Storage and Backup Summary

Organizations rely heavily on storage and backup systems and services for data storage. These services provide organizations with abilities to encrypt, back up, and restore confidential data for disaster recovery and compliance purposes. However they can also be subject to exploitation and leave critical data at risk if left unmanaged. This dashboard presents the latest information on known storage and backup vulnerabilities from products such as ComputerAssociates ARCserve, EMC NetWorker, and Symantec BackupExec.

Most organizations employ some type of backup solutions to store critical data within their environment. These services can utilize a combination of tape, disk, and cloud backup solutions to access, retrieve, store, and encrypt data. This dashboard leverages data collected from Tenable Nessus, and provides a comprehensive look at vulnerabilities detected on storage and backup solutions throughout the enterprise.

This dashboard uses the Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) filter to identify many of the software programs used in enterprise networks. According to NIST, the CPE is a structured naming scheme for information technology systems, software, and packages. Based upon the generic syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI), CPE includes a formal name format, a method for checking names against a system, and a description format for binding text and tests to a name. Tenable assigns CPEs to plugins where appropriate. This allows for analysts to search for common CPE prefixes such as “cpe:/a:ca:arcserve,” “cpe:/a:dell:equallogic,” and “cpe:/a:symantec: backup_exec.” Associating CPE strings with vulnerabilities allows the analysts a greater view into separating operating system vulnerabilities from application vulnerabilities, and adds to the level of vulnerability detail provided to the organization.

Data presented within this dashboard is gathered by active vulnerability scanning with Nessus and passive vulnerability detection with Tenable Passive Vulnerability Scanner (PVS). Using this data, security teams will gain valuable insight into existing vulnerabilities on storage and backup solutions across the enterprise. An overview of vulnerabilities from each vendor will provide detailed information on vulnerable hosts. Organizations will be presented with a summary of vulnerabilities detected over time, including exploitable vulnerabilities, which can aid security teams in prioritizing remediation efforts. This data can be useful in understanding and mitigating potential threat vectors, and securing backup solutions within the organization.

This dashboard is available in the SecurityCenter Feed, a comprehensive collection of dashboards, reports, Assurance Report Cards, and assets. The dashboard can be easily located in the SecurityCenter Feed under the category Threat Detection & Vulnerability Assessments. The dashboard requirements are:

• SecurityCenter 5.3.1
• Nessus 6.8.1
• PVS 5.1.0

Tenable SecurityCenter provides continuous network monitoring, vulnerability identification, and security monitoring. SecurityCenter is continuously updated with information about advanced threats and zero-day vulnerabilities, and new types of regulatory compliance configuration audit files. Tenable constantly analyzes information from our unique sensors, delivering continuous visibility and critical context, enabling decisive action that transforms your security program from reactive to proactive. Active scanning examines storage and backup software applications on systems, running processes and services, detection of vulnerable software applications, configuration settings, and additional vulnerabilities. Monitoring the network to ensure that all systems are secured against vulnerabilities is essential to ongoing security efforts. Tenable’s extensive network monitoring capabilities enables a powerful, yet non-disruptive, continuous monitoring of the organization to ensure the latest vulnerability information is provided to analysts.

The following components are included within this dashboard:

• Storage and Backup Summary - Storage and Backup Vulnerability Summary: This matrix presents detailed information on backup software vulnerabilities discovered on systems within the network. For each vendor presented, a count of systems on which the software or service has been located, the number of identified vulnerabilities, the ratio of vulnerable systems, and the count of how many are exploitable is included. The percentage bars are color-coded based on the percentage of systems that meet the specified filters. The bar turns green when 0-24%, yellow when 25-49%, orange when 50-75%, and red when more than 75% of systems meet the filter requirement. Analysts can drill down to obtain additional information on the detected vulnerability, including IP address, software CPEs, MAC address, and total number of vulnerabilities detected on each host. In addition, analysts can modify this component to include additional or specific CPE data per organizational requirements.
• Storage and Backup Summary - Storage and Backup Status At a Glance: This table presents a summary of vulnerabilities detected from storage and backup software over time. A count of exploitable vulnerabilities is displayed to highlight vulnerabilities that present the highest level of risk to the organization. Critical, high, and medium severity vulnerabilities are included, with a count of vulnerabilities discovered over the last 7 days, last 30 days, and more than 30 days ago. Security teams can use this component to gain insight into existing vulnerabilities, and how often systems are being patched to remediate these vulnerabilities.
• Storage and Backup Summary - Storage and Backup Trend Last 90 Days: This component presents a trend chart of detected vulnerabilities from storage and backup software over the last 90 days. Information presented within this uses the CPE filter to identify vulnerabilities on backup software and services from vendors such as Dell, IBM, and Symantec. Data points are calculated every 3 days to provide the most accurate trend of vulnerabilities detected over time. This chart can be useful in monitoring the presence of various types of vulnerabilities in security software over time. Analysts can modify this component to include additional or specific CPE data per organizational requirements.
• Storage and Backup Summary - Storage and Backup Criticals at a Glance: This table presents a list of critical severity vulnerabilities detected from storage and backup solutions on the network. Relevant vulnerabilities with a critical severity level are shown to focus on the vulnerabilities that present the highest level of risk to the organization. For each vulnerability presented, the plugin name, family, severity, and total count are included. Analysts can drill down to obtain additional information on the detected vulnerability, including IP address, MAC address, and total number of vulnerabilities detected on each host.