The war in Ukraine is a humanitarian disaster that is costing lives and threatening the global world. This also includes the security of the digital world. The IT threat level has been set to dark red since Russia's attack on Ukraine. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has called on companies, organizations and government agencies to expand their IT security measures. In addition to increased vigilance, it is recommended, among other things, to set up a 24/7 on-call duty, establish crisis teams and, if possible, limit remote access to company computers.
However, companies can and must do even more with regard to their IT assets. It is important to identify potential risks in advance and to manage them proactively – before the worst happens. The basic prerequisite is comprehensive and data-based visibility of hardware, software, SaaS and cloud in the enterprise. Only those who know their IT landscape can defend it from attackers.
But what risks are we talking about at all? Now, in the context of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, IT and compliance managers face challenges in several respects at once.
1. What IT assets in Russia does my company have?
Russia is currently an embargoed country. The EU, US and other partner countries have adopted tough economic and financial sanctions against Russia in several tranches. Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Intel have already announced that they will cease doing business in Russia. Payment and credit card providers such as Paypal, Mastercard and Visa have also stopped their services in the meantime.
In order to be able to follow the sanctions imposed on Russia, companies first need to know which assets are in Russia in the first place. In terms of IT assets, this includes company-owned computers, data centers and servers used in Russia by employees or partners.
It is also important to clarify what software is running on these devices. For license management and compliance, for example, it must be clear which licenses are in place and how much leeway there is in terms of usage policies. For example, if the license falls under a global enterprise agreement, it can be transferred to another employee in the company and thus continue to be used. However, if the license is subject to location or. device-specific restrictions, IT managers often have no choice but to jettison these licenses (true down).
2. What Russian software is running on the premises?
Even companies that do not have any holdings in Russia should subject their IT environment to a thorough audit. Especially critical are applications that are of Russian origin. There are two reasons for this: First, because the business relationship with the Russian provider may have to be terminated due to sanctions. On the other hand, because there is a justified concern that the applications could be exploited by Russian hackers for attacks. The cyber attack on SolarWinds and its massive impact on thousands of companies worldwide is still all too present here for many.
The motto at the moment is: "Better safe than sorry"!" So warns Anti-virus software poses a significant risk, as it has extensive privileges inherent in the system and typically maintains a persistent, encrypted and unauditable connection to the vendor's servers. State instrumentalized attacks as well as espionage activities via the software can therefore not be ruled out. Specifically, the BSI recommended replacing Kaspersky applications with alternative products.
3. How secure is my IT environment??
Regardless of whether a company operates in Russia or sources IT assets from Russia, the IT security situation is precarious. The cyberwar between Russia and the West continues. As such, every organization should ramp up its security measures and take a close look at its IT assets. What about the support lifecycle (end-of-life (EOL) or end-of-service (EOS)) of applications and devices? Where to find vulnerabilities? Where are upgrades and patches needed? What vulnerabilities still need to be addressed?
Here the need for action is often higher than expected. Not only uninitiated private users, but also many companies and public authorities are still using partly ancient computers, operating systems and applications that have not seen a security update for a long time. According to a Flexera report, two-thirds (67%) of organizations still have hardware that has reached EOL/EOS. On the software side, as many as 73% of companies are still in this position.
Flexera One can help
Those with automated IT asset management and discovery tools to help with these issues already have a lot to gain. Because the first step for IT security must always be: Gain insight and maintain an overview.
Flexera One does exactly that. The management platform visualizes the entire IT inventory – from on-premise to SaaS to the cloud. Holistic and centralized view of all IT assets enables IT managers to gain insights and turn this "intelligence" into actionable for IT practice. In the context of IT security, this can be the fast and targeted detection of risks, but also the optimization of the technological added value of IT assets or the effective cost control around SaaS and cloud.
Flexera One's IT visibility is built on Technopedia – the world's most trusted and largest source of hardware and software product data on the market, with currently more than 250 million data values. Here's all the information needed for smart IT asset management, from specifications to current EOL/EOS data. The IT catalog is continuously curated and provides comprehensive market data on over 4.8 million hardware and software products.
In addition, the Technopedia taxonomy establishes a common language for IT systems, so that the CMDB and other connected third-party systems benefit from significantly improved data quality.
How it works in practice
With Flexera One and Technopedia, companies can also better answer questions about IT risks related to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The contextualized data makes it possible, for example, to quickly and securely locate IT assets deployed in Russia. In addition to technical data (e.g. B. Host name, serial number, IP address) also uses master data that is assigned to individual devices and applications and provides information about location, cost center and organizational unit. On the network side, devices can also usually be narrowed down to local and regional areas.
IT Visibility
The business promise of your IT is huge. But it takes a complete, up-to-date view of your hybrid environment to make the most of it.
The comprehensive data context also makes it possible to track down internally used Russian software. Kaspersky is the best known, but by no means the only Russian software vendor on the market. If you want to know which Russian software is running in your company, you can filter your IT assets specifically by vendor/publisher in Flexera One and thus determine the amount of installed Russian software at the push of a button (see screenshot below).
In addition, Flexera One provides detailed reports on every potentially dangerous IT asset. The reports are additionally enriched with market data from Technopedia (e.g. EOL/EOS information). Threat scores and vulnerability advisories also help to assess the security situation, prioritize upgrades and coordinate planning, including support costs.
Global visibility of the entire IT landscape is a basic prerequisite for all these security measures. IT infrastructure is ruthlessly complex in its own right. When additional threats to IT security emerge, visibility into all IT assets is essential. Flexera One helps IT managers quickly and reliably obtain information and use it to make decisions. This is just as true in day-to-day IT operations as it is in the current exceptional situation.