Ivanti Blog: Posts by

Exercise Your Right to Solid Cybersecurity

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 21:02:04 Z

Universities notoriously have a complex network to manage and secure. IT professionals have to deal with an intricate combination of staff and student users, who can access the network both on and off-campus, a multitude of devices that are university and student-owned – and which frequently connect to foreign networks – and a high turnover of users each year. This situation lends itself to a high-risk cyber-environment, so IT professionals must be extra-vigilant when working to secure a university network from malicious actors.

It is for this reason exactly that Jisc, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing digital technologies for UK education and research institutions, created Exercise Mercury – an activity that universities can participate in to expose weak spots and vulnerabilities in their network that could grant access to cybercriminals.

During Exercise Mercury, two universities are paired off and spend a week attacking the other to discover vulnerabilities in their processes, policies, procedures, infrastructure and digital footprint. Each institution can use their full range of skills, resources and personnel – this isn’t an activity solely reserved for IT. After what is essentially a simulation of a cyberattack, the winner is the one who would have caused the most damage – after which, each university can go away and resolve the vulnerabilities discovered.

A Lesson from Exercise Mercury

Exercise Mercury is now in its third year, having been launched at the 2018 Jisc Security Conference. During this time, it has been noted that the main areas of vulnerability discovered are often the same.

The biggest of these areas of vulnerability stem from IT teams not accurately knowing what assets they have, how many, and who owns them. This is a pain point that particularly affects higher-education organisations due to their large, distributed networks with staff and students often working in non-typical ways. Exercise Mercury found that the main cause of this vulnerability was legacy IT, which includes technology that was used for one project that is now long forgotten about, and technology that has been moved to the cloud but not yet upgraded.

So, if IT professionals don’t have a hold on all of their assets, how can they hope to respond if they are compromised? This dilemma is magnified in a university setting where IT teams are having to deal with countless requests from students and staff with already limited resources. Add the monumental task of migrating to the cloud, or to a new OS (such as we saw recently with Windows 7 EOL), and it can seem impossible to keep on top of everything.

What’s the next step?

Whilst digital transformation is the buzzword of the moment, what this shows is that higher-education organisations may need to get their house in order before investing in the next big thing. According to a recent Ivanti survey, over 60% of IT professionals are currently missing key information in their ITAM programme. So, IT teams must start from the ground up and complete a proper audit and discovery of all the technology that is being used on the network, and from there they can work out how to keep it secure.

This period of discovery will also enable security teams to make their policies and processes more cohesive with the technology at play. The findings from Exercise Mercury highlighted that the communication of these policies needs to be “more push than pull” – they should be made as easy to find and digestible as possible.

Currently, 43% of IT professionals still track IT assets in spreadsheets – a shocking figure when we assess that discovery and data is at the heart of everything. Universities should look to invest in an IT Asset Management tool to better understand what hardware and software is in use across the estate and by whom, as well as detailed information such as whether it is supported by the vendor, whether hardware is still under warranty, and what the relationship is between these technologies. It is only then that they can effectively secure their complex networks.

Find out more about how Ivanti can help protect your university IT environment here.

Protecting Universities in Today’s Cyber Threatscape

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 21:45:04 Z

At a time when organisations across all industries are on high alert for the risk of cyberattacks, it’s no surprise that digital security is a key priority for educational institutions worldwide. The intricate mix of on- and off- campus students and staff, university and user-owned devices means these organisations have one of the most complex IT environments around, which is extremely difficult to protect from security threats.

Therefore, it isn’t surprising to see that a recent Jisc report reveals a 10% increase, since 2017, in universities with dedicated cybersecurity leaders, showing their desire for improvement in this area.

That being said, these institutions can still implement additional measures to ensure their cybersecurity strategy is robust enough to mitigate the ever-evolving risks brought about by the digital era.

Below are three key areas of cybersecurity universities should focus on:

Patching the Weak Spots

It’s no secret that cybercriminals are becoming more and more skilled – for example, the average time it takes them to exploit vulnerabilities is decreasing, making it challenging for organisations to remediate in such tight timeframes. Interestingly, Gartner has predicted that, by 2022, 90% of vulnerabilities exploited will be those known to the business. This may be because, although staff are aware of these system weaknesses, they aren’t always around to promptly react to attacks: 67% of IT university workers aren’t available 27/4 to respond to security incidents.

The situation is made more critical by the absence of suitable technology to ensure around-the-clock protection – in fact, only 28% of universities implemented a Security Information and Event Management System (SIEM). So, while HE organisations are more likely to report security incidents than those in further education, whether they actually respond to these incidents is up to the good will and dedication of security staff – of which there is a shortage.

To ensure an effective and constant defence against cyberattacks, universities need to up the ante on the patching front. Modern patching solutions not only provide protection from malware and other threats, they also help garner valuable insights. For example, Ivanti Patching Intelligence provides metrics that help staff understand risks, creating a simple view of what patches are required, driving more informed patching decisions.

Controlling Access and Applications

Within any organisation, ensuring users are able to access the necessary resources to do their work is vital. This is particularly true in universities, where technical difficulties can hinder students’ ability to complete coursework, meet deadlines, and make full use of services they pay significant fees for.

For security reasons, some universities require students to go through long and tedious processes to gain crucial access privileges – sometimes having to wait days before their request is fulfilled. Furthermore, some institutions forget to revoke access rights from student or staff members who have left the organisation, meaning they can still view sensitive information and utilise private servers.

Modern identity management solutions, such as Ivanti’s Service Manager, are able to automate the entire access provision process, empowering students to request and obtain privileges within 40 seconds. The access is then automatically revoked after a set period of time. It’s clear how this approach not only allows users to be work efficiently, but also enhances the organisation’s security.

Keeping on top of trusted and untrusted applications is also vital – though it’s easier said than done. Disabling potentially dangerous applications may be possible for businesses, where employees are expected to only use company resources to do their job. But staff and students, who are largely based on campus, also use university networks for non-work-related matters. Thankfully, this aspect, too, can be regulated with technology. Ivanti Application Manager can independently identify unsecure applications and prevent them from running. In this regard, inventory is key. Universities must have clear visibility of what devices and softwares are utilised within their network, in order to effectively manage and protect them.

Preventing Social Engineering Attacks

To protect universities from cyberattacks, relying solely on latest-generation security technology is not enough. Educating staff and students to identify threats and handle them appropriately is just as important.

Cybercriminals often employ social engineering attacks, disguised as innocuous emails, for example, inviting unwitting users to click through fraudulent links and download viruses. The Jisc report mentioned above indicates phishing as one of the top threats experienced within higher education. Therefore, educational institutions should work to keep students, teachers and all other employees up to date on new cyberattack trends – so that they are constantly alert and avoid exposing the organisation to risks of this kind. Interestingly, 48% of universities leverage phishing simulations to train users to detect and correctly respond to suspicious emails.

University networks are navigated by a multitude of users across all ages, some more tech-savvy than others. That’s why phishing awareness and defence should be a core aspect of a sound security strategy.

Institutions in higher education have incredibly complex IT infrastructures and defending them from today’s digital threats is no easy feat. However, with the right technology and the right mindset, these organisations can navigate today’s cyber minefield and ensure effective protection.

Find out more about how Ivanti can help protect your university IT environment here.

Taking Care of Business – How Rapid Logon Times Can Improve Patient Care

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 19:32:02 Z

According to Britain’s top GP, Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, it can take her up to 17 minutes to logon to her computer at her NHS practice. By today’s standards, that’s an incredibly long time but when you also consider that the 17 minutes could be better spent on consulting a patient and improving patient outcomes, it’s crystal clear that the NHS is in need of efficiency-boosting solutions.

What’s the main culprit of this sluggish IT performance? Well, most NHS Trusts are still running on tired and outdated Windows 7 operating system (OS) which is scheduled to reach End of Life (EOL) in January 2020. This means that after this date, Windows will no longer support this product or provide vital patches to keep the system secure. This is casting a dark cloud of concern over the NHS as only a few months ago, Jackie Doyle-Price, former Department of Health and Social Care minister stated that the NHS operates about 1.37 million PCs with at least 76% of them still running on Windows 7. This in the case for Professor Stokes-Lampard who also contends with the unpredictability of her computer crashing daily. What’s more concerning is that 2,300 NHS computers still operate on Windows XP for which support ended five years ago!

Limited budgets and austerity play an important role in the type of IT equipment deployed within an organisation. However, using legacy technology within such a critical industry leaves the door wide open to severe vulnerabilities and cyberattacks. This can see a breach of sensitive, public data being accessed, leaving the NHS on the receiving end of a substantial GDPR fine. We only need to look as far back as the 2017 WannaCry attack to see this in practice. This week-long IT cyberattack saw over 19,000 appointments and operations cancelled, crucially costing the NHS almost £20m in lost patient care and £72m during the aftershock.

The good news is that there are ways to overcome this headache. One such tool is our Environment Manager. Engineered to move redundant actions away from logon and apply them on-demand, organisations can quickly access their desktop. This has seen companies secure up to a 90% reduction in logon times, allowing them to improve user experience and increase productivity. For the NHS, this could enable practitioners to maximise their face-time with customers and importantly, improve patient care. Utilising Environment Manager, users can seamlessly migrate from Windows 7 to Windows 10 with minimal downtime and the assurance that personal settings will cross over onto the upgraded desktop. For the NHS, this can save precious time as healthcare professionals don’t need to waste time dragging and dropping shortcuts.

It goes without saying, health data is extremely private and should be protected at all costs, as Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, concurred in his speech at NHS Expo 2018. During his keynote session, he announced plans to introduce a ‘digital revolution’ where the NHS cybersecurity will be stringently protected. This is encouraging news as clinical staff will no longer waste countless hours resolving IT issues and instead, focus on patients.

Although the situation may seem bleak, there is light at the end of the tunnel. In order to stop 17-minute logons becoming the industry standard, the NHS needs to invest in new technologies that can drive greater operational efficiencies. These may require an initial up-front cost but by enhancing its cybersecurity, the NHS can avoid losing thousands in the long-run.