Study: Security vulnerabilities in 38% of network devices

A new report presents real-world results – including common security vulnerabilities and violations – unearthed by Dimension Data during the 235 Technology Lifecycle Management (TLM) Assessments it performed for companies in 2009.

The report contains results from assessments performed at small, medium and large organizations from around the world. Significant findings include:

Holes in security. More than 38% of network devices – such as routers, switches, gateways, etc. – exhibited security vulnerabilities, which may expose organizations to external and internal security attacks.

Configuration violations. There was an average of 40.7 configuration violations per network device – increasing the likelihood of network downtime and exposure to risk.

Entering obsolescence. Thirty-five percent of all network devices were found to be beyond end-of-sale (EoS), meaning they will be increasingly unsupportable and exposed to risk as they progress toward last-day-of-support (LDoS). In fact, of those devices, more than 50% were already beyond end-of-software-maintenance (EoSWM) or LDoS.

“Effective network planning for lifecycle milestones is essential in ensuring smooth functionality and unfettered connectivity – while also providing a platform for taking advantage of the latest developments in IT,” said Rich Schofield, business development manager for Network Integration at Dimension Data.

“In particular, we’re seeing companies increasingly looking to tap into the benefits of virtualization and cloud computing – meaning that, along the way, they’ll need to address application flow, integration and security issues, among others. In order to maximize the ROI that virtualization and cloud computing offer, networks must be well-managed and planned for, to ensure they run at optimum levels.”

The complete report is available here.