6 Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities You Need to Ensure Your Business Doesn’t Have

6 Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities You Need to Ensure Your Business Doesn’t Have

Regardless of size, every business should take its cybersecurity efforts seriously. A cyberattack can disrupt your day-to-day operations, impact your reputation, and may even result in legal complications.

The University of Sunderland’s case study is an example. What seemed to be a common IT issue turned out to be a cyberattack. As a result, the university had to cancel all online classes. Emails were also inaccessible; telephone lines and websites were also down. It was a major setback to the university’s daily operations. Vulnerabilities that are not fixed or patched, known or unknown, are cyberattack opportunities.

Your business might have similar weaknesses or vulnerabilities.

Cyberattacks can result in a variety of disruptions which may include loss of data, disrupt systems, interfere with email services, halt operations, and legal ramifications.

Check out vulnerabilities in your IT solutions regularly. Below are some tips on what you should look out for.

SIX CYBERSECURITY VULNERABILITIES

VULNERABILITY #1 – LACK OF ENDPOINT DEFENSES

Many businesses do not see the importance of endpoint defence mechanisms such as antivirus and firewalls. This means their organization is more vulnerable to cyberattacks, making them a potential target of unauthorized access to their servers.

Failing to install antivirus tools also increases the possibility of cyberattacks and zero-day exploits. Inadequate endpoint defences can also turn them into vulnerabilities themselves, including the use of signature-based antivirus platforms. These are no longer effective as many tech-savvy criminals can bypass them. Additionally, many programs lack the ability to monitor unexpected or unusual behaviour, which can leave your endpoint devices vulnerable to potential attacks.

The best way to protect your business from potential cyberattacks is to invest in the latest cutting-edge endpoint defence tools that include antivirus and firewalls with response and behavioural analysis capabilities. These tools provide a comprehensive evaluation of malicious actions and flexible prevention options, keeping your devices safe and secure.

Upgrade traditional antivirus platforms to get in-depth behavioural inspection features. Most new antivirus comes with detailed compromise indicators, forensic details, scheduled & ad-hoc vulnerabilities scanners, and real-time response functionalities.

VULNERABILITY #2 – POOR ACCOUNT PRIVILEGE & ACCESS CONTROL

Limiting access privilege to software users can be the key to preventing vulnerabilities. With proper control, different software users have limited access to data according to their job functions. In event of a compromised account, it will be easier to perform damage control.

The challenge arises when businesses do not control user account access. For convenience, everyone may be granted administrator-level privileges which opens up all levels of data. It is often disastrous when the configuration allows all users to set up admin-level accounts. It will be harder to mitigate issues when uneventful happens.

It is important to set up proper access levels and to grant access according to their duties and job functions. Every account setup needs to be cross-checked to make sure that they do not automatically have administrator-level access.

VULNERABILITY #3 – COMPROMISED OR WEAK CREDENTIALS

Your username and password can be easily compromised. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for creative ways to expose your user credentials.

Phishing is one of the most common methods used to get unsuspecting users to enter their login information on fake websites. Cybercriminals usually send emails that look like they come from a trustworthy source, such as your bank or the tax office. These emails can contain a link to a fake website designed to steal your personal information. Social engineering is also a common method where cybercriminals use social interaction and manipulation to deceive users into performing harmful activities, such as opening files or visiting malicious websites.

Analysing and monitoring are important to identify malicious activity, however, having these credentials can bypass security and impede detection. Privileged credentials that offer administrative access to systems and devices pose a higher risk than usual user accounts.

Credentials are not limited to those owned by humans. Security tools, network devices, and servers have passwords to enable communication and integration between devices. A malicious intruder can use these devices to access and navigate throughout your enterprise as their access is almost unlimited.

To prevent this scenario, you should implement stringent password controls. Get all users to choose stronger passwords and ensure that it is periodically changed. Combining all these would help in preventing compromised credentials.

VULNERABILITY #4 – LACK OF NETWORK SEGMENTATION

Cybercriminals can take advantage of the lack of segmentation and network monitoring to get access to your system. This leaves your organization vulnerable to prolonged attacks without your knowledge. One reason for this weakness is the failure to develop subnet monitoring or outbound activity control. Doing this in a large company can be challenging as there may be multiple systems that send outbound traffic and communicate with each other.

To protect your network, focus on controlling access within your subnets, build detection strategies for lateral movement, pinpoint strange DNS lookups, behavioural traffic trends, and review all system-to-system communication. Micro-segmentation, firewalls, and proxies are equally important to create restrictive policies for system communications and traffic.

VULNERABILITY #5 – MISCONFIGURATION

Errors in your system configuration can also lead to vulnerabilities and breaches. An example would be enabling setup pages and using default usernames or passwords.

One of the biggest mistakes is not disabling setup or application server configuration. Hackers are always looking at these hidden vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits. Misconfigured apps and devices are easy gateways for cybercriminals.

Put in place systems, procedures, and checklists to tighten the configuration process. Using automation and monitoring systems can mitigate this issue and reveal potential threats.

VULNERABILITY #6 – RANSOMWARE

Ransomware is a type of cyber extortion that prevents users from accessing their data until the attacker receives a ransom. The victim is instructed to pay a certain fee to obtain their decryption key. The fees can be thousands of dollars or more and they usually request payment to be made in Bitcoin. This makes it impossible to trace the tracks of these cybercriminals.

To keep your data safe from ransomware, be sure to keep your system up to date with the latest security standards and only use trusted software providers. Managed IT service providers like MicroChannel would be able to help keep track of your system’s security status.

NEUTRALISE THREATS FOR PEACE OF MIND

Running a company with subpar cybersecurity measures is a risky proposition. The danger of losing critical data or damaging your reputation is just too high.

We can help you implement reliable cyber defence strategies. Speak to us for a quick and obligation-free chat. We can help boost your performance and set up an impregnable system for your business.