five security vulnerabilities associated with remote access technologies

What are the security vulnerabilities associated with remote access technologies?

• lack of physical security controls – creating a risk of device loss or theft.
• eavesdropping – as information travels over the public internet.
• unauthorised access to systems or data – perhaps overlooking the screen.
• monitoring and manipulation of data – if someone gains access to the device.

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What are the vulnerabilities of remote workforces?

Read on to learn about three of the most significant vulnerabilities for remote workforces. 1. Remote workforces are more susceptible to phishing scams. Without the proper protections on personal devices, remote workers can face greater threats from phishing attacks. Cyber criminals don’t care if personnel are working from home or in the office.

What are the common types of vulnerabilities in computer systems?

User Vulnerabilities. Users sometimes write their login information on sticky notes and leave them places such as their monitors. Other users are sometimes too careless when they allow others to watch them log onto a system. Obviously their are other sorts of user vulnerabilities such as those gained through social engineering.

Why can’t security teams detect advanced threats from remote users?

However, many security teams lack visibility into remote user activity and into east-west traffic inside the network, so they can’t detect advanced threats from remote users or identify an attacker jumping from a compromised user’s machine to hosts inside the network.

Why are unprotected remote organizations more vulnerable to email scams?

Unprotected remote organizations are more susceptible due to the increased complexity of the network environment because many organizations still don’t use multi-factor authentication. In total, Americans lose $3.1 billion to email scams each year. 2. Out-of-date devices give hackers an easy in.

What are the security vulnerabilities associated with remote access technologies?

Many remote access security risks abound, but below is a list of the ones that jump out.Lack of information. ... Password sharing. ... Software. ... Personal devices. ... Patching. ... Vulnerable backups. ... Device hygiene. ... Phishing attacks.

What are the 4 main types of security vulnerability?

Security Vulnerability TypesNetwork Vulnerabilities. These are issues with a network's hardware or software that expose it to possible intrusion by an outside party. ... Operating System Vulnerabilities. ... Human Vulnerabilities. ... Process Vulnerabilities.

What types of attacks are remote access servers vulnerable to?

Other attacks which hackers can facilitate through remote access include email phishing, third-party vendor compromise, insider threats, social engineering, and the use of vulnerable applications to compromise systems. Hackers use Common remote access tools to penetrate third-party access to merchant information ...

What is a remote vulnerability?

RCE vulnerabilities allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a remote device. An attacker can achieve RCE in a few different ways, including: Injection Attacks: Many different types of applications, such as SQL queries, use user-provided data as input to a command.

What is the most common vulnerability?

OWASP Top 10 VulnerabilitiesSensitive Data Exposure. ... XML External Entities. ... Broken Access Control. ... Security Misconfiguration. ... Cross-Site Scripting. ... Insecure Deserialization. ... Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities. ... Insufficient Logging and Monitoring.More items...

What are the types of vulnerabilities?

In that list, they categorize three main types of security vulnerabilities based their more extrinsic weaknesses: Porous defenses. Risky resource management. Insecure interaction between components.

What are the security risks of remote working?

Top Security Risks of Remote WorkingGDPR and remote working. Remote work means an employer has less control and visibility over employees' data security. ... Phishing Emails. ... Weak Passwords. ... Unsecured Home Devices. ... Unencrypted File Sharing. ... Open Home WiFi Networks.

What are remote access attacks?

A remote attack is a malicious action that targets one or a network of computers. The remote attack does not affect the computer the attacker is using. Instead, the attacker will find vulnerable points in a computer or network's security software to access the machine or system.

What are some of the security vulnerabilities with network sharing?

7 Most Common Network Vulnerabilities for BusinessesThere are several types of malware, including: ... Outdated or Unpatched Software Applications. ... Weak Passwords. ... Single Factor Authentication. ... Poor Firewall Configuration. ... Mobile Device Vulnerabilities. ... Lack of Data Backup. ... Unsecure Email.

What is the vulnerability called when you can include a remote file for malicious purposes?

Remote file inclusion (RFI)Remote file inclusion (RFI) is an attack targeting vulnerabilities in web applications that dynamically reference external scripts. The perpetrator's goal is to exploit the referencing function in an application to upload malware (e.g., backdoor shells) from a remote URL located within a different domain.

Is Remote Code Execution A vulnerability?

One well-known vulnerability in web applications is one that is known as Remote Code Execution. In this type of vulnerability an attacker is able to run code of their choosing with system level privileges on a server that possesses the appropriate weakness.

What is remote exploitation?

What Is Remote Services Exploitation? Remote services exploitation is a technique that allows an adversary to gain unauthorized access into a network's internal systems by taking advantage of a vulnerability (such as a programming error) or a valid account.

What is considered a security vulnerability?

A Security Vulnerability is a weakness, flaw, or error found within a security system that has the potential to be leveraged by a threat agent in order to compromise a secure network.

What are the different types of vulnerability in cyber security?

The most common software security vulnerabilities include:Missing data encryption.OS command injection.SQL injection.Buffer overflow.Missing authentication for critical function.Missing authorization.Unrestricted upload of dangerous file types.Reliance on untrusted inputs in a security decision.More items...

What are the three 3 types of network service vulnerabilities?

At the broadest level, network vulnerabilities fall into three categories: hardware-based, software-based, and human-based.

Can you give me an example of common security vulnerabilities?

Another common vulnerability example is a password reset function that relies on user input to determine whose password we're resetting. After clicking the valid URL, an attacker can just modify the username field in the URL to say something like “admin”.

What should security teams do if on-premises network and email security mechanisms are no longer available?

Recommendation: If some on-premises network and email security mechanisms are no longer available, security teams should double down on educating users to identify phishing attempts and to choose strong, unique passwords, encouraging the use of a password manager. They should also implement client certificates and multi-factor authentication in order to prevent attackers from gaining access through unsecured devices.

What are the risks of using a VPN?

Here are five top security risks that teams must deal with, as well as technology and user education best practices to keep users and data safe: 1. Weak remote access policies. Once attackers get access to a virtual private network (VPN), they can often penetrate the rest of the network like a hot knife through butter.

What is Wildfire malware analysis?

Resources: Learn how the cloud-delivered WildFire® malware analysis service – which is built into Cortex XDR and many other Palo Alto Networks products – aggregates data and threat intelligence from the industry’s largest global community to automatically identify and stop threats. Additionally, URL Filtering blocks access to malicious sites to help prevent phishing attacks.

Why do companies use VPNs?

Historically, many companies deployed VPNs primarily for technical people needing access to critical technology assets. Not so much the case anymore – VPNs are often encouraged for all users as a more secure connection than home or public networks.

Why is it important to enforce access based on user identity?

Recommendation: It’s critical that companies enforce access based on user identity, allowing specific groups access to only what they need to get their jobs done, and expanding access from there on an as-needed basis.

What is XDR in security?

Recommendation: Rather than invest in point solutions, consider security platforms that maximize integration between systems, limiting the amount of switching between tools and providing visibility into all data – including remote user activity. Extended detection and response (XDR) not only protects endpoints, but also applies analytics across all your data to find threats like unusual access or lateral movement, and simplifies investigations by stitching together data and identifying the root cause.

Why are unprotected remote organizations more susceptible to email scams?

Unprotected remote organizations are more susceptible due to the increased complexity of the network environment because many organizations still don’t use multi-factor authentication. In total, Americans lose $3.1 billion to email scams each year.

What are flash vulnerabilities?

These vulnerabilities include personal mobile devices that are used for business communications. According to a Duo report, approximately 60 percent of enterprise devices were found to be running on older, vulnerable versions of flash. These exploits allow hackers to download software that assesses a device’s flash version and installs malware, should the right version (s) be identified. From there, attackers have full access to each infected machine.

How many employees did hackers give out login details?

In one notable attack, staff members accidentally gave out login details for five employees. The end result: the exposure of sensitive data for 80 million customers. Ironically, hackers used the media attention to send more rounds of phishing emails.

What are opportunistic hackers?

Opportunistic hackers typically aim for well-known vulnerabilities. They’re particularly interested in known exploits for older, out of-date-devices. An organization which allows remote workers to use outdated personal devices puts their critical business information at great risk to cyber criminals.

Is remote work the future?

Remote employment is clearly the future of work. It’s especially apparent now given the organizational challenges of working during COVID-19, but there’s no doubt that demand will only grow in the foreseeable future. All that’s needed to keep hackers at bay is a diligent focus on training, and device and network security.

Is working from home a security risk?

Working from home opens organizations up to increased security risk , however, through their workforce’s frequent use of unsecured WiFi, personal device usage and the ensuing growth of complexity in network environments.

Can hackers hack remote workers?

Without the proper protections on personal devices, remote workers can face greater threats from phishing attacks. Cyber criminals don’t care if personnel are working from home or in the office. Either way, they can trick workers into giving up login credentials—or completing a financial transaction—by posing as a message from a reputable company.

Why is remote work so attractive?

The remote work environment is particularly appealing for attackers for several reasons. First, the home-network environment is not professionally managed. Most critically, this means that many more systems on home networks are not patched regularly, and a number of them are out of date with respect to vulnerability mitigation. Some may even be treated by their manufacturers as end-of-life (EOL) products, and will never receive mitigations even when serious vulnerabilities are found.

What is remote work?

Remote Work: Vulnerabilities and Threats to the Enterprise. For many organizations, COVID-19 dramatically changed the risk calculation for remote work. In January 2020, many enterprises viewed remote work with skepticism; by March, the choice for many was to become a remote-first enterprise or to shut down.

What is a VPN client?

The system running the VPN client becomes, effectively, an extension of the enterprise network, existing inside that network's perimeter with access to resources generally equivalent to any other system on the enterprise network. VPNs defend against attack via authenticated access control and isolation.

What is persistence on an enterprise network?

To persist on an enterprise network, an attacker who has exploited a system must avoid detection and resist remediation. Here too, the home network is friendlier to the attacker; threat detection is typically nearly absent, and remediation incidental, such as when a PC is reinstalled or retired because it is running slowly.

What is enterprise network?

Enterprise networks were traditionally accessed only on enterprise-provided equipment. This arrangement has permitted enterprises unrestricted access to monitor and configure the device precisely according to their risk profiles and mitigation strategies. It also has required the enterprise to purchase and maintain equipment. This has sometimes frustrated end users when the enterprise was unwilling to buy newer equipment, a problem that became particularly pronounced when smartphones and tablet devices entered the market.

What is zero trust architecture?

In fact, the foundation of zero-trust architecture, an emerging trend in enterprise and distributed networking, is the idea that one's network should be assumed hostile. The key to securing the remote work environment is to extend these zero-trust assumptions further. It isn't just the network that should be assumed hostile, but everything that is not under the enterprise's control. Interestingly, this may extend even to the endpoints that are used to access enterprise resources.

Is remote work a threat?

Attackers have been aware of remote work as a threat vector for some time. Mandiant reported a 2015 trend of attackers hijacking VPN connections, even those protected with multi-factor authentication (MFA). Unsurprisingly, in 2020 attackers moved early to capitalize on the rapid shift to work from home at numerous organizations, including federal agencies, such as NASA.

What information could be used by attackers to target other organizations and their industrial systems?

This information, which may include data regarding assets, processes, and other sensitive items, could be used by attackers to target other organizations and their industrial systems.

Can an attacker see sensitive information?

Researchers noted that by exploiting the B&R flaws, an attacker who has gained authorized access to the B&R solution (for example, by simply acquiring a legitimate general license, available to anyone) can view sensitive information about other users whose information resides on the same server.

What are user vulnerabilities?

User Vulnerabilities. Users sometimes write their login information on sticky notes and leave them places such as their monitors. Other users are sometimes too careless when they allow others to watch them log onto a system. Obviously their are other sorts of user vulnerabilities such as those gained through social engineering.

What are the most pervasive things that admins fail to do?

Administrator Vulnerabilities. One of the most pervasive things that admins fail to do is educate themselves about known vulnerabilities and fixes. They might also fail to keep up to date with patches.

What is the most common mode of attack?

One fairly typical mode of attack is for a hacker to sniff on a public network, such a the Internet. The hacker looks for packets that come from a source that is able to get through, is trusted by, a particular firewall. Once the hacker discovers such a transmission source they might be able to construct their own packets and send them through this same firewall.