Mobile Software Risk Vector

⇤ Diligence Risk Category

The Mobile Software risk vector looks at a mobile device’s operating system (OS) and browsers and compares them with the latest and currently available OS and browsers to determine if they are supported or out of date. Download the endpoint OS-browser versions (ver. 25-SEP-2024) list.

Mobile devices are smartphones and tablets in a company's network that access the Internet. Outgoing communications from mobile devices include metadata about the device's operating system, device description, browser version, and description of applications (endpoint data).

See data collection methods.

Risks

Newer versions of operating systems and web browsers typically fix stability issues, bugs, and vulnerabilities that existed in older versions. Bad actors frequently exploit known bugs in older software versions to steal information or run malicious software. The use of unsupported operating systems and browsers is correlated with the presence of a high number of malware infections and an increased likelihood of breach.

• If there are unsupported mobile devices in an organization's network, there is a greater risk of:
  • System failure (vendor devices are not being maintained).
  • Disruption of business continuity.
  • Attackers may be able to use unpatched vulnerabilities to gain system access.
• Connecting a personal device to a corporate network infrastructure adds a potential surface of attack for a threat actor to gain access to company data and sensitive information.

Grading

See how the Mobile Software risk vector is graded in more detail.

Remediation

Resources

• Findings
• Finding Messages

Recommendations

• Search and identify unsupported mobile software and then update the software to the latest version.
• Set up auto-update methods for critical mobile software.
• Insufficient information prevents Bitsight from identifying unsupported software. The use of mobile device management (MDM) systems is recommended, along with integrating human processes that ensures systems in the organization are patched and the software is up-to-date.

Finding Behavior