A vulnerability assessment is a strategic review of the security weaknesses in an information network. It allows organizations to evaluate susceptibility to known threats and recommend mitigation methods as per the severity level.
Constant changes in technology have increased the number of successful cyber-attacks. A solid vulnerability assessment practice will establish a robust security posture helping businesses to remediate a successful defense mechanism. Here are a few vulnerability assessment practices.
Assess Risk Identification and Analyze Accordingly
Assessing and identifying risks for every asset and possible threats within the IT infrastructure is a complex task. Businesses need to streamline and structure this process to ensure crucial aspects are aware of the vulnerability gaps. At the same time, this assessment can be accomplished by deploying the asset registers to record data with added sections for threats and vulnerabilities. This ensures that the company has a centralized document with all the necessary data to assess future threats.
After assessing threats and vulnerabilities, the analysis phase needs to be initiated by assigning risks to assets to determine the impact and the likelihood of each materializing threat. Simultaneously, businesses can prioritize assets with higher risks and those likely to be critically affected due to weaknesses or vulnerabilities.
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Prepare for Elastic Attack Surface and Establish Vulnerability Management Database
Applications are interconnected and dynamic with multiple layers of complex integrations. Hence, robust scanning and assessment methodology is vital to prepare for an attack within the current network infrastructure. Businesses need to include an elastic attack surface in vulnerability management to understand numerous components like web applications, cloud instances, containers, mobile devices, and IoT devices of the attack surface. The key to preparing an elastic attack surface is utilizing next-generation intelligent solutions like vulnerability management platforms that will allow companies to seamlessly gain complete visibility into the elastic attack surface and its complex layers.
Additionally, organizations need to map out all the digital assets during the discovery phase of vulnerability management. These insights will project a holistic view of the company’s IT assets with the standards of criticality and vulnerability. Establishing a database to ensure that the IT infrastructure is in a good security posture to ensure high measures are anchored up to safeguard the assets from forthcoming attacks is important.
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Perform, Evaluate, and Interpret the Scan Results
With numerous vulnerability scanning vendors to choose from, businesses need to carefully configure scans by identifying general objectives and the type of system that needs to be scanned.
A robust scanning method will allow businesses to evaluate and determine possible risks. It is crucial to perform scanning activities on critical systems after the traffic to the target is minimal to prevent overload.
Furthermore, knowledge of the scanned system is crucial to station and effectively prioritize remediation efforts. At the same time, if there is an availability of the public exploit for a vulnerability, businesses need to ensure such critical vulnerabilities are taken precedence over other vulnerabilities.
Station a Remediation Plan
Post interpretation of the scan results, the security staff needs to prioritize the mitigation of each vulnerability detected and work with IT staff to communicate effectively to station mitigation actions. Multiple follow-up scans need to be planned regularly to increase the likeliness of problem-solving between teams until all vulnerabilities are mitigated to no longer appear in the reports.
Vulnerability Assessments are crucial and are based on previously determined assets and their risks. Businesses must prioritize security issues to deflect the most damage from a successful cyber-attack. Efficient vulnerability assessment helps safeguard the system to be a part of the integral requirement of most compliance standards. It will also ensure that a good security posture is maintained that can contribute to the success of the company’s cyber-security program.
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