Apply Critical System Updates And Monitor Attack Surfaces From The Outside

This spells opportunity for service providers that offer penetration testing or other security services that look for holes in an organization's infrastructure defenses.

"Although it may be difficult for large companies to update every computer on their networks, IT teams should at least examine whether any computers on their networks are using outdated versions of operating systems," BitSight wrote. "This can be done from outside the network without solely relying on penetration tests or network scans."