Monday Morning Impact – July 12

Zscaler: Corporate and Cloud Infrastructures More at Risk Than Ever

Zscaler, Inc., a San Francisco-based cloud security company, has rolled out a global report on the state of corporate attack surfaces. Based on data sourced between February 2020 and April 2021, the report provides a look at the impact of attack surface exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people moved from the office environment to a home office alternative. Coupled with increased reliance on public cloud services and vulnerable enterprise VPNs, large organizations not using zero trust security became more vulnerable to network intrusion attacks, according to the report, which identifies the most common attack surface trends by geography, vertical, and company size.

“The sheer amount of information that is being shared today is concerning because it is all essentially an attack surface,” said Nathan Howe, Vice President, Emerging Technology at Zscaler. “Anything that can be accessed can be exploited by unauthorized or malicious users, creating new risks for businesses that don’t have complete awareness and control of their network exposure. Our goal with this report is to provide a view of what the internet sees of a company’s information landscape and offer useful tips on how to mitigate risk. By understanding their individual attack surfaces and deploying appropriate security measures, including zero trust architecture, companies can better protect their application infrastructure from recurring vulnerabilities that allow attackers to steal data, sabotage systems, or hold networks hostage for ransom.”

While attack surface vulnerabilities impact organizations of all sizes, major international companies with more than 20,000 employees are more vulnerable due to their distributed workforce, infrastructure, and greater number of applications that need to be managed.

The report found that while 59 percent of surveyed organizations were based in the Americas, the EMEA region led the world in overall exposure and potential risk. EMEA-based businesses had the most exposed servers, with an average of 283 exposed servers and 52 exposed public cloud instances each. They were also more likely to support outdated SSL/TLS protocols. The EMEA region was followed by the Americas, with 132 vulnerabilities, and APAC, with an average of 80 possible vulnerabilities.

The report also analyzed a diverse group of companies, spanning 23 different industries, and found that telecommunications organizations were the most vulnerable and had the highest average number of outdated protocols in their servers. Telecom companies had the third highest average of exposed servers to the internet, increasing the risk of being targeted by cybercriminals for DDoS and double extortion ransomware attacks.

The report also showed that the hospitality industry – including restaurants, bars, and food service vendors – had the highest average of exposed servers and public cloud instances; with AWS instances exposed 2.9 times more often than any other cloud providers. With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing many restaurants to offer online ordering, the rapid adoption of digital payment systems has increased risks for both businesses and customers.

Channel Impact^®
The report underscores the need for channel partners to take a leading role in helping customers to understand and address their technology vulnerabilities.

Secureworks Unveils Technology Alliance Partner Program for Security

Secureworks, an Atlanta-based cybersecurity company, announced the launch of a new global partner program, the “Secureworks Technology Alliance Partner program that extends the Taegis ecosystem and data integrations to accelerate threat detection.

Taegis is the company’s cloud-native security analytics platform designed to improve detection of advanced threats, streamline investigations, and automate responses.

Secureworks Technology Alliance Partners are now able to add their own integrations. By delivering its Taegis security operations and analytics platform with endpoint, network and cloud data from strategic technology companies including global leaders such as Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), Zscaler and Corelight, Secureworks delivers solutions designed to solve complex security challenges.

“Adding integrations into Taegis is a frequent customer request, and our partners want to integrate with our technology to leverage our data and analytics, which in turn, improves security outcomes,” said Maureen Perrelli, chief channel officer at Secureworks. “These integrations benefit all of our customers by dramatically expanding the range of telemetry that Taegis ingests.”

Secureworks will provide technical access to software development tools (API, SDK), a sandbox development environment and access to Secureworks Taegis training and certification.

Launched in May 2020, Secureworks’ Global Partner Program has expanded to include more than 300 channel partners including global distributors, resellers and managed services providers (MSPs). MSPs including Globe Business and Aprio are launching their own MSSP offerings powered by Taegis XDR to their customers through the program’s MSSP track.

Channel Impact^®
Effective threat detection and response relies upon comprehensive visibility across increasingly complex infrastructures and siloed point products and applications. The new program supports the augmentation of the company’s platform to increase that visibility.

Netskope Launches SASE Accreditation

Netskope, a Santa Clara, California-based SASE company, has announced a new accreditation supporting Secure Access Services Edge (SASE).

Developed in collaboration with industry expert Dr. Edward Amoroso, CEO of TAG Cyber and former chief security officer of AT&T, the SASE Accreditation is designed for network infrastructure and cybersecurity practitioners seeking a vendor-agnostic curriculum. Attendees will learn how SASE helps networking and security professionals gain greater visibility and real-time, actionable information about cloud services, activity, traffic, and data while also simplifying their security stack.

“From day one of Netskope, the idea of security and networking merging was the foundation for how we built our products and services,” said Jason Clark, Chief Strategy Officer at Netskope. “As SASE continues to grow, the demand for skilled and educated practitioners will grow along with it, and until today, those options for education and training were very limited.”

Valued at $1,000 USD, the SASE accreditation is an interactive, instructor-led class, conducted virtually. After completion of the course, students will have the option to take a SASE Accreditation exam. Upon successfully passing the exam, students will receive a SASE Accredited Architect certificate and badge.

Channel Impact^®
SASE has emerged as a key component to cloud security. Courses like this one can help channel partners position themselves on the cutting edge of technology.