By Mark McCurley
Many companies inadvertently give hackers an easy way into their networks by failing to stay on top of vulnerabilities, or weaknesses in their software, hardware or network configurations.
The No. 1 reason: IT departments lack the resources, tools, processes and oversight to stay on top of patch management. Information systems and web applications that remain unpatched or poorly configured for long periods of time leave a business at risk of a data breach or system outage.
Companies can protect information systems and sensitive data from unauthorized access by proactively uncovering those weaknesses before an outage or a data breach occurs. The key is to work with a trusted data security firm that can perform the following against targeted networks, Web applications and information systems:
• A comprehensive vulnerability scan
• A web application scan
• A penetration test
These scans and tests—conducted through a combination of automated security tools and manual techniques—will detect holes in a firm’s software applications, hardware or network, and provide a detailed report, analysis and remediation steps to mitigate those vulnerabilities.
Be sure to look for a provider that, like IDT911 Consulting, can conduct:
• Vulnerability scanning and reporting that checks internal and external network or information systems and provides a comprehensive report on findings, plus recommended remediation steps.
• Web Application scanning and reporting to scan external or internal facing Web applications for vulnerabilities such as XXS, SQL injections and CSRF. A detailed report of findings and recommended mitigation steps is key.
• Penetration testing using manual and automated techniques to test defenses against intrusion.
• Analysis and report on findings in which the scan reports are analyze to interpret the severity of risk and recommend steps to fix vulnerabilities.
• Continuous monitoring after the initial scanning phase to perform ongoing periodic scanning that ensures new vulnerabilities are detected during the lifecycle of information systems and web applications.
Mark McCurley is senior information security officer for IDT911 Consulting.