As the number of vulnerabilities today is on the rise, system and network administrators face a difficult situation. They are challenged with keeping up with all the systems they have and all the patches released for those systems. Patches can be difficult to apply and might even have unexpected side effects as a result of compatibility issues.
Besides the problem of keeping abreast of the number of vulnerabilities and the corresponding patches, there are also logistic problems between the time at which a vendor releases a security patch and the time at which a system administrator fixes the vulnerable computer system. There are several factors affecting the quick fixing of patches. Sometimes, it is the logistics of the distribution of patches. Many vendors disseminate the patches on their Web sites; others send e-mail alerts. However, sometimes busy systems administrators do not get around to these e-mails and security alerts until sometime after. Sometimes, it can be months or years before the patches are implemented on a majority of the vulnerable computers. Many system administrators are facing the same chronic problems: the neverending system maintenance, limited resources, and highly demanding management. Under these conditions, the ever-increasing security system complexity, increasing system vulnerabilities, and the fact that many administrators do not fully understand the security risks, system administrators neither give security a high enough priority nor assign adequate resources. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that the demand for skilled system administrators far exceeds the supply. The number of vulnerabilities in commercial off-the-shelf software is now at the level that it is virtually impossible for any but the best resourced organizations to keep up with the vulnerability fixes. The Internet now connects more than 1 bilion computers and continues to grow at a rapid pace. At any point in time, there are hundreds of thousands of connected computers that are vulnerable to one form of attack or another. Attack technology has now advanced to the point where it is easy for attackers to take advantage of these vulnerable machines and harness them together to launch high-powered attacks. Many attacks are now fully automated, thus reducing the turnaround time evenfurther as they spread around cyberspace.The attack technology has become increasingly complex and in some cases intentionally stealthy, thus reducing the turnaround time and increasing the time it takes to discover and analyze the attack mechanisms in order to produce antidotes. Internet users have become increasingly dependent on the Internet and now use it for many critical applications so that a relatively minor attack has the potential to cause huge damages.
