

Despite this reality, the majority of organizational breaches occur due to the exploitation of known vulnerabilities for which patches exist but were not implemented. The latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) sheds light on the fact that unpatched vulnerabilities, such as Log4j, were among the most severe incidents reported in 2022. The report emphasizes the criticality of promptly patching known vulnerabilities and swiftly addressing zero-day exploits and other attack vectors. In essence, organizations with poor time-to-patch and time-to-remediate (TTR) metrics expose themselves to greater risks.

How Can Enterprises Reduce Their Time-to-Patch and Time-to-Remediate?

Automation is the ultimate solution for reducing time-to-patch and TTR. With the sheer number of patches that require deployment across numerous endpoints scattered across various clouds, systems, and networks, manual patching simply cannot keep up. By automating the patching process, organizations can significantly minimize the gap between identification and remediation of vulnerabilities, thereby reducing the window of opportunity for cybercriminals to launch an attack. When patches are deployed rapidly and effectively, it lessens the occurrence and severity of cybersecurity emergencies.

Automation can help enterprises accomplish such things as:

  • Comprehensive scanning to detect all endpoints and devices
  • Rapid patch deployment
  • Patch and remediation workflow automation, ideally with no scripting required
  • Pre-checks of available system, network, and endpoints resources to ensure patches and remediations can be deployed
  • Testing of patches before full production deployment
  • Verification of patch installation

With these items addressed by automation, time-to-patch and TTR can be brought down to hours or days versus weeks, months, or years.

Syxsense Cortex: The Ultimate Scanning and Remediation Automation Tool

Syxsense Cortex simplifies complex IT and security processes via automation. It is a drag-and-drop visual editor that removes the need for scripting expertise. With an ever-growing library of pre-built workflows and templates, organizations can lower their IT and cyber risk as it pertains to vulnerabilities, reduce the burdens of tedious tasks for IT and security teams, and enable them to focus on critical business initiatives.

Syxsense Cortex enables users to combine logic, approvals, and actions to automate complex processes and bring an end to long patch and remediation timelines. Syxsense Cortex also makes it possible to deploy several software updates simultaneously and effortlessly. Its script-free capability minimizes repetitive manual work and reduces the time needed to complete complex tasks. It streamlines the management and remediation of security issues enabling them to be detected much sooner. Further benefits include the visualization of workflows and processes ranging from inventory to scans, patch prioritization and supersedence, patch verification, detection and remediation of vulnerabilities, and a variety of other IT management and security actions.

Never again wonder about your true security and management posture. Syxsense can help you realize the benefits of automation while providing real-time monitoring and alerting that will keep you in the know on potential threats as well as any changes that occur in your environment. And then leverage Syxsense Cortex to reduce your risks automatically.

See how quickly you can improve your endpoint and security posture with Syxsense. Schedule a custom demo below.

Syxsense demo

Schedule Your Syxsense Demo

Syxsense combines IT management, patch management, and security vulnerability scanning in one powerful solution. Get started today.

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Analyst Insights: Strengthening Security Posture

By Endpoint Security, Video, Webinars

In this webinar, we have Dave Gruber, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, Gabe Kanuth, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, and Ashley Leonard, CEO and founder of Syxsense. These industry experts will discuss strengthening your security posture through the convergence of endpoint management and security.

Syxsense is the leading provider of innovative, intuitive technology that sees all and knows everything about every endpoint, in every location, everywhere inside and outside the network, as well as in the cloud. It combines the power of artificial intelligence with industry expertise to manage and secure endpoints by stopping threats before they occur and neutralizing threats when they happen.

The Syxsense Endpoint Security Cloud always-on technology performs in real-time so businesses can operate free of disruption from security breaches that cripple productivity and expose them to financial risk and reputational harm.

Watch the Webinar

Masterclass: Securing Your Cyber Kill Chain Part 2

By Endpoint Security, Masterclass, Video
syxsense Masterclass

Understanding how to secure your cyber kill chain is critical to protect your network from attacks. Click to hear from Rob Brown, Chief Customer Success Officer at Syxsense and Graham Brooks, our Director of Threat Lab, as they discuss the WannaCry cybersecurity attack through the lens of the Cyber Kill Chain, giving new perspective to vulnerability and endpoint management.

You’ll learn:

  • How do you establish your attack surface.
  • How to hunt down specific vulnerabilities.
  • How to kill vulnerabilities.

If you missed Part 1: The Cyber Kill Chain, click here to watch.

The Cyber Kill Chain Part 1

By Endpoint Security, Masterclass, Video
syxsense Masterclass

The Cyber Kill Chain is a great way to see how an attacker will take hold of your network. Sit down with Rob Brown our Chief Customer Success Officer and Graham Brooks our Director of Threat Lab as they break down the steps of an attack and help you to make sure you are prepared.

To watch Part 2: Securing Your Cyber Kill Chain, click here.

6 Vulnerabilities That You Should Be Remediating Right Now

By Endpoint Security, Masterclass, Video
syxsense Masterclass

Email phishing scams are a common initial entry point, but are you considering other attack vectors in your environment? Once someone has a foothold on one device, there are many other areas of vulnerability companies do not think about. Sit down with Rob Brown our Chief Customer Success Officer and Graham Brooks our Director of Threat Lab as they discuss the main areas you need to be inspecting for vulnerabilities. The goal of this masterclass is to create actionable takeaways for you to start using today in your business now.

Managing the Endpoint Vulnerability Gap: Key Findings

By Endpoint Security

Syxsense is pleased to be a sponsor of Enterprise Strategy Group’s latest survey on the Endpoint Management Vulnerability Gap. Respondents of this survey included IT and cybersecurity professionals involved with endpoint management and security technologies and processes. These professionals work for companies with 100 employees or more and cover a variety of industries.

The objectives of this research are to:

  • Identify challenges, strategies and trends in endpoint management and security
  • Determine if and how endpoint management and security functions and systems are converging
  • Highlight opportunities for improving endpoint management and security fueled by functional convergence

Fill out the form below to get your copy of the eBook.

2023 Endpoint Protection Guide

By Endpoint Security

2023 Endpoint Protection Guide

As today's threat landscape becomes more unpredictable than ever, how do you mitigate risk? See the top strategies for protecting your endpoints in 2023.

Read the 2023 Endpoint Protection Guide

Today’s threat landscape is more unpredictable than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing “Work From Home” and hybrid work models, leaving organizations vulnerable to an increasing number of cyberattacks. See the top ways to protect your endpoints and mitigate risk in 2023.

Download the 2023 Endpoint Protection Guide

Syxsense demo

Schedule Your Syxsense Demo

Syxsense combines IT management, patch management, and security vulnerability scanning in one powerful solution. Get started today.

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syxsense scores high in gigaom report

Syxsense Named a Fast Mover in GigaOm Radar Report for Patch Management Solutions

By Endpoint Security, News, Patch Management

Syxsense Named a Fast Mover in GigaOm Radar Report for Patch Management Solutions

We are excited to announce that Syxsense has been named a Fast Mover in the GigaOm Radar Report for Patch Management. This report is one of a series of documents that helps IT organizations assess competing solutions in the context of well-defined features and criteria, and provides a forward-looking analysis that plots the relative value and progression of vendor solutions along multiple axes based on strategy and execution.

This report synthesizes the analysis of key criteria and their impact on evaluation metrics to inform the GigaOm Radar graphic, which plots vendor solutions across a series of concentric rings, with those set closer to the center judged to be of higher overall value. The chart characterizes each vendor on two axes—balancing Maturity versus Innovation, and Feature Play versus Platform Play—while providing an arrow that projects each solution’s evolution over the coming 12 to 18 months.

As a Fast Mover in Patch Management, Syxsense provides full coverage of Windows, macOS, and Linux desktops and servers, as well as mobile devices and remote systems. Our strengths lie in lifecycle management, patch testing, patch deployment, patch prioritization, and a large number of third-party applications. Syxsense also supports an API, allowing integration with other systems such as ITSM and CMDB. Our Patch Management solution is deployed as a SaaS application with agents installed on your organization’s endpoints, and is a good fit for market segments including mid-market, large enterprises, and MSPs.

To see the full report breakdown, fill out the form below:

syxsense award

Download the Full Report

Overcoming Your Endpoint Security Limitations with a Skeleton Crew

By Endpoint Security

Overcoming Your Endpoint Security Limitations with a Skeleton Crew

Five ways to bolster your endpoint security defenses quickly

For years overstretched and under-resourced organizations have contended with a lack of robust cybersecurity expertise to defend their networks and data, leaving them ripe for attack or internal mutiny. As far back as 2016, 46% of businesses reported a “problematic shortage” of their current cybersecurity talent, which ballooned to more than 2.72 million in 2021. Not only is hiring a nightmare but getting talent proficient in cybersecurity is more challenging than ever.

When it comes to ensuring your endpoints and networks are secure, you can’t spend long cycles onboarding and training new talent. Threats don’t wait. You don’t have years! You need solutions that are simple to deploy, manage, and maintain. Threat actor tactics evolve quickly. Your endpoint defense must as well. This ebook will dive into the scary realities of overstretched and under-resourced teams, provide some tips on how you can improve endpoint security with limited staff, and offer a glimpse into how Syxsense helps automate your entire endpoint defense.

Download the eBook