We recently wrote about why known vulnerabilities are a cyber criminal’s best friend. The cost and effort required to launch attacks against known vulnerabilities that have patches available is minimal compared to developing a new attack vector or finding a zero day vulnerability. In short, cyber criminals are looking for the easiest way into your network.
Yesterday we read about a Fortune 100 company, Boeing, who ranked #25 in the 2017 list, being hit by the WannaCry virus that came to national attention on May 12th of last year. We then saw Petya follow shortly after, using the same EternalBlue exploit as WannaCry. The publicity brought about by these attacks made WannaCry a household name when it comes to cyber security.
Two things are surprising about yesterday’s attack. First is that a company would still be vulnerable to WannaCry. With the breadth of the attack last year and the coverage it garnered, common logic would dictate that everyone would apply the patch after the multiple attacks. The second is that a company as prominent as Boeing would be vulnerable. Large companies have sophisticated IT departments. And while that can introduce bureaucracy into the department, an attack like WannaCry that has a simple fix, would be prioritized to eliminate the risk.
What this breach tells us is that patching, while critical to security, is still too often overlooked. Patching is a basic, routine task that is cumbersome and time consuming. Because of this, putting it on the back burner has become a standard accepted practice for IT. With too much work to do and not enough resources, IT teams tackle the most important projects first and patch either when they have time or when there is an urgent need. The workload for IT is not going to change. What needs to change is how patching is handled. What you need is a simple, efficient, and effective way to get your network patched, and keep it that way. That’s why we started Automox, to provide you with a better way to patch.
Known vulnerabilities are the most exploited attack vector to access a network. The majority of attacks target exploits that are more than a year old, and some as old as 10 years. If you want to improve your cyber hygiene and reduce your attack surface, Automox can help.
Our cloud based endpoint protection solution uses a lightweight agent that sets a persistent encrypted session between your endpoints and our platform. Once deployed, you have full visibility of your entire infrastructure, including the software and hardware on each endpoint. You’ll see by device, missing patches and have the option to patch them immediately.
Automox works across Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems, as well as 3rd party applications. Instead of needing multiple patching solutions, you can manage every endpoint from a single dashboard. And because Automox is cloud based, you can manage remote endpoints as easily as on premise endpoints. As long as it is connected to the internet, you can manage it.
While all of this sounds great, it doesn’t help if the solution is complex or difficult to set up and learn. Automox is purposely designed to make your life easier. There’s no on premise server to manage, setup takes less than five minutes, and you can be patching as soon as you have deployed the agent. Our UI is intuitive and straightforward, so you don’t need weeks to learn a new system.
We want to support you in staying protected against known vulnerabilities. Cyber criminals have had the upper hand long enough. With Automox as your system of record for patch management, you’ll free up valuable time to focus on other security needs. You’ll be consistently patched against new vulnerabilities, better able to meet your patching compliance requirements, and reduce your patch efforts by up to 90%.
To learn more about how you can stay protected from WannaCry and other attacks, visit us online. Or to try Automox for yourself for free, sign up for our 15 day trial. You’ll get full platform access with no endpoint limit, and you don’t need a credit card to sign up.