New research sheds light on myriad cyber defense challenges media companies will face in 2022
The global media industry is facing an onslaught of cyber threats, as new research reveals those who serve the industry are disproportionately susceptible to compromise compared to other sectors.
According a report published this week by BlueVoyant, ‘Media Industry Cybersecurity Challenges: A Vendor Ecosystem Analysis’, 30% of media providers are likely to be compromised via vulnerabilities discovered in their publicly available online presence.
Additionally, these critical supply chain vulnerabilities are known to be exploitable by malicious actors.
complex ecosystem
The study focused on nearly 500 service providers, partners and technology providers widely used in the media industry, including organizations involved in content management, production, distribution and monetization.
According to BlueVoyant, vendors in the media industry are nearly twice as likely to be compromised as those in other industries assessed by the cybersecurity firm.
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Of the 485 companies assessed, 143 companies were identified with “zero tolerance” results.
Media providers offering content management solutions have been particularly affected, with potentially compromising vulnerabilities having been discovered in more than half of these organisations.
The lack of timely patches has also been identified as a “significant issue” for the media industry, with 60% of identified vulnerable systems still unprotected six weeks after a patch was released.
Take on the challenge
“There are several possible explanations for why media industry supply chains are disproportionately likely to be compromised,” said Dan Vasile, vice president of strategic development at BlueVoyant. The daily sip.
“One has to do with the fragmentation of the vendor ecosystem. Media companies tend to rely on many vendors, with the majority of them being relatively small companies that don’t have the appropriate budget to cybersecurity or the attention needed to deal with cyber risks.
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Vasile added: “Another explanation could be the reliance on legacy systems. Adoption of new, more secure technologies is slow due to cost and potential disruption. »
While the report shows that vendors in the media industry are more likely to be compromised than those in other industries, BlueVoyant VP Joel Molinoff said it’s never too late for organizations are taking proactive steps to improve their cyber defense posture.
The security firm’s top recommendations include implementing patches in a timely manner, continuously monitoring the third-party vendor ecosystem, and “leveraging security platforms to proactively track how vendors address vulnerabilities visible from the outside”.
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