Hackers work around the clock, so there’s no guarantee your organization won’t be next. And since your network is always connected to the outside world via the internet, you must ensure its protection on a constant basis. Otherwise, your organization is wide open to a variety of cyberattacks.
A great way to keep your business safe at all hours? Conduct continuous network scanning.
Continuous Network Scanning
Yearly or quarterly vulnerability scanning is no longer sufficient to detect risks in your IT system. You need a proactive, 24×7 continuous defense to stand a chance against the hackers incessantly probing your network.
Continuous network scanning involves monitoring for intrusions around the clock to reduce the likelihood that your IT system will be breached by bad actors to steal sensitive data. It also requires automatic alerts and reports that uncover the defense posture of your network, while indicating which employees could be a weak link in your security chain.
Continuous network scanning is vital since no business can afford to take 280 days to identify and contain a data breach, which is how long it takes companies, on average, according to the 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report from IBM. That gives hackers 40 weeks to wreak havoc on a company’s systems.
That’s why it’s important that security teams use a continuous approach to proactively find and patch vulnerabilities before, not after, a breach takes place.
Here are four types of scans to conduct as part of a holistic continuous network scanning strategy:
External Vulnerability Scans
This type of scan looks at your network from the hacker’s perspective. It scans external IP addresses and domains, probing for vulnerabilities in internet-facing infrastructure to determine which ones can be exploited.
External vulnerability scans are best used to verify the strength of your externally-facing services. It helps identify weaknesses in your perimeter defenses, such as a firewall. These scans reveal not only your vulnerabilities, but also the list of ports that are open and exposed to the internet.
Looking at your network from this point of view lets you easily identify the most pressing issues within your network, including any services or new servers that have been set up since the last scan to see if they present any new threats to your organization.
Internal Vulnerability Scans
Performed from a location with access to the internal network, internal vulnerability scans are more complex than external ones, because there are simply more potentially vulnerable assets within your organization. This scan will discover and catalog your core IP-connected endpoints, such as laptops, servers, peripherals, IoT-enabled machines, and mobile devices.
Internal vulnerability scanners check these endpoints for vulnerabilities due to misconfigurations or unpatched software, so you can prioritize the devices that require immediate attention to properly secure the network.
Internal scans are best used for patch verification, or when you need to provide a detailed report of vulnerabilities within the network. When analyzing the data, take note of trends such as the top missing patches and the most vulnerable machines.
Performing internal scans on a regular basis is a proactive approach to protecting your network from known vulnerabilities and helps you gain useful insight into your patch management process.
Host-Based Agents
A host-based agent lives on the device itself and tracks active processes, applications, Wi-Fi networks, or USB devices that don’t conform to company policies. It can then flag the user or IT team to fix the issue. In some cases, the agent can close the vulnerability by blocking the malicious action.
Host-based agents monitor system activity for signs of suspicious behavior, including repeated failed login attempts, changes to the system registry, or backdoor installations.
A host-based agent is not a complete solution. That’s because visibility is limited to a single host, and attacks aren’t seen until they have already reached the host. The passive nature of host-based technologies means they best suited to use in conjunction the other types of security scans listed here to take advantage of complementary strengths.
Penetration Testing Tools
IT teams can go beyond passive scanning with penetration testing tools. In penetration testing, security experts (also known as ethical hackers) simulate how malicious hackers may attempt to infiltrate your network.
These attacks help verify the effectiveness of your cybersecurity efforts, identify any potential weak spots, and test the human response capabilities of your security team and IT partners. Valuable and effective penetration testing tools are vital to gauge your system’s security posture.
Types of penetration tests include:
Clear Box Tests
Your organization provides penetration testers with a variety of security information relating to your systems to help them easily find vulnerabilities.
Blind Tests
Your company provides penetration testers with no security information about the system being penetrated with the goal of exposing vulnerabilities that would otherwise go undetected.
Double-Blind Test
Your organization does not provide penetration testers with security information, nor do you inform your own computer security teams of the tests.
External Tests
Penetration testers attempt to find vulnerabilities in external-facing applications, such as websites, that can be accessed remotely.
Internal Tests
Penetration testing takes place on-premises and focuses on security vulnerabilities that someone within your organization may use for their advantage.
Penetration testing can be critical. It shows you where and how a malicious attacker might exploit your network, allowing you to mitigate any weaknesses before a real attack occurs.
With the four security scanning methods we highlight here, your organization will greatly reduce its risk of a data breach.
How Century Solutions Group Can Help
Managed Risk provides visibility into the real-time threat landscape of your internal networks, external networks, and endpoints to help you prioritize vulnerabilities, reduce exposure, and effectively manage your cyber risk.
Unlike alternatives that rely strictly on automated approaches that make assessing vulnerabilities difficult, Century Solutions Grou[p provides a quantified, real-time understanding of your cyber risks so you can take prioritized action to improve your risk and security posture. It complements Century Solutions Managed Detection and Response to ensure you reduce both the likelihood and the impact of a cyberattack.