“Speak softly and carry a big stick.” - Theodore Roosevelt

External Scanning

We often think in terms of passwords and security methods on your accounts to keep the bad guys out, but how about walking in their shoes for a day and trying to get in to your business from the outside. How do you think you will measure up?

What if the bad guys knew the IP address of your webserver or your office? How do you think you would hold up? If you aren't sure, then it’s time to perform an external vulnerability scan on your public facing IP addresses.

External vulnerability scans can uncover weaknesses in your systems and firewalls which could be exploited by a bad actor. Performing the scan yourself provides early visibility of these weaknesses and allows you to strengthen your security posture to prevent future breaches of your systems.

A few common public facing services which may be exploited by attackers:

WordPress - one of the most popular website building platforms. By default, WordPress has native features enabled such as RPC, which could be used by an attacker to gain access to your website, along with your customers and potentially payment information.

Exchange - Hosting your own email server can be beneficial, however Microsoft Exchange has had several Zero day exploits found, which means you always need to be in your toes and watching for new vulnerabilities, ready to patch them on a very short notice (or risk your entire company being at risk of attack).

Remote Desktop - RDP, or Remote Desktop is one of the most common ways to remote access your PCs and servers, however it is by default not hugely secure. We recommend disabling RDP where possible, and if absolutely necessary use a gateway service with MFA on it, or a 3rd party authentication service like DUO for MFA.

There are of course many more public facing services which could be exploited by attackers, and this is where an external vulnerability scan will help you. If you want to go a step further, or have compliance needs to meet, then a full penetration test may be in order. These are usually more expensive as a cyber security professional will compile a report with actions for you to take based off of the results.

A vulnerability scan is very similar to a penetration test but usually is more automated with a system generated report instead of a human generated one. A penetration test is usually more in depth with the cyber security professional using many tools to scan your systems. A vulnerability scan usually is from a single tool but is more friendly on the finances.

Summary

We recommend all companies perform at least an annual vulnerability scan on their external facing services (IP addresses). If you need something a little more in depth, then a full penetration test will provide a more thorough and human touch to the service.

If you would like to arrange an external vulnerability scan or penetration test, please reach out to us via our contact page and we can support you and ensure your business stays protected.