The primary security measure to prevent cyber attacks is software patching. Many organizations know the benefits of patching, but the challenge begins when carrying out patching as a routine activity.
Patch Management Risks
The term patch triggers many familiar scenarios which include the duct tape repairs of different objects, affixing a rubber patch to a blown bicycle tire and much more. While these temporary fixes won’t heal the fundamental cause, they are easy and quick solutions.
Challenges of Software Patching
Patch management and software patching is an essential component in IT. However, we overestimate its capacity to solve security issues. Most times, there is an assumption that if your IT security team is not keeping up with patching, it’s always going to be their fault when there is a vulnerability in your network. Therefore, let’s explore this process and discuss this model of security patching, challenges of software patching and how these challenges can be tackled.
Cyberattacks Have Increased During the Pandemic, Learn How to Protect Yourself
Cyberattacks have been causing concern and discomfort for those who use and depend on digital spaces for some time now.
This type of activity disrespects the private life of social subjects, in order to expose them to different types of risks.
They usually occur unexpectedly and victims suffer numerous damages, whether monetary, psychological or otherwise.
This action is commonly practiced by malicious hackers, who are dedicated to committing crimes in virtual systems through their technical knowledge of the software.
Hackers can infect connected devices by sending a virus, affecting their performance, and causing irreversible damage.
Likewise, these malicious attackers can steal personal data and information from computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and other connected digital technology devices.
The practice of these crimes can generate harm with no turning back for those who suffer them, and they are more common than it seems.
During the crisis of the new coronavirus, this became even more evident.
The Scenario of Cyberattacks During the New Coronavirus Pandemic
It is possible to state that, if the situation was already quite serious before the pandemic, with the arrival of the new coronavirus, it only worsened.
The new virus brought many complications and, due to the preventive measures required to avoid a more catastrophic situation than the current one, preventive sanitary measures were taken, including social distancing.
This has led many people to work from home. The number of home office jobs had a considerable increase because companies and businesses across the country had to start a process of moving from the physical to the virtual world to survive the crisis.
A consequence was people starting to consume more products online due to isolation, which caused the virtual market and the demand for connectivity to skyrocket.
From this perspective, especially considering the emergency context of society’s shift to the digital world and coinciding with the growth in the number of users, the consequence was a considerable increase in the number of cyberattacks.
This demonstrates a problematic situation in several spheres.
For this reason, it becomes increasingly important to take preventive measures, both concerning the new coronavirus, as well as the security of your electronic equipment and digital devices.
Some precautions and preventive measures can be essential so that a situation as unpleasant as cybercrime is avoided, preventing possible troubles and losses that can often be irreparable.
Protect Yourself from Cyberattacks During the Pandemic
Although it is regrettable to have to worry about the security of your electronic devices, as well as data and personal information in virtual systems that, presumably, should be protected, it is important to be aware of the dangers that exist within the digital world.
By knowing the risks, one can look for preventive measures and, in this way, reduce the chances of potential damage. Here’s some information that can help protect against cyberattacks.
Choose Your Password Wisely
It may seem trivial, but choosing a more complex password makes it very difficult for attackers to gain access to your systems and networks.
Therefore, an important tip is to choose passwords with a higher degree of difficulty, especially those used in more significant virtual spaces; try to develop a more elaborate password.
At the same time, it is interesting to change the password from time to time, helping to reduce the number of data recorded during a certain period.
We often access websites or virtual platforms on different electronic devices and this can facilitate access by malicious individuals.
In the last year, there was also an increase in the number of leaks of various users’ data and information throughout Brazil.
For this reason, it is recommended that you double-check if you are among this group of people. You can perform this check through the senhasegura Hunter website and find out if any of your data has already been exposed.
If after checking it, you discover that your privacy has been invaded and your data has been exposed, immediately change your passwords and check that there has been no serious damage.
Search for PAM Solutions
PAM (Privileged Access Management) solutions work as a great support in managing the passwords of your organization’s critical systems and in protecting your data.
This type of solution works as a repository that stores and protects passwords, information, and important documents of your business. Also, a PAM solution such as senhasegura monitors access and ensures control and security of the passwords provided.
About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About Senhasegura
Senhasegura strive to ensure the sovereignty of companies over actions and privileged information. To this end, we work against data theft through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases and a multitude of devices. In addition, we pursue compliance with auditing requirements and the most demanding standards, including PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001 and HIPAA.
RADIUS Authentication, Now in the Cloud
Understanding RADIUS Authentication
Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is a protocol that was historically designed to authenticate remote users to a dial-in access server. Today, RADIUS authentication is used across an array of scenarios and is well known for it AAA capabilities — authentication, authorization, and accounting. By centralizing AAA capabilities, organizations give themselves improved security and greater efficiency. RADIUS servers provide each business with the ability to preserve the privacy and security of both the system and each individual user.
A basic RADIUS accounting process includes:
- The process starts when the user is granted access to the RADIUS Server.
- The RADIUS Client sends a RADIUS Accounting-Request packet known as Accounting Start, to the RADIUS Server. The request packet comprises the user ID, network address, session identifier, and point of access.
- During the session, the Client may send additional Accounting-Request packets known as Interim Update to the RADIUS Server. These packets include details like the current session duration and data usage. This packet serves the purpose of updating the information about the user’s session to the RADIUS Server.
- Once the user’s access to the RADIUS Server ends, the RADIUS Client sends another Accounting-Request packet known as Accounting Stop, to the RADIUS Server. The packet includes information such as total time, data, and packets transferred the reason for disconnection, and other information relevant to the user’s session.
- Ultimately, RADIUS authentication prevents your organization’s confidential data from being leaked. It also allows easy depreciation capabilities and enables individual users to be assigned with unique network permissions based on their location, role, etc.
RADIUS Authentication in the Cloud
It’s well known today that RADIUS authentication is an effective way of enhancing network security, visibility and control. Just as more and more organizations move their enterprise software stack to the cloud, so too are they demanding flexibility and ease of deployment as it relates to RADIUS. This has given rise to the cloud RADIUS, a modern take on the traditional on-premise RADIUS server.
Standing up a cloud RADIUS offers several benefits for your organization, including:
- Built-in redundancy
- Ease of deployment
- Cost efficiency
- Auto-scaling
- ..the list goes on…
For these reasons, network engineers are turning cloud RADIUS solutions in droves. And as vendors like Portnox continue to make advances in machine learning, the reliability and feature sets of cloud RADIUS options become more and more appealing.
Portnox CLEAR’s Cloud RADIUS
Securing your network will always be a priority – no doubt one of many priorities your IT team is faced with – but it doesn’t need to be a drain on time and resources. With Portnox’s RADIUS-as-a-Service solution, companies can now efficiently and affordably authenticate to wifi, VPN, switches and network devices, while simplifying administration and enabling long-term scalability.
Tired of all the heavy lifting when it comes to standing up RADIUS servers? We feel your pain, that’s why we’re making it easier than ever to securely authenticate and control wired and wireless network access for all your users and devices.
How it Works
About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About Portnox
Portnox provides simple-to-deploy, operate and maintain network access control, security and visibility solutions. Portnox software can be deployed on-premises, as a cloud-delivered service, or in hybrid mode. It is agentless and vendor-agnostic, allowing organizations to maximize their existing network and cybersecurity investments. Hundreds of enterprises around the world rely on Portnox for network visibility, cybersecurity policy enforcement and regulatory compliance. The company has been recognized for its innovations by Info Security Products Guide, Cyber Security Excellence Awards, IoT Innovator Awards, Computing Security Awards, Best of Interop ITX and Cyber Defense Magazine. Portnox has offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For information visit http://www.portnox.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.。
