The Internet is not a safe place. It is a war-torn wasteland; a landscape of viruses, script kiddies, hackers, and corporate spies out to gain access to the little oasis known only as your network. What’s a sysadmin to do? They say the first step to nullifying a threat is knowing it; let’s take a look at the top ten security threats facing sysadmins today! 1. Outdated Software
By far one of the most dangerous threats to your network is outdated software. No matter how good your security policies are, or how well-informed your users are (though well-informed users will update their software, mitigating this vulnerability) outdated software with known vulnerabilities are a huge threat to your network. You wouldn’t think so at first, since many of you are running behind firewalls or other networks with safety precautions behind them, but these vulnerabilities don’t just apply to services that run inside the LAN. Many protocols that depend on showing themselves to the outside world are also very vulnerable when it comes to bugs in their unpatched versions; some very famous vulnerabilities have been exploited in some very common software suites, such as Apache, VNC, and even SSH have had vulnerabilities crop up in their otherwise rock-solid stable releases. The diligent sysadmin will of course, at this point, swear up and down that everything on their network is patched to kingdom come as soon as a security patch is released. To this I say: are you sure? Are you positive you’ve never upgraded Postgres because the next version didn’t work with your legacy program? Does every machine in your office run IE8, even though your corporate intranet doesn’t work with anything after IE6? According to a recent study, a shocking 7.8% of corporations still use XP + IE6 in their daily day-to-day operation. The fact of the matter is that sometimes programs slip through the cracks; you have to be dedicated and diligent to upgrade and update your software without causing problems and errors, especially in small and home businesses who may not have the money, expertise, or manpower to upgrade and debug their software as often as they should, and this threat remains as real as it has been in the past. 2. Users
Some of you might be surprised that this entry is on the list while others might be fuming that this isn’t the #1 threat. The fact of the matter is, users are often surprisingly consistent in the threat they pose to your network. Specifically, they tend to be unaware of the dangers that the Internet poses as well as resistant to change, a quality that often makes it notoriously hard to upgrade them to newer versions of operating systems, office suites, and web interfaces. Interestingly, when people think of “user” they think of a cubicle peon; this isn’t always the case, and the PEBKAC (“Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair”) phenomenon can extend very far up the hierarchical ladder. Often there is a push back from management when IT wants to move from XP to 7, or from Office 2003 to 2007, as the bigwigs in a company are no more keen to re-learn a UI than the accountants or the secretaries are. That said, their resistance to change isn’t as much of a threat as their general trusting nature is. Users will install things they shouldn’t, visit sites they shouldn’t, and click on “Crazy story storm click here” emails with EXEs attached to them. As much as you may try to educate them, be aware that users implicitly trust everything (and seem to like to click on things in general). In a 2007 study, 16% of users would click on an email labeled “Hey! Check this out!” and enter in their username/password to gain access to the cool video. If the email was sent by a name they recognized, that number jumped to 70%. As much as you may try to lock down their workstations there is always one intrepid user that just has to have that free iPad (bringing down a storm of trojans on your network in the process). And for that one, special user, this threat goes out as being #2 on the top ten. 3. Malicious Users
While some might say that this should be under the prior entry, the fact of the matter is that malicious users are an entirely different category of threat. Regular users, for the most part, are a threat only because of their good-natured outlook; they click on things, they want to win free stuff. They can be educated, or protected against, and in general are rather predictable in their behavior. This trait, while leaving them dangerous, makes them easier to defend against.
Read more: LearnComputer 
By far one of the most dangerous threats to your network is outdated software. No matter how good your security policies are, or how well-informed your users are (though well-informed users will update their software, mitigating this vulnerability) outdated software with known vulnerabilities are a huge threat to your network. You wouldn’t think so at first, since many of you are running behind firewalls or other networks with safety precautions behind them, but these vulnerabilities don’t just apply to services that run inside the LAN. Many protocols that depend on showing themselves to the outside world are also very vulnerable when it comes to bugs in their unpatched versions; some very famous vulnerabilities have been exploited in some very common software suites, such as Apache, VNC, and even SSH have had vulnerabilities crop up in their otherwise rock-solid stable releases. The diligent sysadmin will of course, at this point, swear up and down that everything on their network is patched to kingdom come as soon as a security patch is released. To this I say: are you sure? Are you positive you’ve never upgraded Postgres because the next version didn’t work with your legacy program? Does every machine in your office run IE8, even though your corporate intranet doesn’t work with anything after IE6? According to a recent study, a shocking 7.8% of corporations still use XP + IE6 in their daily day-to-day operation. The fact of the matter is that sometimes programs slip through the cracks; you have to be dedicated and diligent to upgrade and update your software without causing problems and errors, especially in small and home businesses who may not have the money, expertise, or manpower to upgrade and debug their software as often as they should, and this threat remains as real as it has been in the past. 2. Users
Some of you might be surprised that this entry is on the list while others might be fuming that this isn’t the #1 threat. The fact of the matter is, users are often surprisingly consistent in the threat they pose to your network. Specifically, they tend to be unaware of the dangers that the Internet poses as well as resistant to change, a quality that often makes it notoriously hard to upgrade them to newer versions of operating systems, office suites, and web interfaces. Interestingly, when people think of “user” they think of a cubicle peon; this isn’t always the case, and the PEBKAC (“Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair”) phenomenon can extend very far up the hierarchical ladder. Often there is a push back from management when IT wants to move from XP to 7, or from Office 2003 to 2007, as the bigwigs in a company are no more keen to re-learn a UI than the accountants or the secretaries are. That said, their resistance to change isn’t as much of a threat as their general trusting nature is. Users will install things they shouldn’t, visit sites they shouldn’t, and click on “Crazy story storm click here” emails with EXEs attached to them. As much as you may try to educate them, be aware that users implicitly trust everything (and seem to like to click on things in general). In a 2007 study, 16% of users would click on an email labeled “Hey! Check this out!” and enter in their username/password to gain access to the cool video. If the email was sent by a name they recognized, that number jumped to 70%. As much as you may try to lock down their workstations there is always one intrepid user that just has to have that free iPad (bringing down a storm of trojans on your network in the process). And for that one, special user, this threat goes out as being #2 on the top ten. 3. Malicious Users
While some might say that this should be under the prior entry, the fact of the matter is that malicious users are an entirely different category of threat. Regular users, for the most part, are a threat only because of their good-natured outlook; they click on things, they want to win free stuff. They can be educated, or protected against, and in general are rather predictable in their behavior. This trait, while leaving them dangerous, makes them easier to defend against.
Read more: LearnComputer
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