News and Comment: Organizations Leave Backdoors Open to Cheap Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks

NEWS: McAfee has just released its new Advanced Threat Report, which finds that Organizations Leave Backdoors Open to Cheap Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks.

COMMENT: An expert with Corero offers thoughts and perspective.

“If your system is accessible from the Internet then you should expect malicious actors somewhere in the world will try and break in. They do this automatically and continuously with scripts so there is no way to avoid their attempts. In the overwhelming majority of cases they are not specifically targeting you, just any system that is on the Internet.  

“There are legitimate needs for systems to be remotely accessible but there is no excuse for trivial or guessable passwords. Password guessing via brute force attempts is the most common method for gaining access to these systems.

“The practice of adding two-factor authentication to Internet accessible systems is a growing trend and can reduce the risk of spontaneous unauthorized access to almost zero.

 The overriding message with regard to Internet Security is to be prepared by anticipating the worst attacks but plan your protection for achieving the best defense whether the threat is Breach, Ransomware, or DDoS.”

Ashley Stephenson, CEO, Corero Network Security