Tag: Patch Management

Cybersecurity

FINANCIAL INDUSTRY IT SECURITY 2015 TO-DO LIST

The forthcoming cybersecurity guidance from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council is expected to focus on people and processes that defend against specific types of threats, Future IT examinations for all sizes of banking institutions will include reviews of employee awareness of security threats, the depth and breadth of an institution’s training programs, patching policies, and – especially – securing mobile banking. When will the guidance be released? There is no date set as yet for when the guidance will be issued, but all indications point to 2015. Congressional pressure on industries to address the growing numbers of data breaches, combined with the banking industry’s strong interest in delivering mobile services, will likely push the FFIEC to move forward comparatively quickly with

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Audit Results

BAI SECURITY – MID-YEAR TOP-4 SECURITY RISKS

First, it should be noted that this list is compiled from IT Security Audits performed by BAI Security during January to July of 2013 and is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all security risks.  BAI Security specializes in auditing regulated organizations, such as those in banking and finance, pharmaceutical, healthcare, insurance, and the utility sector.  While commonalities often exist, the results found here are not necessarily representative of businesses outside of these sectors. Social Engineering Social engineering has long been a serious security concern, but more recently organizations are slipping even further into a much higher level of risk in this area.  Even with most organizations performing annual end-user security awareness training, which usually includes a piece on social

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Computer Security

MANY BANKS AND CREDIT UNIONS FAIL THE VULNERABILITY TESTING COMPONENT OF THEIR IT SECURITY AUDIT DUE TO WEAK PATCH MANAGEMENT

Do you have a patch management plan?  If so, how effective is it?  Many companies either lack a comprehensive plan or the necessary tools to properly automate the processing of updates.  In fact, the underlying reasons many banks and credit unions fail the vulnerability testing component of their IT security audit is this lack of effective patch management. Failed Vulnerability Testing Due to Weak Patch Management Often Root Cause of Poor IT Security Audit Results As for the tools, many companies rely only on Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to patch their Microsoft Windows operating system and other Microsoft software.  WSUS does not patch non-Microsoft application software, such as Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, which often have severe risks that can lead

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