6 Vulnerabilities in Your IT Infrastructure and How to Fix Them

Cybercriminals can exploit various vulnerabilities in your business, which is why it's essential to address them to protect your reputation. Taking your cybersecurity seriously is essential, no matter your organization. Without it, cybercriminals can easily disrupt your operations.

Take the University of Sunderland as an example.

Initially, it seemed that the university was facing a typical IT problem that would be quickly resolved. However, the university quickly realized it was the victim of a cyberattack. As a result, it had to cancel all its online classes. Employees also had difficulty accessing their emails. The phone lines and website also went down. This setback had significant consequences, as the university was unable to resume operations immediately.

This incident proves that even large institutions, such as universities, have flaws in their cybersecurity systems, making them vulnerable to attacks.

Your business may have similar vulnerabilities.

However, the main difference is that in addition to disrupting your business, these attacks can cost you thousands of dollars and lead to legal repercussions. Therefore, you should regularly monitor your solutions for vulnerabilities. In this article, you'll learn what to look for.

Vulnerability 1 – Lack of Endpoint Defense

Many businesses lack endpoint defense strategies, such as antivirus tools. This means they are more vulnerable to cyberattacks, allowing attackers to easily access their servers.

Defending these endpoints is a major challenge, as they are often inadequate and become vulnerable. This is especially true if they are protected with traditional antivirus systems, which only recognize known patterns. These are not effective enough, as sophisticated criminals are able to quickly bypass them.

In fact, most antivirus programs don't monitor for unexpected or unusual behavior. They also lack the ability to investigate or respond to endpoints, especially at scale.

The best way to address these issues is to invest in state-of-the-art EDRs with behavioral analysis, response, and next-generation antivirus capabilities. EDRs provide a comprehensive assessment of malicious actions and flexible prevention options. If you're using a traditional antivirus system, consider upgrading to a version with in-depth behavioral inspections.

Vulnerability 2 – Poor control of access privileges

Limiting user access privileges to your software is the cornerstone of vulnerability management. The less access they have to information, the less likely they are to cause damage if their account is compromised.

The problem arises if your organization doesn't control access to user accounts, allowing virtually any user to have access to administrator-level functions. The situation is even worse if your setup allows unprivileged members to create administrator-level accounts.

Therefore, you should only grant access to team members who cannot perform their tasks without it. Also, ensure that new accounts do not have administrator-level access. This prevents less-privileged users from creating additional administrator accounts.

Vulnerability 3 – Compromised or weak credentials

Your password and username may be among your most used credentials. If so, cybercriminals can easily compromise them, exposing your credentials.

This typically happens when an unsuspecting team member falls victim to phishing and enters their credentials on a fake website. With this information, the intruder gains internal access.
While monitoring and analysis can help identify malicious activity, obtaining these credentials allows them to bypass security and prevent detection. The consequences vary depending on the access these credentials grant.

Remember that humans aren't the only ones with credentials. Security tools, network devices, and servers often have passwords to ensure communication and integration between devices. Hackers can use these passwords to enable actions across your organization, both horizontally and vertically—gaining nearly unlimited access.
To prevent this scenario, it's important to implement strict password controls. Another good idea is to create longer, more complex passwords and change them frequently. Combining these principles is an effective method for preventing credential compromise.

Vulnerability 4 – Lack of network segmentation

Cybercriminals can exploit poor network monitoring and segmentation to gain complete access to your system. This is a significant vulnerability because it allows attackers to maintain their access for longer.
One of the main causes of this weakness is the lack of subnet monitoring or outbound activity control.

Overcoming this obstacle in a large enterprise can be difficult if hundreds of systems are sending outbound traffic and communicating with each other. However, solving this problem is essential.
To do this, you should primarily focus on controlling network access to the systems in your subnets and developing robust detection strategies for lateral movement. Finally, be sure to spot strange DNS lookups, traffic behavior patterns, and inter-system communications.
Additionally, microsegmentation, firewalls, and proxies can help create restrictive policies for system communications and traffic.

Vulnerability 5 – Misconfiguration

A “misconfiguration” refers to errors in your system configuration. For example, default settings pages and usernames or passwords can lead to intrusions.

If you don't disable the configuration of the application server or settings, hackers can identify hidden vulnerabilities, giving them access to additional information. Misconfigured applications and devices are an easy gateway for cybercriminals to exploit.

To avoid this, establish procedures to strengthen the configuration process and use automation whenever possible. Monitoring device and application settings and comparing them with recommended practices also helps detect potential network threats.

Vulnerability6 – Ransomware

Ransomware is a form of cyber extortion that prevents users from accessing their data until the attacker receives a ransom. It demands that the victim pay a certain amount to obtain their decryption key. These fees can reach thousands of dollars, but many criminals also opt for Bitcoin payments.

To protect your data, you need to ensure your system is ready to handle a ransomware threat. To do this, keep your system updated with the latest security standards, as this reduces the number of vulnerabilities. Another recommended defense is to stick with reliable software providers.

Neutralize Threats For Peace of Mind

It's virtually impossible to successfully run a business with inadequate cybersecurity measures. The risk of losing valuable data and damaging your reputation is simply too high.

To ensure your business isn't an easy target for cybercriminals, implementing reliable defense strategies is essential. If your IT provider can't take the necessary precautions, you're taking a risk. You're paying significant amounts for security strategies that aren't useful to your business.

To determine the problem with your IT system, contact us for a quick, no-obligation discussion. We'll determine if we can help you improve your system's performance and implement a robust system for your business.

Article used with permission from The Technology Press .

About Nexxo

Nexxo Computer Solutions specializes in providing IT and technology services to Quebec businesses. Its mission is to offer Quebec companies IT services tailored to their needs. Acting as an external IT department, it handles all of a company's IT tasks, allowing it to focus on its business activities. It achieves this by collaborating closely with its clients and putting their interests at the center of its concerns.