Innovative solutions and products helping companies find security issues and vulnerabilities: Finite State

In the highly digital world we live in, the complexity of softwares is increasing and threat to products is at an all time high. Product security is building security into the products companies create. It is a customized security framework that encompasses an organization's people, processes, tools and training to ensure products are being developed and manufactured with security in mind.

Globally there are various companies, who specialize in product security, among them Finite State standout. Finite State enable product security teams – the guardians of the connected world – to protect the devices one rely on every day through market-leading software threat, vulnerability, and risk management .By analyzing every piece of information in device firmware, from third-party code to configuration settings, the company enables secure device manufacturing at scale. The company’s products and services integrate seamlessly into existing development and SecOps processes and providing actionable security metrics to address product and supply chain risk.  The Finite State Platform helps in exposing security issues and vulnerabilities in connected devices and embedded systems have never been easier. Finite State provides actionable insights that enable your team to take swift action.

In October 2021, the Ponemon Institute asked more than 600 IT security professionals about the product security strategies they had implemented within their organizations. Here’s a summary of what they learned:

• 41 percent of respondents report that product security is an organizational priority
• 50 percent of organizations assess product security before a product ships to customers
• 59 percent of organizations report losing sales due to product security concerns

Clearly, product security matters to an increasing number of organizations, but not to as many as it should. When you approach your organization about product security, and they ask you to define it, how do you define product security? What makes product security different from other forms of IoT security? Finally, why should organizations invest resources into product security? Read on for Finite State’s perspective.

Defining Product Security

Product security encompasses the efforts that developers or manufacturers undertake when they build a secure product. It’s important to emphasize the words “when they build” in that definition because product security, done right, forms an integral part of the creation of a product. Product security is not something that only happens after a product is manufactured, or, worse, when an end-user opens a box that contains, for example, a doorbell camera, and wonders how to make sure that it’s secure. The product security of that doorbell camera should be contemplated before it’s ever shipped to a customer—and even before it rolls off an assembly line. Product security has been around for a long time, but today, it’s growing in importance and adoption. In the security ecosystem, product security runs parallel to two other well-established categories:

• IoT security
• AppSec

In IoT security, Finite State try to protect devices on its networks with security programs that identify attacks when they happen and then it tries to respond quickly—even though these devices are often unmanaged. In AppSec, or application security, Finite State looks to static and dynamic application security testing, as well as software composition analysis. AppSec ensures that development teams are building their applications securely and not setting the stage for lots of fires to put out later because they have insecure network applications.  

How Is Product Security Different Than Other Forms of IoT Security?

Beyond IoT security and AppSec, product security helps embedded device teams build secure products. Because embedded devices often combine hardware and software components, product security frequently looks to AppSec to improve software security. But, that’s only part of the solution. Product security means making sure the products that it ships are secure and abstract tools generally will not work on embedded systems. These tools have been designed to support web applications that run in different languages, on different systems, and according to different deployment cycles than those used in embedded devices. When they build embedded devices, engineers and developers risk integrating vulnerabilities and threats from third-party components, which can include hardware, software, firmware, drivers, and operating systems. These opaque threats can come from any one of the components that would appear on a Software Bills of Materials, and AppSec tools just aren’t designed to see into the composition of devices, identify potential vulnerabilities, and then determine their severity.

How to Improve Your Product Security?

Through the Finite State product security platform, the company can help device developers and manufacturers instill confidence in the security of their products. It purposely built the Finite State Platform to assess product security in connected devices and embedded systems and deliver actionable insights, critical vulnerability data, and remediation guidance you can use. Gain control of product security for your connected devices and supply chains. Mitigate product risk. Protect your connected attack surface. There are more than 20 billion connected devices in use today.

How Finite State can help different stakeholders

Device Manufacturers

Firmware isn't safe unless it's safe by design. With over 20 billion internet connected devices today, connectivity is changing the world. For manufacturers, the ability to create new IoT, OT, and other connected devices and embedded systems has far outpaced their ability to keep those devices secure. Finite State is here to change that. The company’s automated platform provides the most comprehensive solution for device manufacturers who want to secure their connected products. 

Asset Owners

Supply chain risk is critical infrastructure risk. Not knowing the software components in your connected devices leaves you vulnerable to unknown, unmeasured supply chain risk. The most complete view into SBOM components, limiting exposure to undiscovered vulnerabilities. Pinpoint the origin and scope of risk. Leverage global search to see all devices affected by NIST-published vulnerabilities. Expand the impact usefulness of your pen testing activities with a full context view of security issues across your product inventory. Optimized to facilitate frictionless vendor firmware acquisition and complemented by specialist curation into action plans. By providing a comprehensive, continuous view of each device component and its associated vulnerabilities, Finite State helps reduce the likelihood of a breach, minimizes your vulnerability response time by pinpointing the origin and scope of risk, and ensures that you are purchasing and deploying the most secure devices.

Healthcare

Scale firmware security to prevent attacks on medical devices. Automate your testing processes and address security issues early and often. Reduce lengthy procurement processes by offering proof of product security and testing, including a comprehensive Software Bill of Materials (SBOM). Discover and remediate security issues such as hard-coded credentials, known open source vulnerabilities, configuration errors, and crypto materials. Free your processes from costly, slow, and cumbersome manual testing. With the Finite State Platform, simply upload firmware and the automated platform will do the rest. All within one business day. Connected medical devices are highly susceptible to attack. Unpatched devices, hidden backdoors in third party components, and insecure configurations can threaten patient safety and lead to disclosure of sensitive patient data. The supply chain for these devices is complex and opaque, leaving medical device manufacturers in the dark when it comes to security issues inherited from third-party vendors and open source components. 

Finite State’s automated product security platform helps medical device manufacturers gain visibility and control over their product and supply chain risk. Its advanced analysis capabilities and remediation guidance enable security teams to address security issues across your medical product portfolio and allow them to quickly see which products may be impacted by new vulnerabilities.

Enterprise

Reduce or eliminate slow, costly manual testing using Finite State’s automated platform. Reduce lengthy procurement processes by offering proof of product security and testing, including a comprehensive Software Bill of Materials (SBOM). Discover and remediate security issues such as hard-coded credentials, known open source vulnerabilities, configuration errors, and crypto materials. Free your processes from costly, slow, and cumbersome manual testing. With the rise of IoT in enterprise environments providing an ever-growing attack vector, cyber-attacks are more likely than ever. Organizations around the globe are scrambling to protect themselves from the new onslaught of IoT malware, bots, and even corporate espionage. Businesses are scrutinizing their procurement processes in order to protect themselves and their customers from these attacks.

Luckily, Finite State delivers everything you need to know about IoT product and supply chain risk to be found in each device’s firmware. Finite State’s automated product security platform gives enterprise IoT manufacturers visibility and control over their product risk and security posture, enabling them to instill confidence in the security of their products while reducing time-to-market.

Matt Wyckhouse, Founder & CEO

“Free your processes from costly, slow, and cumbersome manual testing. Whether you have one device or hundreds, simply upload the firmware of all your devices and our automated platform will do the rest, often in less than one business day.”