How can you identify vulnerabilities in your network security?

I've led comprehensive risk assessments in the past that involve transitioning to a hybrid cloud environment. By incorporating threat modeling, we identified potential attack vectors specific to their infrastructure, such as misconfigured cloud storage and vulnerable API endpoints. Conducting secure architecture reviews early in the design phase can allow organizations to implement zero trust principles and micro-segmentation, significantly reducing the risk of lateral movement. This proactive approach not only uncovers existing vulnerabilities but also helps fortify the network against sophisticated cyber threats, ensuring a secure by design implementation.

Use automated vulnerability scanning tools to scan your network infrastructure, systems, and applications for known vulnerabilities. These tools can identify common weaknesses and misconfigurations that could be exploited by attackers.

Vulnerability Scanners can be configured to run automatically, outside of business hours, to scan for security concerns without affecting the daily workflow. The scan can take some time and depending on the type, it can eat up available bandwidth. However, there are some vulnerabilities that can only be caught in the wild. Monitor the daily traffic, sift through the data with the help of threat intelligence, and then let your automated scans take a crack at the network overnight. Once the scans are done, compare the daily traffic, the threat intel, and the vulnerability scan reports to get a better picture of your organization.

Conduct a network penetration test. Gather all your assets/IP addresses and provide it to your pentest provider. For the pentest various automated tools are used for interacting and inspecting services, the main goal is to find misconfigurations and/or outdated software, and both are opening up various vulnerabilities from which an attacker could perform malicious activities.

Based on my experience, the growing complexity of cloud networks makes organizational networks increasingly intricate. In such cases, even a small loophole can serve as an easy entry point for intruders. Therefore, penetration testing is an imperative step to identify weaknesses in your network. In an era of sophisticated attacks, the scope of penetration testing should not be limited; comprehensive and aggressive penetration testing should be conducted to cover all potential security loopholes. Additionally, penetration testing should be conducted regularly to ensure continuous protection against new threats.

From the technical side, a software can be 100% secure… until someone reverse engineers or analyzes source code and finds vulnerabilities. The point is always stay up to date with your software as hackers had less time to try to exploit those.

some ways to identify vulnerabilities are by keeping all software, and firmware updated, and up to date. - Regularly checking for updates from vendors - Testing patches in a controlled environment - Deploying patches to production systems - Verifying the success of patch deployment for example, if a company's website was running on an outdated version of WordPress. we recommended updating to the latest version, which included security patches for known vulnerabilities. By doing so, we can reduce the risk of our website being exploited by attackers.

Even when something is 100% secure from the technical side, the human element is always the weakest and it is only WHEN something could happen, we are all humans and we make mistakes, the main goal is to minimize the possibility for it.

Provide regular cybersecurity training to employees to raise awareness about common threats, phishing scams, and best practices for secure behavior. Educated employees are better equipped to recognize and report potential security issues.

This cannot be overemphasized, a weakness in one employee can lead to the failure of all controls put in place. Employee training must be a regular activity on all organizations that have security at heart.

Organizations with policies that aren't been enforced are no better than those without the policies. Policies are better enforced with Management backing since the policies are by them.

Implement and enforce security policies and protocols across your organization. This includes policies for strong passwords, access control, data encryption, and secure remote access to network resources.

In addition to technical measures, consider these non-technical aspects to enhance your network security: Employee Training, Security Policies, Vendor Risk management, and Incident Response Planning.

Risk assessment is the first step of risk mitigation, however, in most organizations controls are implemented to mitigate risk with a risk assessment. A wholistic risk assessment must be conducted and reviewed occasionally because the threat landscape is ever evolving.

I think number one factor to have effective vulnerability management is to have a clear SLA with the respective technical teams for remediation. Also, to scan the network in a weekly or daily basis to be aware of all zero-day and critical vulnerabilities.

The network is only as secure as the devices that join. I'm an advocate for user support and one of my favorite stories in that realm is that if you don't support your users, they'll find a way to support themselves... which we then call ShadowIT. In an old brick building I used to work in, there was terrible WiFi coverage. After submitting several tickets to get it fixed, with no actual improvements, a frustrated user brought in a wireless access point they picked up at Microcenter and used an online guide to set it up. One view on that is that the security posture shouldn't have allowed the user to join that device. Another view is that if the user was supported, they wouldn't have tried to make their own path.

Third-party Audits: Consider hiring external auditors or security experts to conduct independent audits of your network security posture. Incident Response Planning: Develop and maintain an incident response plan to quickly address and mitigate security breaches or vulnerabilities when they occur. Continuous Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring tools and processes to detect and respond to security incidents in real time. Security Awareness Programs: Engage employees in ongoing security awareness programs to reinforce good security practices and promote a culture of security within your organization.