Network vulnerabilities are loopholes or flaws in hardware, software, or processes that can threaten the normal functioning of your network. Vulnerabilities put your business and your customers’ sensitive data at risk, leading to easy entry for hackers, diminished sales, reputation loss, and penalties. Network vulnerabilities can be broken down into hardware, firmware, software, and human vulnerabilities. If any of these entities are not properly managed, your network will be easy to break into. As every organization is different, network vulnerabilities also vary in terms of complexity and severity. It is important to be aware of all vulnerabilities by regularly reviewing security policies and drafting protocols and practices to prevent recurring network vulnerabilities. In order to be aware of the risks, it is crucial to know the causes of network vulnerabilities and learn how to avoid them.
Many organizations contain loopholes and vulnerabilities. Devices that are outdated or nearing end of service can make it easy for exploiters to get their hands on crucial data and internal information. Also, if you’re not up-to-date with patching, your network could be at risk. Let’s go through some of the common causes of network vulnerabilities.
No matter your organization’s size, you must follow some basic rules to safeguard your network from exploiters and data thieves. Let’s take a look at how to prevent vulnerabilities from occurring, fix them after their occurrence, and maintain a secure network environment.
To prevent network vulnerabilities, it is important to manage your network configurations. As network configurations form the backbone of every network device, you must periodically back up your network configurations, monitor configuration changes, prevent unauthorized configuration changes, and get alerted in case of a new entry or configuration change. By constantly managing your network configurations, you can prevent vulnerabilities and forced entries into your network.
In order to identify the vulnerabilities in your network, you need to run vulnerability assessments frequently. Once you understand how vulnerable your network is, you must provide suitable remediation by patching. If you need to address hundreds or thousands of vulnerabilities, you will have to automate the vulnerability assessment mechanism to save time and manual effort.
Adhering to network security policies is the most effective way to ensure your network is free from vulnerabilities. You can specify which policy-mandated controls must be configured and perform regular auditing of policies. By doing so, you will be able to identify common loopholes, the devices that require a password change, and outdated systems that need to be upgraded. This will give you a sense of control over your network and will also help you tighten your network security in the long run.
Network vulnerability management cannot be achieved in a single day. To ensure your network is vulnerability-free, prevent future vulnerabilities, and make sure all devices are checked for vulnerabilities, it is highly recommended that you use a tool. A tool will help you save time and automate the process of network vulnerability management.
ManageEngine Network Configuration Management is one tool that acts as a 3-in-1 solution. Network Configuration Manager backs up configurations, prevents unauthorized configuration changes, tracks users, runs firmware vulnerability assessments, and audits compliance policies. You can also automate bulk changes with Network Configuration Manager.
Try Network Configuration Manager's 30-day free version and achieve complete network vulnerability management.