Introduction to Network Security Challenges
As the Vice President of Security Research at runZero, I have spent most of my career managing patch schedules, writing exploits and Metasploit modules, and detecting novel attacks on the network. However, after four decades of responding to cybersecurity incidents, it has become clear that most people run into trouble not because they forgot to patch some critical internal database, but because the networking deck is stacked against the defenders.
TTRPGs and Predicting the Future
I recall my first exposure to Cyberpunk 2020 in 1989, a pencil-and-paper table-top role-playing game that was the direct ancestor of the multiplayer online game Cyberpunk 2077. As a teenage hacker, I was drawn to the Netrunner character class, which allowed for simulated hacking. However, I noted that the game's portrayal of hacking was too simplified and unrealistic, assuming that nuclear power plants and banks would not be on the same networks as hackers and gangsters.
Fast forward to today, and it is clear that my concerns were misguided. The widespread adoption of TCP/IP has led to a situation where virtually everything that talks IP will end up exposed and reachable on the internet, making it both the coolest thing about TCP/IP and its ultimate Achilles' heel.
The Fundamental Flaw of Modern Networking
The 2026 M-Trends report from Google highlights that exploits represented the most frequently observed initial infection vector in 2025, accounting for 32% of all initial access vectors. However, this also means that 68% of initial access attacks do not rely on technical vulnerability exploitation. This is because everything is reachable with enough ingenuity, time, and luck.
The standards chosen for TCP/IP are incredible in their interoperability, allowing systems to communicate freely, and routers actively bypass damaged connections, even when these broken connections are intentional blocks. While this fundamental interconnectivity is great for innovation and industry, it is an absolute disaster for security.
Zero-Trust and the Limits of Security
Security professionals have long known that the boundaries between internal and external networks are at best notional, defining today's intrusion defense strategies. The concept of zero-trust has been an aspirational end-state for about 15 years, with identity and authorization bundled into every network transaction, regardless of origin. However, this path is often blocked by legacy systems that cannot be managed this way.
Even when CTOs and CISOs get comfortable with their carefully structured boundaries, someone invariably bridges a printer from the IT to the OT network, and shadow-IT hijinks ensue from there. The network itself is actively working against the idea that only some computers should be able to talk to some other computers, automatically and intelligently, without physically closing circuits or swapping cables.
Securing the Enterprise
Securing any enterprise is profoundly difficult due to these fundamental forces, giving hackers, criminals, and spies a seemingly permanent advantage in gaining and keeping access, no exploits required. Going forward, I will be exploring these challenges in more depth, including tracking end-of-life trends, investigating OT/IT convergence, and the so-called Layer 8 human-centric issues of cybersecurity.
Expect the occasional deep-dive on particularly interesting sets of technical software vulnerabilities, CVE-identified or otherwise. As a CVE Board member and former Section Chief for the Vulnerability Response section at CISA, I have a unique perspective on the challenges facing security professionals today.
About the Author
Tod Beardsley is VP of Security Research at runZero, with over 30 years of hands-on security experience. He has held IT ops, security, software engineering, and management positions in large organizations and is an internationally-tolerated horror fiction expert.
Source: SecurityWeek