{"id":80130,"date":"2023-09-07T13:21:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/?p=80130"},"modified":"2024-10-24T11:22:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T11:22:35","slug":"securing-erp-systems-for-modern-business-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/network-security\/securing-erp-systems-for-modern-business-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Securing ERP Systems: Strategies & Threats in Modern Business Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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As organizations transition to the most up-to-date ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, they must address security oversights. ERP systems encompass various elements in manufacturing, human resource, supply chain, procurement, inventory, and other departments. By consolidating business processes into integrated systems, ERP systems enable organizations to achieve greater efficiency, automation, and insight across their operations. However, security design is often overlooked, and there are many instances in which perimeter defenses fail, resulting in security breaches. ERP system attacks can have far-reaching consequences and long-lasting implications on organizations, primarily financial and reputational damages.<\/p>

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) alerted SAP customers about outdated and misconfigured SAP systems and what threats business applications<\/a> were exposed to. SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications resided on the application-layer level and were independent of core operating system environments. This vulnerability gave hacktivists complete control of business information and processes in their ERP systems, including potential access to other systems (Agency, 2016).
Supply chain attacks in the U.S. have increased by 42% since the first quarter of 2021 and have affected up to 7 million consumers (Katya Defossez, 2022) Hackers are becoming sophisticated with their attacks. They will stop at nothing to disrupt ERP systems and applications. Companies cannot function without proper enterprise resource planning and security, and ERP systems house critical business data.<\/p>

The risk of not securing ERP systems can be complex and lead to significant downtimes, loss in reputation and finances, damaged customer trust, and other implications that could impact the business in the future. If the stolen data is altered, the restoration costs also go up.<\/p>

Staying on top of emerging ERP system threats and properly securing business data continues to be a challenge for small to mid-size enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations. Moving to private clouds can improve security for on-premise ERP solutions. However, this is just the first step, and there are many security measures enterprises can take to stay protected.<\/p>

7 Best Practices to Keep Your ERP Systems Secure and Enhance Cybersecurity<\/h2>

Here are the 7 best cybersecurity practices organizations can implement to make their ERP systems more secure.<\/p>

1. Add Multifactor Authentication<\/h3>

Personal login credentials may sometimes be intertwined with business passwords, which could put ERP systems at risk. Most ERP systems are also web-based and exposed online by default. Enabling multi-factor authentication can prevent hackers from gaining access to these credentials by forcing them to have access to physical devices. Most employees know how two-factor authentication works and multifactor authentication goes a step beyond it by adding additional layers of security for all accounts.<\/p>

2. Perform Software Updates<\/h3>

Now software updates are critical to an organization’s cybersecurity health. Many companies have networks and workstations that need to be regularly updated, which could put employees at risk. It’s important to update software programs to their latest versions as this prevents vulnerabilities from being exploited. Developers have in mind the evolving threat landscape and implement bug fixes in these updates. Consistency is critical, and it’s important to periodically patch systems. Both these measures will prevent unwanted SQL injection attacks<\/a>, unauthorized remote access, and other issues that could plague organizations in the future.<\/p>

3. Design an Incident Response Plan<\/h3>

Good incident response planning can prevent a security breach before it happens by investigating and remediating from the roots. Security incidents affect businesses and can have significant legal repercussions if not addressed appropriately. An incident response plan is a vital component of any cybersecurity strategy and is essential for organizations to ensure compliance with the latest industry standards. It\u2019s a good practice to start with designing a base incident response plan and making improvements to it as the organization scales up. Security analysts should document all processes as part of incident response planning.<\/p>

The following are general guidelines organizations should pursue when designing an incident response plan.<\/p>

a. Identify the Incident<\/h4>

The first step to designing a good incident response plan is identifying the incident and alerting users. This involves continuous monitoring, using threat detection tools, and extensive reporting. If any malicious or unusual activity is detected on networks, it should be immediately logged and reported.<\/p>

b. Contain the incident<\/h4>

Once a security incident is detected, organizations should do everything they can to contain it. Containing a security incident will prevent it from escalating and eliminate potential large-scale data breaches. This phase involves isolating the security incident, blocking communications, and restricting access to authorized accounts. Implementing the principle of least privilege is a good security policy for all organizations when it comes to restricting account access by default.<\/p>

c. Assess Impact and Risk<\/h4>

The organization should define the scope of the security incident and assess its current impact. How many systems were compromised and to what extent data was breached should be inspected. After receiving insights about the incident post-analysis, the organization should also implement steps to mitigate future risks.<\/p>

d. Investigate and Eradicate<\/h4>

This is the phase where the organization should thoroughly investigate and identify methods of compromise attackers use. It will pinpoint the source of the cyber attack as well. The eradication phase is about removing said attack from ERP systems and ensuring that security gaps are closed. The goal is to ensure it never happens again and prevent further damage by taking appropriate action.<\/p>

e. Data Recovery and Backup<\/h4>

If any sensitive information can be recovered, the organization will attempt to retrieve it. Data recovery is about restoring ERP systems to factory defaults or to a stage where they were functioning normally before the incident occurred. The incident response process includes data backup, where companies notify internal teams and partners to create secondary copies of data for safe storage. The backed-up data can be stored on the cloud or across multiple physical locations, which attackers won’t have access to.<\/p>

f. Review and Update<\/h4>

The final phase of incident response planning is to review and update the incident response plan. All findings are reported to stakeholders, and teams are informed about the present situation. The effectiveness of the incident response plan is tested, and its efficacy is proven through results.<\/p>

All actions and processes are documented throughout, analyzed, and stored for future reference. Conducting a post-incident review is also a part of this phase, where organizations incorporate actions into future incident response planning<\/a> and training.<\/p>

4. Enforce Strong Password Policies<\/h3>

Employees should know how to craft strong passwords<\/a> and make it difficult for hackers to hijack their accounts. Unfortunately, some employees have poor password creation and management habits.<\/p>

Organizations need to fix this by implementing strong password management practices.<\/p>

A good password should include the following elements:<\/p>