Exponential increases in cyber risk from Internet exposure

How many of your systems are exposed?

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In my last blog post, I explained how network traffic got me into cybersecurity. That story helps set the stage for the next in my list of questions for executives to ask security teams: What is the percentage of our systems exposed to the Internet?

If you think about how breaches occur there is almost always some sort of Internet exposure involved. It makes sense then, that reducing Internet exposure reduces risk. Notice that I didn’t say eliminated! Of course a reduction in Internet exposure doesn’t completely stop data breaches, but systems unnecessarily exposed to anyone on the Internet increases the number of ways an attacker can get into your systems. The more chances they have to break in, the more the odds are in their favor. That’s just math. It may not stop the advanced persistent nation-state attacker, but it will remove some options. It will also help limit the spread of automated malware and attacks by…