Proprietary protocols are a security risk.
Proprietary protocols necessitate vendor lock-in.
When you commit your design to proprietary protocols, you lose the freedom to shop for lower cost products.
You’re stuck with the vendor’s availability and deliverability schedule.
If another vendor comes to market with a desirable feature, you can’t buy their product or use that feature until your proprietary protocol vendor includes it in their product – which may be a long time, if the feature is protected by a patent.
You’re stuck with the vendor’s schedule for firmware updates and CVE patches.
RECOMMENDATION
Your risk analysis should include an inventory of hardware, software, AND protocols.
Recommend the redesign of any system with proprietary protocols.
In the short term, before redesign is complete, update your Incident Response plan, growth plan, and spares inventory to minimize crises.
CEOs: Ask your CISO, CIO, or systems architect, “Do we rely on any proprietary protocols?” And if they don’t immediately know the answer, it’s time to find out.
