Vulnerability management is the process of identifying and managing security risks in your organisation. As Rootshell Security explains (https://www.rootshellsecurity.net/vulnerability-management/), this includes deciding which vulnerabilities are most critical and prioritising them for attention. It also encompasses a wide range of activities, including vulnerability scanning, vulnerability assessment, vulnerability remediation, and vulnerability management reporting.
In this post, we will cover the vulnerability management process and how best to implement it within your organisation. Read on to get more information about vulnerability management.
The Process of Vulnerability Management
This process is subdivided into four steps: identifying, evaluating, treating, and reporting vulnerabilities.
Identifying Vulnerabilities
A vulnerability scanner is at the core of identifying vulnerabilities in organisations. Through scanning, organisations can identify a range of networks operating on their network such as desktops, laptops, databases, servers etc.
The identified systems are analysed, and several characteristics are noted, such as file system structure, user account, open ports and configurations. Therefore, the information collected identifies the vulnerabilities by associating the scanned systems with the known vulnerabilities.
A vulnerability management solution is thus used to collect data that creates reports and metrics for various consumers.
Evaluating Vulnerabilities
The identified vulnerabilities should be evaluated so that the risk management team to deal with them appropriately. The management solutions offer the organisation several risk ratings and scores. It is up to the organisation’s risk management strategy to evaluate the risks they should focus on first by considering a range of factors. Afterwards, vulnerability validation exercises identify the real risks and eliminate false positives.
Treating Vulnerabilities
Once you identify and prove risks, the next step is developing a response plan. There are several methods to treat vulnerabilities: acceptance, mitigation, and remediation.
Remediation – this is patching a vulnerability to avoid exploitation.
Acceptance – this mostly happens to vulnerabilities that are low risk, for instance, when the cost of fixing the vulnerability is greater than exploitation. Hence, it is taking no action to fix the exploitation or lessen the probability of the vulnerability.
Mitigation – controls the impact or possibility of exploitation of the vulnerability. Mitigation is the best option if a patch or fix is not yet available; thus, it is ideal to buy time for remediation.
Reporting Vulnerabilities
Carrying out vulnerability assessment enables an organisation to know the efficiency of its vulnerability management program. The management tools have various exporting and visualising tools that scan data into reports and dashboards. It helps the IT personnel figure out the appropriate remediation techniques for different vulnerabilities. Also, reporting vulnerabilities is essential in supporting an organisation’s compliance regulations.
Implementing Vulnerability Management in an Organisation
It is essential to understand how to prevent attacks and reduce risks in a business’s system if you are responsible for the security of the organisation’s network. You can establish and strengthen your vulnerability management program by following key steps. They are:
Bring together your team and identify key players for laying a foundation for your program.
Get the appropriate tools for finding vulnerabilities within the ecosystem used by the security team. Vulnerability management solution sorts out the critical vulnerabilities and puts them in the remediation workflow. Once you identify the vulnerabilities, the configuration management database gives information for software and hardware in the organisation.
Within your ecosystem, cross-reference the threat scope – take the knowledge of your assets and known vulnerabilities within your organisation and cross-reference them with your threat intelligence.
Have adequate knowledge of your organisation’s applications, assets, and risk tolerance.
Measure, analyse, and prioritise your vulnerabilities – this is a critical stage where you choose your vulnerability management forum. Thus, it is crucial to opt for an option that includes data science, automated risk analysis and customised risk metrics.
Communicate, remediate and report the vulnerabilities – You must ensure effective communication between your crucial team, remediate fast while keeping everybody on their toes and create a comprehensive report.
Advantages of Vulnerability Management
Systematic vulnerability management and scanning improve the control and security of an organisation’s network.
It brings about operational efficiencies through automating and getting rid of manual tasks to improve security and reduce costs.
Having a vulnerability management platform makes a return on investment in security easier considering you can track and report improvements across teams, assets and periods.
It enables organisations to take a proactive and data-driven stance against threats, risks and breaches of their network.