Managed services providers (MSPs) use a variety of tools to monitor their customers’ systems and networks and protect against cyberattacks. If the MSP doesn’t follow best practices, however, they can actually introduce threats into their customers’ environments.

A network vulnerability assessment is the initial phase of any cybersecurity strategy. In the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, vulnerability assessments fall under the “identify” phase. They are designed to help organizations identify any gaps in their security posture and prioritize the activities needed to close those gaps. Because cyber threats are continually evolving, organizations should regularly review their IT environment in order to understand their risk exposure.

The near-overnight shift to remote work models created a perfect storm of security challenges. Employees were suddenly working outside the secure perimeter, and IT teams were focused on providing connectivity to corporate applications and data. Even organizations that already had a distributed workforce had to quickly scale up their remote access infrastructure.

The rapid shift to work-from-home models has largely been successful, enabling public- and private-sector organizations to keep functioning and meet social distancing requirements. The benefits have been so great that many organizations plan to offer remote work options after the pandemic has abated. A Cisco survey conducted between June and September 2020 found that 37 percent of organizations expect to continue work-from-home arrangements long-term.