Network Security Risks that SecOps Need to be Aware of

Digital transformation initiatives, cloud migration, and the sophisticated cybercrime industry has exposed modern enterprises to various vulnerabilities and security risks. Network security could be one of the biggest risks for SecOps.

Cybercriminals are looking out for attack surface areas throughout the business network to infiltrate the IT infrastructure. Enterprises stores sensitive business data on computers and share them with other systems on the business network. Cybercriminals identify the weak asset, devices, or systems in the IT infrastructure and use them as gateways. SecOps teams need to have effective policies to defend the business network from cybersecurity risks and threats. Here are a few network security risks that SecOps should be aware of:

Misconfiguration

A recent report by Verizon titled “2022 data breach investigations report” suggests that nearly 14% of the breaches are a result of errors or misconfigurations on the business network. Errors while configuring the system or application lead to higher vulnerabilities resulting in a less secure IT infrastructure. SecOps teams that configure tools without understanding the implementation consequences will have multiple misconfiguration errors throughout the network. A business network security firewall with configuration errors will grant access to unauthorized users to an internal IT infrastructure and result in leaking sensitive business information.

Also Read: Strategies to Reduce Attack Surface Areas

Obsolete tools

Application and software developers frequently deploy updates with bug fixes and patches to cover all the unpatched attack surface areas. It is crucial to apply all the necessary patches to fix the known vulnerabilities, but it can be a challenging and time-consuming task to implement these patches.

Businesses that do not have workflows to update the applications, firmware, operating systems, and software on the business network as soon as the updates are released. Applications that are not updated with the latest version expose the business network to various cybersecurity threats and risks.

CISOs should consider integrating a vulnerability scanner into the security tech stack to audit the entire IT infrastructure to spot all the applications and misconfigurations that need to be updated ensure security against various vulnerabilities.

Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack

Cybercriminals leverage the above-mentioned threats to breach a business network and steal sensitive information. Threat actors execute a full-blown Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack to overload servers and make them inaccessible. Cyber attackers utilize malware and botnets as attack vectors to deploy malicious traffic on the IT infrastructure. Even though DoS attacks will not result in theft or loss of data, they can have a significant impact on business continuity. CISOs should consider implementing a robust content delivery network (CDN) to enable organizations to secure their digital assets against DOS and other malicious attacks.

Also Read: Strategies to Secure IT Infrastructure from Ransomware Attacks Stemming from Third-Party Vendors

Bugs in the framework

Bugs exist in almost all applications, firmware, software, and device algorithms integrated into the business network. Lack of proper testing approaches, communication, or inadequate specifications documents results in bugs in the algorithm. It is not necessary that all the bugs in the network will expose the business network to various cybersecurity threats and risks. SecOps teams need to be vigilant about bugs like SQL injection because they can have serious implications. SQL injection exposes sensitive data and enables malicious actors to take remote access and control of compromised systems.