CVEs: Security Bugs That Bite

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As part of my Cybersecurity for Executives online book, I listed 20 questions to ask your security team. The first question was How many of our systems are running out of date software with known security flaws (otherwise known as CVEs)? What is a CVE, where do they come from, and why is it important?

Do you know what CVE-2017–5638 is? It happens to be the root cause of the Equifax breach. Attackers were able to use this CVE to gain access to Equifax systems and expose personal data of 143 million Americans. They attacked a known and published flaw in a specific piece of software to gain access to an Equifax server. Once on that server, they used that machine to get to other computers in the company, until ultimately, they were able to access and steal data. The flaw in the software was published online two months earlier. If the company had taken action when that vulnerability was…