Why does Vulnerability exploitation always plays a major part in almost every cyber attack

Why does Vulnerability exploitation always plays a major part in almost every cyber attack Cyberattacks have become a common concern in the digital age, and they seem to be growing in complexity and frequency. In virtually every report or analysis of a cyber incident, one factor consistently stands out: vulnerability. Whether it’s a sophisticated state-sponsored attack or a simple phishing attempt, understanding the role of vulnerabilities is crucial to comprehending the anatomy of a cyber-attack.hy Vulnerabilities are the Achilles’ heel of the digital world. They are the common thread that runs through the fabric of almost every cyber-attack. Understanding vulnerabilities and taking proactive measures to address them is paramount in defending against the ever-evolving threat landscape of the digital age.   In the world of cybersecurity, vulnerabilities are akin to the weak points in a fortress’s defenses. They represent the cracks and flaws in a system, software, or network, serving as entry points for malicious actors. These digital chinks in the armor can be exploited, much like unlocked doors inviting invaders.   Understanding why vulnerabilities are paramount in cyber-attacks requires insight into the mindset of cybercriminals. For these digital treasure hunters, vulnerabilities aren’t mere weaknesses; they’re lucrative opportunities. Each vulnerability discovered represents a potential gateway to data breaches, financial gains, or further malicious actions. The Ripple Effect: Impact of Vulnerabilities in Cyber Attacks Vulnerabilities often serve as the initial trigger in a chain reaction of cyberattacks. Once exploited, they unleash a cascade of effects. Think of them as the data breaches that expose sensitive information, akin to treasures being looted. They lead to system compromises, disrupting operations much like a hostile takeover. The consequences can be profound, affecting an organization’s finances, reputation, and even leading to legal consequences. Importance of mitigation and prevention Cybersecurity isn’t merely about identifying vulnerabilities; it’s about actively managing and preventing them. Regular software updates and patch management act as the knights guarding the fortress, continuously fortifying defenses. Robust security awareness training equips personnel with the knowledge and skills to identify and thwart potential infiltrators. By actively managing vulnerabilities, organizations can construct a more robust defense against the ever-evolving threats of the digital age. How can DeviceTotal help? DeviceTotal has developed the 1st in the industry most accurate and up-to-date repository, that gathers security data for every un-agentable device, OT, IoT and network devices. This data guarantees the precise correlation of security issues and facilitating accurate and effective mitigation planning. By doing so, it saves security teams valuable time and eliminates unnecessary actions and downtime, ultimately reducing costs. DeviceTotal provides a range of features designed to collectively empower organizations in gaining comprehensive visibility, managing vulnerabilities, prioritizing software updates, assessing risks, ensuring compliance, and making well-informed decisions regarding device security and management. Here’s the data associated with every device:   Vulnerabilities related to the specific firmware version of the device. Risk score of the device. Risk level of the device. Exploitability score. End Of Life/Support indication. In The Wild indication for CVEs known to be exploited in current attacks. The latest software updates available by the vendor and the updated risk score. All software updates available for a device and their respective risk scores. Attack surface metrics. Mitigation recommendations, comprising updated versions and available workarounds by the vendor.   By integrating DeviceTotal into your cybersecurity strategy, you can enhance your overall security posture and stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity. Schedule your free trial today and see how DeviceTotal can protect your network from IoT and OT vulnerabilities.

Agentless Vulnerability management for IoT and OT

Agentless Vulnerability management for IoT and OT In today’s hyper-connected world, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technology (OT) have revolutionized industries, providing unprecedented efficiency and convenience. However, with this rapid digital transformation comes an increased vulnerability to cyber threats, potentially exposing critical infrastructures and sensitive data to malicious actors. Traditional vulnerability management solutions often struggle to keep up with the dynamic nature of IoT and OT environments, leaving organizations grappling with security blind spots and the cumbersome deployment of agents on every device. Why is Vulnerability management so important? Let’s deep dive into it.hy Vulnerabilities are weaknesses or flaws in software, hardware, or network configurations that can be exploited by attackers to compromise the security of a system. By identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities, organizations can significantly reduce the likelihood of successful cyberattacks. That is why vulnerability management is a crucial cybersecurity process that involves identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating weaknesses in an organization’s IT systems and applications. By proactively addressing these vulnerabilities, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of cyberattacks, adhere to regulatory requirements, save costs by preventing breaches, safeguard sensitive data, ensure software patching, manage third-party risks, promote good security practices, and protect their reputation by demonstrating a commitment to robust security measures. Instead of waiting for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities, organizations can take a proactive approach by regularly being updated about vulnerabilities. This allows them to identify and address weaknesses before they are targeted by malicious actors. At the same time, many industries are subject to regulatory requirements that mandate a certain level of cybersecurity. Vulnerability management helps organizations comply with these regulations by demonstrating that they are actively taking steps to secure their systems and data. It would be good to mention that part of vulnerability management involves keeping systems and software up to date with the latest patches and updates. This ensures that known vulnerabilities are addressed and reduces the likelihood of exploitation. What are the challenges in the area? The realm of vulnerability management presents a set of challenges that organizations must navigate to ensure effective cybersecurity. Some of these challenges include: Vulnerability Overload: The sheer volume of vulnerabilities, along with the continuous influx of new ones, can overwhelm security teams. Prioritizing which vulnerabilities to address first becomes a complex task. False Positives and Negatives: Vulnerability scanners can sometimes produce false positive results, identifying issues that don’t exist, or miss actual vulnerabilities (false negatives). This can lead to inefficient resource allocation and security gaps. Complex Environments: Organizations often operate in intricate, heterogeneous IT environments comprising various hardware, software, and network components. Coordinating vulnerability assessments across these diverse elements can be challenging. Patch Management: Applying patches to systems without disrupting operations can be complicated, especially in critical systems that cannot be taken offline frequently. Legacy Systems: Older systems and applications might not be compatible with the latest security measures and patches, leaving them exposed to vulnerabilities. Time Sensitivity: The time between vulnerability identification and exploitation can be very short. Rapid response is essential, but security teams may struggle to keep up. Resource Constraints: Smaller organizations might lack the resources, expertise, and dedicated personnel needed to conduct thorough vulnerability assessments and mitigation efforts. Dependency Management: Organizations rely on third-party software and services, which can introduce vulnerabilities. Tracking and managing these dependencies can be challenging. Continuous Monitoring: Vulnerabilities can emerge at any time due to software updates, configuration changes, or evolving threat landscapes. Maintaining a continuous monitoring process is resource-intensive. What is the solution we provide: Traditional vulnerability management approaches often rely on agents that are deployed on devices to identify and mitigate potential security flaws. While these agents can be effective for standard IT systems, they often prove inadequate for IoT and OT environments. Agentless vulnerability management offers a compelling solution to address these challenges. Instead of relying on agents installed on individual devices, DeviceTotal focuses on data science to gather and structure the most accurate and updated security data, to ensure precise identification of every vulnerability. DeviceTotal has emerged as a pioneer in agentless vulnerability management, specifically tailored for all agentless devices, especially IoT and OT. Powered by cutting-edge technology and advanced algorithms, DeviceTotal offers a holistic solution for identifying, assessing, and mitigating vulnerabilities. It also prioritizes vulnerabilities based on their severity and potential impact on the system, helping organizations focus on the most critical issues first. With proactive monitoring, DeviceTotal ensures that newly identified vulnerabilities are addressed promptly, reducing the window of exposure to potential threats. By providing daily updates on new software versions and vulnerabilities, DeviceTotal empowers organizations to stay ahead of potential threats. It is important to mention it is very easy to implement and use and it requires no installation at all. Schedule your free trial today and see how DeviceTotal can protect your network from IoT and OT vulnerabilities.

May 27th Firmware Security Alert: A Wake-up Call for the World

May 27th Firmware Security Alert: A Wake-up Call for the World With access to Lansweeper data, DeviceTotal provides 100% risk accuracy and attack vector visibility for every device and site across an organization Israel, 24 November, 2021 – DeviceTotal, a provider of connected devices and IoT security solutions, today announced its partnership with Lansweeper, a leading IT Asset Management platform, to provide mutual customers the ability to upload complete and accurate IT asset data to DeviceTotal’s SaaS-based precognitive attack surface management solution, DeviceTotal. A simple API integration enables the two solutions to work together to eliminate time-consuming, tedious manual tasks, while providing 100% risk accuracy and attack vector visibility, enabling a proactive stance against cyber threats. In their statement, they said that “The APT actor group almost certainly exploited a Fortigate appliance to access a web server hosting the domain for a US municipal government… Access gained by the APT actors can be leveraged to conduct data exfiltration, data encryption, or other malicious activity. The APT actors are actively targeting a broad range of victims across multiple sectors, indicating the activity is focused on exploiting vulnerabilities rather than targeted at specific sectors.” Covid-19 has impacted businesses globally with long-lasting effects. Employees across industries transitioned to remote working and many of them stayed there. As they connect to corporate networks with various devices over unsecured home networks, they expand the attack surface and open the door for cyber-attacks. To mitigate risk and protect corporate assets and data, organizations must take a proactive approach and implement end-to-end attack surface management that protects against both known and potential zero-day vulnerabilities. Currently, 57% of connected devices are vulnerable to medium or high-severity attacks. Organizations need complete visibility across the expanded attack surface, to implement proactive measures for reducing the risk of cyber threats. Dave Goossens, CEO at Lansweeper states, “Through a partnership and API integration with Lansweeper, DeviceTotal has made it possible for our joint customers to instantly and automatically upload complete and accurate IT asset data to DeviceTotal, its SaaS-based precognitive Attack Surface Management solution. The two solutions work hand in hand to deliver 100% risk accuracy and attack vector visibility, enabling a proactive stance against cyber threats.” “We are pleased to be partnering with Lansweeper. DeviceTotal provides holistic visibility and control over the risk and security posture of all connected devices because it can identify threats before they reach the network,” states Dr. Carmit Yadin, Founder and CEO of DeviceTotal. “Clients who take advantage of the Lansweeper API to upload IT asset data into DeviceTotal reduce operational overhead while gaining access to the benefits of both solutions. Not only do they simplify and improve the process of creating and maintaining a complete and accurate IT asset inventory, but they can also rest assured that DeviceTotal is proactively preparing for and mitigating potential cybersecurity threats across their entire IT estate.” DeviceTotal, Lansweeper and LogOn will be hosting a webinar on 30 November 2021, Hong Kong 5:00pm (GMT +8), Rome 11am CET time (CET +1), USA 1:00am (PST -8), Tel Aviv 11am (CET +2). To register visit the following link. About DeviceTotal DeviceTotal, a provider of connected devices and IoT security solutions, was founded by a team of experienced cyber intrusion professionals. Based on proprietary and advanced technology, a unique, centralized, and unbiased attack surface management SaaS platform, DeviceTotal provides complete visibility to all enterprise devices while continuously predicting, identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating any potential cyber threats from connected devices. About Lansweeper Lansweeper is an IT Asset Management software provider helping businesses better understand, manage and protect their IT devices and network. Lansweeper helps customers minimise risks and optimise their IT assets by providing actionable insight into their IT infrastructure at all times, offering trustworthy, valuable, and accurate insights about the state of users, devices, and software. Since its launch in 2004, Lansweeper has been developing a software platform that scans and inventories all types of IT devices, installed software, and active users on a network – allowing organisations to centrally manage their IT. The Lansweeper platform currently discovers and monitors over 80 million connected devices from 25,000+ customers, including Mercedes, FC Barcelona, Michelin, NASA, Carlsberg, Nestle, IBM, Nintendo, and Samsung to governments, banks, NGOs, and universities, driven by its 120+ strong teams in Belgium, Spain, and the USA. Schedule your free trial today and see how DeviceTotal can protect your network from Fortinet and other connected device vulnerabilities. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploits 101: A Glossary

Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploits 101: A Glossary Zero-day vulnerabilities give threat actors the power to exploit your enterprise’s security blind spots in your firmware and software systems. They are extremely dangerous because they aren’t always on the radar of your enterprise’s security teams, and therefore, there aren’t always security measures in place to prevent their exploitation. This article examines what characterizes a zero-day vulnerability and exploit, what characterizes a zero-day attack, examples of recent attacks, and how ArcusTeam can help. What is a Zero-Day Vulnerability? A zero-day (0day) vulnerability is an existing vulnerability in software or hardware that can become a pathway for hackers to weaponize and exploit. The name is derived from “Day Zero”, the day that the threat is identified, at which point it becomes a race against the clock for security teams to patch the vulnerability before hackers exploit it.  Unlike known vulnerabilities that are well documented in public repositories like the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and usually preemptively patched, vendors are usually unaware of 0day vulnerabilities and enterprises often don’t have security measures in place to prevent their exploitation, making them wild cards. Once hackers have successfully identified a zero-day vulnerability, they try to leverage it to carry out attacks on a system, which is known as a zero-day exploit. What is a Zero-Day (0day) Exploit? A zero-day exploit is a method or technique that attackers leverage to attack systems that contain a zero-day, or a zero-hour vulnerability.  When organized cybercriminal groups come across the opportunity for a zero-day exploit, they aim to use it against targets with the highest value. Therefore, they have to carefully plan when and how to carry out the attack. Strategic planning reduces the chance that a vulnerability will be discovered by the victim and has the potential to extend the lifespan of the exploit. Popular Targets for Zero-Day Exploits The following are popular potential targets for zero-day exploits: Financial institutions Large enterprises Government organizations Medical institutions Firmware, hardware devices, and IoT Even if your enterprise is able to develop a patch against a zero-day vulnerability, it doesn’t mean you’re home-free. The patch needs to be updated across all systems affected by the vulnerability, a process that can take time. The attacker can take advantage of any lags and continue to attack non-updated systems until everything is fully updated. Zero-Day Attacks A zero-day attack is when the attacker puts the zero-day exploit to use in order to damage, and/or steal data from the systems affected by the zero-day vulnerability. Process of a Zero-Day Attack The process for carrying out a zero-day attack usually consists of the followings stages:  Discover vulnerabilities: In order to discover the zero-day vulnerabilities, attackers will go through code or randomly test their luck with popular applications. Some attackers even “purchase” vulnerabilities that someone else has uncovered on the black market.  Create exploit code: Attackers create malware programs to exploit the vulnerability. Identify systems that are affected by the vulnerability: Attackers use methods such as bots, scripts, or automated scanners to identify systems that are affected by the vulnerability. Plan the attack: Once attackers are equipped with the tools to exploit the zero-day vulnerability and carry out the attack, they scout out the most efficient time and method to penetrate the affected systems. Infiltrate: Attackers typically penetrate through an organization’s perimeter defenses or personal devices. The zero-day exploit is launched: Once the attackers gain access to the vulnerable systems, they can remotely execute the exploit code. Zero-Day Vulnerability Trends Threat actors are increasingly targeting zero-day vulnerabilities that were discovered and patched in the past. In 2020, Google’s Project Zero, which aims to discover zero-days, found 24 zero-day vulnerabilities that were exploited by attackers. Of those 24 vulnerabilities, 25% were previously disclosed, but due to insufficient patching, hackers were able to re-weaponize them to carry out new attacks. Experts predict that this threat will increase if vendors don’t take a closer look at the root cause of the vulnerabilities and invest more in patching.  In cases like these, DeviceTotal identifies the inner components of such vulnerabilities and provides mitigation measures for preventing such devastating attacks. Examples of Recent Attacks Internet Explorer: In 2020, Microsoft’s browser Internet Explorer (IE) fell victim to a zero-day attack. The vulnerability (CVE-2020-0674) affected IE v9-11 and was caused by a flaw in the IE scripting engine that handles objects in memory. Attackers were able to leverage this vulnerability by directing IE users to a website that was created to exploit the flaw. Sony Pictures: In 2014, Sony Pictures was a victim of a major attack, which resulted in a leak of personal information and unreleased content. Entire corporate systems were also erased, causing millions of dollars in damages. Zero-day Markets In the world of cybercrime, zero-day exploits are a hot commodity and are often sold for astronomical prices. They have been found circulating the following three markets: The black market: Where attackers use or sell stolen personal information (i.g, credit card information) on the dark web. The white market: Where non-threat hackers discover zero-day vulnerabilities and present them to the vendor, sometimes for a potential reward. The grey market: A military-based market in which exploits are sold for use for surveillance, espionage, and technological warfare. How DeviceTotal can help Prevent these Attacks DeviceTotal’s threat elimination platform, DeviceTotal, takes a proactive approach to vulnerability management, identifying both known and unknown vulnerabilities on connected devices. This capability allows DeviceTotal to identify potential zero-day vulnerabilities before threat actors find them. But DeviceTotal doesn’t stop with identification. It also provides automated mitigation for all identified vulnerabilities in connected devices, saving enterprises valuable manpower and resources on mediating vulnerabilities. DeviceTotal dives deep into the bill of materials (BoM) and components of the attack to get to the root cause and ensure the vulnerability isn’t re-weaponized.  Instead of waiting for corporate network attacks to take place, DeviceTotal’s solution is predictive and preventative, implementing security measures that stop the attack from happening. DeviceTotal’s predictive solution gives enterprises the peace of mind that their networks

Gartner Report Takes a New Look At Vulnerability Management

Gartner Report Takes a New Look At Vulnerability Management There’s More to Vulnerability Management than CVSS score IoT devices are making their way into every facet of life and business, with almost 4.8 billion IoT devices in use today. These devices are tempting targets for attackers, with 57% vulnerable to high or medium severity attacks. The abundance of these devices leaves gaping holes for attackers to capitalize and pivot to larger targets inside your organization. Understanding the risk that IoT and other endpoints bring to your organization is crucial for maintaining security. It is not simply about the criticality of these vulnerabilities. More often, it is about the exploitability that comes into play. Cybercriminals can chain low-impact attacks to create footholds in your infrastructure that they can exploit.  Below we will cover how managing exploitability in vulnerabilities plays a significant role in securing your organization.  Exploitability Trumps Impact Gartner’s recent guidance has recognized that managing vulnerabilities are no longer as straightforward as ranking them by CVSS score. Attackers can leverage even lower impact exploits to significant headway into an organization’s security. While this does not mean that all high scores that are both high impact and easily exploited should be ignored, it does mean that there is more nuance to sorting out vulnerabilities that might be scored lower. For example, a low impact yet trivially easy vulnerability might calculate out to a score of 4. In contrast, one with high impact but is insanely challenging to exploit may also be scored a 4. The old rules of thumb would recommend going with the highest impact when prioritizing what to fix first, despite it being unlikely to be exploited. Instead, this new methodology avoids dealing with vulnerabilities that will almost certainly be exploitable. Getting Footholds The reason for reconsidering prioritization in this manner is because quickly executed vulnerabilities can serve as footholds for attacks. While the overall impact of that single vulnerability may not be high nor do much to elevate access, it improves the criminal’s posture during an attack. Think of it like gaining the high ground. If enough of these low impact yet highly exploitable vulnerabilities are utilized, they may lower the difficulty of exploiting higher impact vulnerabilities. This allows attackers to quickly and efficiently escalate up in access to your organization.  Chaining Attacks The foothold argument also leads to the challenge of chaining vulnerabilities. Chaining vulnerabilities happen when multiple lower impact vulnerabilities are used together to create a higher impact that could not occur individually. This is similar to the scenario above, but the difference is that it does not require a higher impact vulnerability to exist, only the exploitation of multiple exposures together.  While there are ways of identifying scenarios where this can occur, highly trained security personnel require time to spot these scenarios. And in large and complex organizations, this might not even be possible as the amount of data to parse would be overwhelming. In this case, the only reasonable solution is to patch and remediate these holes before criminals can exploit them.  Understanding Your Landscape The only way to gain control of the potential vulnerabilities on endpoints and devices in your organization is to have a complete and in-depth understanding of what can access your infrastructure. This partially comes from having an up-to-date inventory that could come from an existing CMDB (Configuration Management Database). The other part of this equation is to take this inventory and deduce what vulnerabilities exist in the items it contains.  Everything Contributes Differently It is crucial to understand that every device and endpoint has a slightly different contribution to overall risk when identifying vulnerabilities. Consider something as simple as a smartphone, for example. Even if it runs the same OS and same version as another phone on the network, it has a different set of vulnerabilities due to the various configurations and software. Analyzing this and dealing with each device on a case-by-case basis is crucial for managing your complete threat landscape. Many existing solutions either scan devices with an installed agent or run credentialed scans against them. While agent-based scans can deliver more in-depth results, it also comes with the challenge of maintaining agent installs and troubleshooting when there are issues. On the other hand, Agentless scans are more network intrusive and not functional for off-site devices and connect via VPN or occasionally on site.  Making Informed Decisions The other part of knowing your landscape comes before acquiring new technology to integrate. The pre-purchase evaluation of products helps your organization understand what they might be getting themselves into and how much work it will take to keep it secure long term. When new devices come on board, they are often left with factory default software and settings. In many cases, these factory default configurations are less than secure. Studies have shown that cybercriminals can attack some IoT devices in less than a minute after being brought online. Identifying if your new technology solutions are a more considerable risk than they are worth before spending time and resources investing in their deployment can save your organization major security headaches in the long run. Digital Precognition When securing your organization, you need a solution that can thoroughly analyze and assess your attack surface. This solution needs to integrate with the existing data and solutions you already have to deliver in-depth vulnerability information tailored specifically to each device and endpoint.  DeviceTotal is the Industry’s 1st – Universal Device Security Repository. Our repository draws from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities. With this, we can deliver 100% risk accuracy and identify attack vector visibility for each device, site, and organization.  The granular visibility goes beyond risk to calculate actual exploitability for every device. This data provides your organization with a depth of risk visibility that allows you to determine your real priorities. As a fully automated solution, DeviceTotal protects attack surfaces for large organizations that can scale to meet your needs as they change. Contact us

DeviceTotal Partners with Lansweeper to Deliver Accurate Data for Proactive Threat Analysis

DeviceTotal Partners with Lansweeper to Deliver Accurate Data for Proactive Threat Analysis With access to Lansweeper data, DeviceTotal provides 100% risk accuracy and attack vector visibility for every device and site across an organization Israel, 24 November, 2021 – DeviceTotal, a provider of connected devices and IoT security solutions, today announced their partnership with Lansweeper, a leading IT Asset Management platform, to provide mutual customers the ability to upload complete and accurate IT asset data to DeviceTotal’s SaaS-based precognitive attack surface management solution, DeviceTotal. A simple API integration enables the two solutions to work together to eliminate time-consuming, tedious manual tasks, while providing 100% risk accuracy and attack vector visibility, enabling a proactive stance against cyber threats. Covid-19 has impacted businesses globally with long-lasting effects. Employees across industries transitioned to remote working and many of them stayed there. As they connect to corporate networks with various devices over unsecured home networks, they expand the attack surface and open the door for cyber-attacks. To mitigate risk and protect corporate assets and data, organizations must take a proactive approach and implement end-to-end attack surface management that protects against both known and potential zero-day vulnerabilities. Currently, 57% of connected devices are vulnerable to medium or high-severity attacks. Organizations need complete visibility across the expanded attack surface, to implement proactive measures for reducing the risk of cyber threats. Dave Goossens, CEO at Lansweeper states, “Through a partnership and API integration with Lansweeper, ArcusTeam has made it possible for our joint customers to instantly and automatically upload complete and accurate IT asset data to DeviceTotal, its SaaS-based precognitive Attack Surface Management solution. The two solutions work hand in hand to deliver 100% risk accuracy and attack vector visibility, enabling a proactive stance against cyber threats.” “We are pleased to be partnering with Lansweeper. DeviceTotal provides holistic visibility and control over the risk and security posture of all connected devices because it can identify threats before they reach the network,” states Dr. Carmit Yadin, Founder and CEO of DeviceTotal. “Clients who take advantage of the Lansweeper API to upload IT asset data into DeviceTotal reduce operational overhead while gaining access to the benefits of both solutions. Not only do they simplify and improve the process of creating and maintaining a complete and accurate IT asset inventory, but they can also rest assured that DeviceTotal is proactively preparing for and mitigating potential cybersecurity threats across their entire IT estate.” DeviceTotal, Lansweeper and LogOn will be hosting a webinar on 30 November 2021, Hong Kong 5:00pm (GMT +8), Rome 11am CET time (CET +1), USA 1:00am (PST -8), Tel Aviv 11am (CET +2). To register visit the following link. About DeviceTotal DeviceTotal, a provider of connected devices and IoT security solutions, was founded by a team of experienced cyber intrusion professionals. Based on proprietary and advanced technology, a unique, centralized, and unbiased attack surface management SaaS platform, DeviceTotal provides complete visibility to all enterprise devices while continuously predicting, identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating any potential cyber threats from connected devices. About Lansweeper Lansweeper is an IT Asset Management software provider helping businesses better understand, manage and protect their IT devices and network. Lansweeper helps customers minimize risks and optimize their IT assets by providing actionable insight into their IT infrastructure at all times, offering trustworthy, valuable, and accurate insights about the state of users, devices, and software. Since its launch in 2004, Lansweeper has been developing a software platform that scans and inventory all types of IT devices, installed software, and active users on a network – allowing organizations to centrally manage their IT. The Lansweeper platform currently discovers and monitors over 80 million connected devices from 25,000+ customers, including Mercedes, FC Barcelona, Michelin, NASA, Carlsberg, Nestle, IBM, Nintendo, and Samsung to governments, banks, NGOs, and universities, driven by its 120+ strong teams in Belgium, Spain, and the USA. Schedule your free trial today and see how DeviceTotal can protect your network from Fortinet and other connected device vulnerabilities. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

What is Vulnerability Management and Why Does Your Enterprise Need It?

What is Vulnerability Management and Why Does Your Enterprise Need It? Add Your Heading Text Here Vulnerability management is an ongoing process that is crucial to your enterprise as it helps eliminate and mitigate vulnerabilities that can open an enterprise’s networks up to attack. But what exactly is vulnerability management, what are it’s benefits and challenges, and what can help solve these challenges? Keep reading to find out.  Cyberattacks are on the rise and enterprises are scrambling to find ways to protect themselves from falling victim to the next attack. In the year 2020 alone, cybersecurity experts reported 4,000 cyberattacks a day since the onset of Covid-19, a 400% increase from pre-Covid-19 days.  Amidst this exponential rise in cyberattacks, vulnerability management (VM) has become a key buzzword in the realm of cybersecurity as a means to prevent these attacks. But what is vulnerability management and why is it essential that enterprises like yours have it? What is Vulnerability Management Vulnerability management is an ongoing process that is usually performed by IT security teams to eliminate vulnerabilities that pose severe threats to an organization. VM is crucial as its goal is to eliminate vulnerabilities that can open and enterprise’s networks up to attack. The process consists of a few critical steps that together, provide an enterprise with appropriate coverage from attack. Identify: An enterprise needs to identify all of its IT assets across the environment. These IT assets can range from routers, printers, servers, scanners, and other various types of connected devices. Following their identification, they are then correlated to continuously updated vulnerability databases to identify security threats, vulnerabilities, backdoors, and misconfigurations.  Prioritization: Once all IT assets are accounted for, IT security teams need to categorize the devices according to their importance to the enterprise and assign risk-based prioritization.  Risk Assessment: A risk baseline for found vulnerabilities needs to be created and remediated accordingly. While VM solutions will produce long lists of discovered vulnerabilities and assign them to risk ratings, such as Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scores, these vulnerabilities still need further assessment. For example, are the vulnerabilities real or false positives, are they exploitable, and are the devices affected by these vulnerabilities essential to business processes? Plan of Action: Once vulnerabilities are assessed, security teams need to decide on the best plan of action for handling them. There are several ways a security team can address discovered vulnerabilities: Remediation would mean completely patching it to prevent exploitation. Mitigation would reduce the chances of the vulnerability being exploited. Mitigation is used when full remediation isn’t always a possibility.  Acceptance, where no action is taken because either the vulnerability is of low threat, or the cost of fixing the vulnerability would outweigh any repercussions of the vulnerability being exploited. A Solution to your Vulnerability Management Problems To overcome the many challenges that enterprises face with the VM process, especially those related to device vulnerability management, Device total platform is created. Unlike traditional VM solutions, DeviceTotal is a fully SaaS, automated solution that generates a unique risk score per vulnerability based on the device’s found vulnerabilities and its role in both its site (physical or logical) and organization. Using this unique risk score, accurate prioritizations are generated that enable security teams to focus on the most critical vulnerabilities first.  Schedule your demo today and see how DeviceTotal can protect your network from vulnerabilities lurking within your connected devices. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

Device Vulnerability and Threat Management Solutions: An Overview

Device Vulnerability and Threat Management Solutions: An Overview Traditional device vulnerability and threat management solutions claim to fill gaps in vendor-provided security for connected devices. But how well do they really protect your connected devices, network, and business-valuable assets? In this post, we’ll drill down to see what traditional device security solutions offer, where most companies are still exposed to risk and what can be done to overcome these challenges. The IoT industry has been growing exponentially. This has led to a proliferation of connected devices, which in turn, has changed the threat landscape and led to a sharp increase in IoT device targeting.  From routers to switches, and modems to smartphones, connected devices all have the potential to become entry points for hackers. By exploiting connected device vulnerabilities, hackers are able to gain access to the most sensitive areas of an enterprise’s networks. And while most vendors equip devices with some form of threat detection tools, these solutions are usually specific to already-reported, known vulnerabilities for specific device types and manufacturers, and do not take other vulnerabilities into account. Therefore, companies cannot afford to depend on vendor solutions alone for their device security. Traditional Device Security Solutions Can traditional device vulnerability and threat management solutions fill in these gaps? Let’s find out. Network-Based Solutions Network scanning is basically the mapping of all active devices on a network. This is done by sending a ping to each device and waiting to get a response. Cyber threat detection is conducted by reviewing the responses to see if there are inconsistencies that could point to a threat. It’s like having a teacher calling attendance in class and waiting for each student to respond—slow, and easy to circumvent.   By definition, network scanners are reactive, only detecting attacks after they happen. They have no way to proactively eliminate potential threats, and their support is limited. While they do offer the visibility to identify network-connected endpoints, they rarely incorporate the ability to accurately identify, track, and secure IoT devices. They’re also high risk—scanning gives an external tool access to an enterprise’s network and requires the devices’ credentials to perform the scans. Client/Agent-Based Solutions These endpoint threat management systems work with agents/clients on a connected device to uncover the device vulnerabilities. They were designed for computers, tablets, and phones that have the ability to run agents. However, IoT devices often run custom or outdated operating systems that cannot install agents after manufacturing.  Therefore, connected device manufacturers have to cooperate fully and install the agent during the development of the firmware for this type of solution to be effective. Since manufacturers don’t generally install agents, cybersecurity systems see IoT devices as unknown endpoints, and their security issues are left unattended, exposing the enterprise to attack. Vulnerability Management Solutions Vulnerability management solutions aim to offer a proactive and preventative security alternative but many of them have disadvantages that limit their effectiveness. Most vulnerability management tools are only relevant to connected devices that can install a client or agent. So as explained above, they have limited applicability.  Even when the device does have an agent or client, these VM solutions are still not ideal. For example, they generate a high rate of false positives, leading IT security teams to waste valuable time and resources manually verifying non-existent problems. Another problem is that they do not accurately prioritize vulnerabilities according to the device’s importance in business processes. This often results in less important devices that have a high CVSS score being marked as higher priority than more important devices with lower CVSS scores. Without the proper prioritization, critical devices can slip between the cracks and endanger the enterprise. DeviceTotal- Everything you Need for End-to-End Device Vulnerability and Management DeviceTotal is a complete threat elimination platform for connected devices. DeviceTotal enables you to effortlessly monitor your attack surface and get ahead of cyber threats, before they impact your connected networks. It gives you full visibility into your connected devices while continuously predicting, identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating cyber threats. How does DeviceTotal Compare to Traditional Solutions? DeviceTotal vs. Network-Based​ Unlike network-based solutions, DeviceTotal is predictive and can identify and eliminate attacks before they reach the network. It proactively scans connected devices and lets you know when device firmware needs to be updated to prevent exploitation.  The DeviceTotal dashboard displays all of the connected devices and shows which are vulnerable to attack, and the risk severity level for each device, making it easy for your security team to decide where to focus its resources. DeviceTotal vs. Client/Agent-Based DeviceTotal doesn’t require any client or agent installation—it identifies each and every device connected to the network by scanning the device’s firmware files. It offers a centralized solution for all devices, even those that aren’t able to install agents due to their outdated or custom operating systems, and prevents them from becoming a security risk. DeviceTotal vs. Vulnerability Management​ With DeviceTotal, there are no false positives. DeviceTotal provides the exact exploitation path for detected vulnerabilities, which allows it to verify that the vulnerability actually exists and can be weaponized in an attack. Even better—DeviceTotal not only identifies public vulnerabilities, it can also identify unknown vulnerabilities. DeviceTotal doesn’t require any network integration, making it a zero-risk solution. Summing it Up In today’s evolving threat landscape, the question isn’t whether your connected devices will be attacked, but when. Proactive threat elimination is the only way to keep your network safe and DeviceTotal is the only solution that offers an agentless, SaaS, zero-risk integration that supports any type of connected device. It’s also the only solution that identifies unknown vulnerabilities, provides mitigation and action plans, and prioritizes security risks according to business impact so that you can focus your resources where they matter most. Ready to get started? Schedule your demo today and see how DeviceTotal can protect your network from vulnerabilities lurking within your connected devices. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin