Do You Really Know How Vulnerable You Are? Vulnerability Scanning Plays an Essential Role in Modern Security
How vulnerable is your IT security strategy?
Sometimes you can get too cozy behind well-built fortifications and imposing defenses. The ancient Trojans offer a vivid example. The Greeks could do nothing to breach the mighty walls of the city state. After a decade-long siege, the people of Troy knew with certainty that their kingdom could never be successfully attacked. Yet they were defeated by a small group hidden inside a wooden horse.
The point is this: Have you become complacent with your own firewalls, intrusion detection systems, AI-driven threat detection apps, and safeguards?
Avoid Complacency
Cybercrime statistics demonstrate that vigilance is never ending. Billions of cyberattacks are launched each year from all around the globe.
Automation and a thriving dark web economy have spawned an army of hackers — they are constantly probing for any weakness, especially at the endpoint. With 70% of breaches originating at the endpoint, all it takes is one vulnerability to enter the network.
However, another reason for potential complacency could be the high volume of breaches that are caught. Security teams may be high-fiving daily at the number of probes and attack vectors they thwart. At the first sniff of an unusual traffic pattern from a port, they pounce and plug the hole. When a serious breach is detected, forensic and remediation teams scour the enterprise to ensure all areas of compromise and weakness are resolved.
Yet these stark facts remain: There is a 28% likelihood of a recurring breach within two years; and it takes 197 days on average for IT to identify a security breach. Clearly, there is no room for complacency. Like sentries on the perimeter, all it takes is a few minutes of inattention or napping on the job and the game is up.
The Need for Vulnerability Scanning
Hence the vital nature of vulnerability scanning. Malware and AV apps constantly detect malicious infections designed to steal money via online access to bank accounts, ransomware attacks, and corrupted installation packages on devices. While keeping all defenses in place, and even reinforcing them, this is no time to be without comprehensive vulnerability scanning.
Vulnerability scanning is all about inspecting points of potential exploit to identify security holes. The scan detects and classifies system weaknesses. Some tools predict the effectiveness of countermeasures. Typically, scans correlate the details of the target attack surface to a database of information about known security holes in services and ports, as well as anomalies in packet construction, and paths that may exist to exploitable programs or scripts. Therefore, scanning databases must be complete and constantly updated.
Some scans are done by logging in as an authorized user while others are done externally and attempt to find holes that may be exploitable by those operating outside the network. Both kinds should be deployed. It is all about constant alertness. And a willingness to remain willingness and overcome any tendency toward complacency.
Complete Security Management
The Syxsense vulnerability scanner is the most complete security management package on the market. It is effortless to employ, has a user-friendly interface, and effectively enhances the security of IT systems.
As its automated, security personnel determine how often and for how long to run the scan. This gives IT the ability to detect and secure vulnerabilities and security weaknesses exposed by open ports, disabled firewalls, ineffective user account policies, and security compliance violations from remote workers and those on the corporate network.
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