In the current climate, workforce talent pools are now separated by necessity. Distributed across isolated locations, they access enterprise networks and data remotely – often from personal devices.
The challenge of securing a multitude of endpoints simultaneously is undoubtedly an unprecedented challenge for anybody in IT management.
While keeping the business afloat during an economically turbulent time is already rife with operational headaches, systems becoming compromised by vulnerabilities and malware might well be the last straw that tips the business beyond the point of recovery.
Add to that equation the fact that the worldwide pandemic has unfortunately brought out the worst in cybercriminals: pandemic-themed attacks have spiked as attackers seek to leverage user anxiety, while a surge in downloads for collaboration and video conferencing tools leaves plenty of opportunity for back-door entries.
The onus is now on business leaders to educate and guide their staff around ‘cyber-hygiene’ best practice – human error is by far the biggest chink in an enterprise’s armour.
But even with airtight policies in place, effectively stamping out such a pervasive and increasingly sophisticated menace to systems, organizations need to tap into the capabilities of advanced, endpoint-oriented cybersecurity tools.
It is fortunate to note that off-the-shelf cybersolutions have advanced to such a level that they can be rapidly deployed across a range of interconnected systems as well as multiple remote access points, thereby being able to offer remote protection on a scale necessary for enterprises in 2020.
For the ease of those overseeing IT, there now are all-in-one cloud-based applications that are capable of automatically managing entire cyber threat ecosystems across multiple platforms, not just on-premises but also endpoints, cloud, mobile, even operational technology (OT) and IoT-linked devices such as remote-based printers and screens.
One such toolkit is the Qualys VMDR® all-in-one, cloud-based app, which is revolutionary for empowering the vulnerability management lifecycle and enabling a seamless flow from inventorying all known and unknown assets, to collecting security risk data, to organizing an effective system response based on insights gained from the data – ultimately eliminating (or vastly narrowing) possibilities for human error.
The app is hosted on the Qualys Cloud Platform, which has been refined over two decades with data collected from specialized sensors across multiple digital environments.
Harnessing this data, Qualys VMDR® (which stands for Vulnerability Management, Detection, and Response) creates a comprehensive workflow that targets, assesses, and then patches critical vulnerabilities over the enterprise’s multiple systems and interconnected devices, wherever they might be located.
Qualys introduced the powerful capabilities of VMDR – including its 100% cross-platform asset visibility capabilities – via a live virtual demonstration which streamed live on April 21st. The demonstration is also now available on demand which can be found at the following link.
The demo dives deep into VMDR’s vulnerability management abilities and features Q&As with several early adopters of this game-changing solution.
Just like VMDR, also hosted on the Qualys Cloud Platform is the Qualys Remote Protection offering, that permits security teams to immediately monitor and ensure visibility of the network without interruption of all remote devices connected to it.
The cloud-based solution harnesses the lightweight Qualys Cloud Agent to perform an inventory of all endpoint hardware and running applications, providing system administrators with real-time reports of security vulnerabilities and risky apps.
The solution will then dispatch system patches directly from the cloud to address these critical weaknesses, initiated with just a single mouse-click that will also not tax the limited bandwidth on VPN gateways that remote devices might be relying on to connect.
With an awareness of the tight constraints, many IT budgets are under in such trying times, Qualys is offering the Remote Protection offering at no charge for 60 days.
“The entire Qualys team is pleased that during these critical times, we can offer a real solution that will allow companies to ensure the security of both corporate and personal computers,” said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO of Qualys.
“Thanks to our cloud-based implementation, this offer will enable companies to assess in real time their security and compliance posture and remotely patch employees’ devices with the click of a button.”
Source: techwireasia
