The Myth of the Adversary Advantage
Summary: A Dragos blog post argues that the common belief the adversary always holds the advantage in cyber intrusions is an illusion, because the attacker must evade every layer of defense while the defender needs only one detection to trigger a response. The post cites MS08-067 (attacked by Conficker) and MS17-010 (targeted by EternalBlue, then WannaCry) as the most damaging vulnerabilities of the past decade or more, noting both were patched before widespread weaponization and both involved services, RPC and SMB, that should never be remotely accessible from untrusted parties.
Key Takeaway: The two most damaging vulnerabilities in recent memory were patched before they were widely weaponized, which means the exposure came from network design and patching discipline rather than from the exploits themselves. A security leader who treats patch management as the primary control is investing in hygiene that the post says is essentially meaningless against a zero day, while architecture, segmentation, and visibility are what contain an unknown attack.
Read the original at Dragos Blog ↗
- Topics
- OT / ICS & Critical Infrastructure
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