Vulnerable Protocols Leave Firms Open to Further Compromises
Companies may no longer have Internet-facing file servers or weakly secured Web servers, but attackers that get by the perimeter have a wide-open landscape of vulnerability.
Nearly nine out of every 10 companies have devices that use outdated protocols, such as Microsoft s Server Message Block version 1 for sharing files, giving attackers that breach the network perimeter an easy avenue to extend a compromise, according to a new report by network security firm ExtraHop.
Microsoft s SMBv1 protocol, developed in the 1980s and deprecated in 2013, continues to be detected in 88% of environments, with almost a third of organizations showing signs of at least 100 devices still using the protocol, the report states. Another protocol, the NT LAN Manager version 1, which is used to pass credentials without exposing passwords, is present in more than half of all environments, including 19% that appear to have at least 100 device