Having been involved in hundreds of vulnerability assessments I can confidently say that most issues have a single underlying source. The discovered vulnerability could be an increased risk of ransomware exposure, buffer overflows, elevation of privileges, denial of service, weak encryption, etc. Regardless of the diversity of the vulnerabilities, there is commonly a single deficiency within the organization that led to the risk. It is a crucial component of any solid cyber security framework, yet it remains one of the least appreciated and maintained areas of Information Technology. By now, you may have guessed, that I’m referring to patch management.
Inevitably, a vulnerability assessment will overturn workstations, servers, switches, firewalls, routers, wireless access points, hypervisors and countless other devices which all need to be patched. Consequently, the IT department is consumed with months of maintenance windows to get everything updated. After many late nights, every piece of infrastructure is finally fully patched. The IT department can finally get a good night’s sleep! Unfortunately, it won’t last long because while all of those patches were getting installed more vulnerabilities were discovered which will require more patching. This is the never-ending struggle of patch management.
It’s true that most IT departments have a pretty good handle on patching workstations and servers by leveraging automated patching solutions. However, that addresses only a small piece of the typical IT infrastructure. What’s a sleep deprived IT department to do to keep up with the tidal wave of patches? It’s simple, embrace Thrive’s NextGen services.
- Offload all server and hypervisor patching responsibility by transferring workloads to one of Thrive’s many cloud solutions.
- Deploy ThriveCloud managed firewalls, switches and wireless access points to allow for automated patch and firmware deployments during scheduled maintenance windows.
- Leverage Thrive’s 3rd party patching solution to update often overlooked and highly vulnerable software like Java, Acrobat and Zoom.
For more information on Thrive’s NextGen managed services, CONTACT US TODAY!
The latest Internet Explorer “Zero-Day” vulnerability, first acknowledged by Microsoft on Saturday, April 26th, has left all version of Internet Explorer 6 through 11 vulnerable to exploitation. However, initial reports indicate that IE versions 9, 10, and 11 are the primary targets. According to the research firm FireEye, the exploit uses an Adobe Flash SWF file to execute the exploit. Machines that do not have Flash installed are believed to be safe. It is important to note that Microsoft will not be producing a patch for its Microsoft XP operating system. Support for this OS ended on April 8, 2014 so if you’re running this operating system on your machine, you will need to upgrade.
If you currently have a Thrive Managed Firewall powered by Dell SonicWALL, the Intrusion Prevention signatures to cover the “Zero-Day” exploit were added to your device within the last 48 hours. You are protected from this vulnerability when on the Internet behind your corporate firewall. (more…)
Regardless of your industry, staying proactive with patch management can be a time consuming but extremely important effort. This is where a managed patching provider can be an invaluable resource.
If you were to conduct a survey of businesses to discover whether or not they are happy with their patch management strategy, the majority of them would likely say that they struggle with patch management processes and are overall dissatisfied with their patch management system. If you are one of the businesses that is constantly burdened by patch management, here are a few of the most common issues companies face and how a managed patching provider can help.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week released an alert indicating that all versions of Java up to and including the then latest Java version 7 update 10, contained weaknesses that could allow a malicious attacker to run code on a machine that had Java installed and enabled in web browsers on that system. What made this notification unique is that the DHS was encouraging users to disable or uninstall Java altogether whereas in past security bulletins they generally gave feedback on how to steer clear of threats to US computer systems. (more…)
Quality network security is an essential part of the operations for your business and meeting data protection compliance and regulatory requirements. It sounds really simple to say you just want to “keep the criminals out” while keeping your business in productive mode. Unfortunately, with the increased demands for technology and information security, this can result in a significant time investment.
Network security is no longer about just deploying firewalls and an antivirus program. Regardless of the size of your business, the latest threats are very advanced. This is why many companies are opting to use enterprise-class network security protection services to increase protection while saving time and money.
If you have never used this type of service for your company or small business, here is an overview of the core levels of protection that a network security protection service can provide.
Network Security in today’s high tech environment is now more important than ever. Hackers and cyber criminals have gotten very sophisticated in the methods they use to carry out exploits. For many companies this means added layers of security and infrastructures which create a network with many different facets.
In today’s economy many businesses do not have the resources which are required to implement the necessary equipment and employ staff with the skills to maintain network security. This represents a very real challenge for companies in terms of data security, business continuity and productivity. This is where network protection services can be invaluable when it comes to protecting company assets. (more…)
The security of today’s information systems go far beyond the general protection measures that were once considered to provide ample security against intrusion.For many companies that are implementing new technologies one of the top priorities during the planning phase is security. There are many different aspects that define the overall security of a company’s infrastructure, one of which is patch management.