TRENDING inventory is a challenge for organizations that rely on manual , point-in-time audits to identify devices and protocols on their networks .
A better approach is to use a network monitoring tool that passively and continuously analyzes network traffic to pinpoint every device connecting to your network and each protocol in use at any given moment . The increase in both remote work and cloud environments has created more ways to introduce insecure protocols into organization ’ s environments . These trends have made continuous monitoring of network traffic for device protocol identification essential .
To produce the 2023 Global Cyber Confidence Index : Cybersecurity Debt Drives Up Costs and Ransomware Risk report , ExtraHop partnered with Wakefield Research to survey 950 IT decision makers across the US , Europe and APAC including 100 in Australia and New Zealand .
Respondents were asked about the impact of cybersecurity debt on their organizations ’ security postures and their confidence in it .
Greater visibility into the network with an NDR solution can help reveal the cyber truth and shine a light on the most pressing vulnerabilities so they can better take control of their cybersecurity debt .
Step 2 : Update configuration templates and settings
Devices and software that communicate across the network are configured with default settings that may go out of date over time . If a new device or solution is introduced into the environment and left to its default configuration , it may run protocols that are no longer considered secure .
Similarly , cloud systems and workloads use configuration templates to determine their protocol usage . Over time , as new protocols are developed
The research revealed the high cost of cybersecurity debt by showing how the debt associated with weak cyber hygiene practices is a leading cause of cyber incidents , including ransomware .
and old versions deprecated , these configuration templates may go out of date and need to be updated . Any new workloads created with an older template may introduce insecure protocols into the environment . Because of the often short-lived and ephemeral nature of cloud workloads , it can be very challenging to catch these instances of insecure protocol usage and know how to get them out of your system . This is where a network monitoring solution can help .
Step 3 : Disable unused ports
Other steps organizations can take to remediate network-related cybersecurity debt is to disable unused ports , as well as any unnecessary services , on Internet connected networking devices and to develop and implement a roadmap for replacing legacy protocols . p
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