William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security, says common cybersecurity vulnerabilities like unpatched software and weak credentials can leave digital systems exposed to cyberattacks. He emphasized the importance of addressing these issues. Wright says enabling SMB signing, a security measure often overlooked due to its perceived lower severity, should be “switched on by default.” This can prevent potential ransomware attacks that exploit Microsoft Network Trust Level Manager to steal credentials and access networks.
To tackle security challenges, Wright recommended using robust identity access management platforms or conditional access policies. He acknowledged the complexities larger organizations face in integrating multifactor authentication (MFA) into legacy systems. “There are password policies you can enable on the vast majority of services, but not all of them.
Addressing weak cybersecurity measures
Some don’t have them inherently, and you can use access management or IAM tools to cover the rest,” Wright said. “It’s trying to find that balance between usability and security for users, especially in larger organizations.
That can be quite a challenge.”
Wright also discussed the challenges larger organizations or sectors like education face in implementing MFA, particularly related to privacy concerns. He explained why patch management remains a pervasive problem. Additionally, Wright believes software developers need to assume more responsibility for security, rather than shifting the burden to end users.
Wright is a penetration testing expert, security auditor, and Scotland’s first chartered cybersecurity expert. Before founding Closed Door Security, he was a principal security consultant at MTI.
