Benchmarking Linux Security – Latest Research Findings

How well do your Linux security practices stack up in today’s
challenging operating environment? Are you following the correct
processes to keep systems up-to-date and protected against the
latest threats? Now you can find out thanks to research
independently conducted by the Ponemon Institute.

The research sponsored by TuxCare^[1]
sought to understand better how organizations are currently
managing the security and stability of their Linux-based systems.
The results allow all organizations operating Linux-based systems
to benchmark their processes against their peers and best
practices.

You can get a copy of the complete report HERE^[2]
if you can’t wait to see the findings, but we’ve highlighted the
key takeaways below if you’d like a preview.

Research Goals

Understanding the current State of Enterprise Linux Security
Management has never been more imperative. The number of high and
critical vulnerabilities continues to grow each year significantly,
and exploits against them are being deployed faster and faster.

TuxCare previously sponsored the Ponemon Institute to research
how organizations managed their Linux-based systems’ security and
stability. This research was of enormous benefit for organizations
operating Linux-based systems.

Ponemon has updated the research to see how the threat
management landscape is changing and provide insights into how
businesses have adapted and refined their practices. In addition,
the updated reports offer a more in-depth understanding of the
security risks and mitigation strategies currently in place.

The Latest Findings

Organizations spend on average $3.5 million annually monitoring
their systems for threats and vulnerabilities and implementing
patch management processes. This cost to businesses includes the
productivity impact of system downtime associated with
patching.

Organizations spend around 1,075 hours monitoring and patching
systems each week. This includes 340 hours of system downtime while
applying patches, placing significant pressure on security teams
when downtime impacts productivity. In fact, 45% of respondents
reported their organization has no tolerance for patching downtime.
This is a problem that live-patching solutions can eliminate, hence
why 76% of respondents have adopted this technology.

However, the research found that despite this investment,
respondents were not completely confident in their ability to
quickly find and patch all the critical vulnerabilities in their
systems to reduce security risks to an acceptable level. Over 56%
of respondents took over a month to patch critical and
high-priority vulnerabilities when they realized their systems were
vulnerable. Furthermore, 5% of respondents admitted taking over a
year to apply critical patches. This represents a worsening
situation from the previous research and increased business
risk.

The whole time a system has an unpatched vulnerability, that
system is susceptible to exploitation. Vulnerability disclosure
prompts attackers to work on methods to exploit the flaw and
techniques to scan for exploitable systems. Fast patching doesn’t
just provide reassurance that your systems are secure. It can also
be critical in meeting regulatory requirements.

Even more remarkable were the findings that about a third of
organizations are not aware of their responsibility for the
security of cloud-hosted systems, assuming the hosting company
managed it. Many cloud-hosted systems with no active security
management rely on default security controls and luck to avoid an
attack.

Conclusions

Organizations are at risk because of the inability to detect and
patch vulnerabilities quickly enough for all the systems they are
responsible for managing. The research found only 43% of
respondents believe they have adequate resources and in-house
expertise for timely patching. In addition, respondents saw a lack
of accountability for patch management and assigning
responsibilities outside IT security functions as factors.

The research also shows an increase in automation for day-to-day
system management activities. The standardization and repeatability
of processes are positive factors in system security and stability,
plus respondents who have implemented automation reported a
significantly faster vulnerability response time.

To read the complete report and all its detailed findings
related to Enterprise Linux Security, you can get your free copy
HERE^[3].