Five Things You Need to Know About Security Misconfigurations

It is easy to assume that security tools are effectively configured right out of the box, so to speak. This scenario is all too common and can lead to severe consequences, such as data breaches if an organization implements software solutions with improper security configurations.

A misconfiguration is “an incorrect or suboptimal configuration of an information system or system component that may lead to vulnerabilities,” as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In order to prevent misconfigurations and the security incidents that can arise from them, it is important to know a few key facts.

1. Misconfigurations Put OT Networks at Risk

Operational technology (OT) networks have historically been managed and monitored separately from information technology (IT) networks. Still, the growth of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has made it possible to bridge the gap. The ability to remotely monitor and control OT systems decreases costs and increases efficiency, but it can also make the systems more vulnerable to attack.

Many OT systems lack or misapply basic security measures, such as regular updates, strong passwords, and antivirus solutions. Misconfigured wireless access points open to many devices present an unnecessary exposure that bad actors can exploit to infiltrate an organization and potentially infect its systems with malware, which can hinder industrial operations and harm the company.

2. Misconfigurations Are a Top Attack Vector for Data Breaches

According to IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach report, cloud misconfigurations are the third most common initial attack vector, accounting for 11% of attacks. This puts it just behind phishing at 16% and stolen or compromised credentials at 15%. Attacks that exploit cloud misconfigurations as the initial attack vector cost organizations an average of 4 million USD per incident.

Preventing data breaches is a difficult task, and it requires layering a variety of security tools and policies that go far beyond avoiding misconfigurations. Still, security misconfigurations are a major source of vulnerabilities that allow attackers to enter an organization and nefariously exfiltrate data. Ensuring that security configurations are set properly cannot prevent all data breaches, but it can prevent some.

3. There Are Many Types of Security Misconfiguration

The category of “security misconfiguration” is a bit of an umbrella term, referring to a range of different errors in configuration. Many of the most common security misconfigurations are the result of inaction; for example, many organizations use the default configurations of their software rather than configuring security settings to meet their needs. Lacking multifactor authentication (MFA) features and strong password policies also pose a risk. Other prevalent misconfigurations include:

• Improper separation of user/administrator privilege
• Insufficient internal network monitoring
• Lack of network segmentation
• Poor patch management
• Bypass of system access controls
• Insufficient access control lists (ACLs)
• Unrestricted code execution

Security misconfigurations encompass all of these issues and more, meaning that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to prevent all types of misconfigurations.

4. Consequences Go Beyond Attacks

Cyberattacks often top the list when discussing the risks of security misconfigurations and for good reason. After all, a security misconfiguration can easily expose vulnerabilities that bad actors can exploit to infiltrate your organization’s network and cause damage in a number of ways. However, there are other consequences of security misconfigurations besides the danger of letting an attacker in.

One notable incident shows how a security misconfiguration can lead to a domino effect that makes it easier for a cybercriminal to launch an attack and more difficult for an organization to detect, investigate, and remediate incidents. A single setting, configured improperly in an effort to save system resources, reduced the retention time of event log entries, greatly hindering the security team’s ability to respond to events.

5. Preventing Misconfigurations is Possible

While nothing in cybersecurity is a one-and-done task, it is fairly simple to understand and implement measures to prevent security misconfigurations. Since many misconfigurations arise from negligence or ignorance, knowledge is the best weapon against them. These are some of the steps you can take to fix misconfigurations in your organization:

• Conduct a comprehensive and accurate asset inventory in order to get a full view of what devices, software, and applications need to be monitored and protected.
• Implement continuous, automatic misconfiguration detection to catch and even fix misconfigurations that you might otherwise miss.
• Align your security measures with established best practice frameworks, including mandatory compliance regulations and industry standards.
• Foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness within your organization to ensure that employees are equipped to carry out their functions securely.

Conclusion

Security misconfigurations are a serious issue that presents a major risk to organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. Misconfigurations come in many different forms and can lead to a wide range of consequences for an organization, from enabling cyberattacks to hindering business operations. Many of the most common and most harmful types of security misconfigurations are due to a lack of knowledge or action; simply investing the resources into understanding how these issues arise is a big step toward preventing them.