New adjustments imply new assault methods.

New attack vectors are one thing that happens with new improvements. Organizations must therefore exercise caution during periods of change. These alterations could involve:

Acquisitions

It’s important to remain on high alert whenever a corporation combines, transfers assets, or migrates applications. Businesses must take care to retain essential security professionals who are familiar with the outdated technologies. When configuring assets in uncharted territory, institutional knowledge is invaluable. Additionally, even though announcements of this good news make an acquisition public, it also makes them an enticing target. When there is a rush of activity during a transitional period, such as the change from one platform or ecosystem to another, attackers can essentially receive a news alert that they can more easily evade detection.

As routine as it may seem, ears should perk up whenever a domain changes or a new user is added. Permissions and privileges are set at this time. Implementing the least privilege principle and making sure they are in the appropriate access groups by employing role-based rules in conjunction with an identity governance framework are crucial.

Decreases in force

Tools for Identity and Access Management (IAM) are essential components of any organization’s security architecture. The IAM monitoring, though, doesn’t end at the door. If done correctly, it should also result in the departure of personnel, particularly during periods of drastic layoffs and staff cutbacks.

Offboarding can be a stressful process and a period when former coworkers pose a serious risk. Best practices for cybersecurity call for knowledge workers’ access to important accounts to be unilaterally withdrawn upon departure. Access rights to data, software, knowledge, emails, and other things fall under this category. Former employees may return to familiar company grounds like Salesforce, Google Drive, or Outlook on intentionally or accidentally and wreak harm.

Policies for deprovisioning are necessary for reducing the army, especially on a large scale. To secure an organization’s safety, businesses can even outsource this to a managed service provider or rely on automation, but this step must be taken.

Adding Resources

Another crucial period when security breaches can appear in your business is when you implement new assets.

With each fresh deployment, there is a chance for misconfiguration and a chance that the misconfigured asset won’t be checked again for a while, at least not in a security sense. The asset’s integration with other elements of the environment is another factor that teams must consider. Like when new IT and old OT combine in key infrastructure sectors, this blending could likewise result in unanticipated security vulnerabilities. Every new connection generates a different attack vector, and each one must be considered.

Another notable example is shadow IT. Departments can download an application for convenience, but they don’t have to inform IT of their purchase. That means the application hasn’t been given the right keys, key management, or security control, making it a walking liability.

Keeping Visibility Alive During Organizational Changes

Finally, it should come as no surprise that major changes can seriously interrupt operations because even little changes can disturb the stability of an IT environment. Although it would be impractical to expect these shifts to be problem-free, it is crucial that the company maintains the highest level of security feasible before, during, and after the event. But it’s impossible to identify potential brand-new security vulnerabilities unless you are aware of what’s happening during these transitions. Fortunately, there are a number of strategies a business may use to increase visibility.

Vulnerabilities analysis

A vulnerability scan can assist you in getting a clear picture of all your assets and how they might be at danger, regardless of where you are in the transition process. These give you a constant view of the security of your organization and can notify you of an unexpected area of concern. For example, let’s assume you combine with another department, and your post-vulnerability scan reveals a 35% increase in latent vulnerabilities from the scan you conducted before the merger.

Because you can’t scan what you can’t see, it also pushes businesses to conduct an asset inventory. As relocating is often a period when boxes go missing, this audit is a useful general rule of thumb whenever something happens inside the organizational structure. The key to identifying the differences is to take into account department or company assets both before and after the shift. The following phase is a final vulnerability scan after all resources have been used.

Using pens

Companies in transition should determine which vulnerabilities are the most serious and which actually constitute a threat once every vulnerability has been identified. By using aggressive security procedures like penetration testing, this is accomplished.

A pen test can examine the vulnerabilities as well as look for incorrect setups. Both internal and external agencies are capable of doing this. While internal testing is practical, external pen tests can offer a different perspective to find new problems. A team of pen testing experts who make it their job to stay abreast of the most recent trends, vulnerabilities, and attack techniques can be made available to corporations through external pentesting.

The best way to find new security flaws is to retest both before and after adding assets. Since two systems, departments, or businesses have combined, what was before safe might no longer be as secure.

When to Exercise Cybervigilance

Organizations may be inclined to consider about cybersecurity the least during a period of upheaval. Cybercriminals are, nevertheless, most likely to think about it at this time. They are fully aware of the challenges presented by system merger, including the risk of configuration errors and the emergence of new attack avenues. They also know that this is the time of day when you are most likely to let your guard down; access may be given more readily since teams are too busy to immediately withdraw rights, which also offers new hires a wide berth for access before final judgments are made. You should err on the side of caution at this time; you can later expand privileges, permissions, and access.

It makes a significant difference in security culture, buy-in, and results to recognize ahead of time that times of transition are times of increased cybersecurity risk, not less risk. Teams will take a little more care. SOCs are going to be very watchful. And when it comes time for organizational transformation, thieves will discover they are no longer the ones who are most interested in cybersecurity.