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| Understanding the Technology Behind Vulnerability Management | Why Should You Manage Vulnerabilities? |
New Delhi (Lisbon Times):- Most organizations have to deal with a cyberattack sooner or later as a result of an exposed gap in their security. While this can be easily considered an oversight on their part, the discussion is a lot more nuanced than that. Sometimes, weaknesses are very hard to identify without the proper tools. This is where vulnerability management comes in.
In the following lines, I will go over the basics of vulnerability management, starting with its definition, importance, and stages. Finally, I will go over the separate technologies that go into the process. So, if you want to find out what those are, stay tuned until the end.
What is Vulnerability Management?
Before discussing vulnerability management, it’s important to first understand what a vulnerability is. On the authority of theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO), a vulnerability in the field of IT is a condition or set of conditions present in a component, product, service, or system that contradicts existing security policies.
Therefore, a vulnerability is a weakness that can lead to several consequences in terms of cybersecurity. When your organization’s infrastructure is exposed, it creates a gateway for malicious third parties to enter your network and exploit it for their gain. Possible outcomes include, but are not limited to:
- Malicious code injection;
- Ransomware attacks;
- Bot attacks;
- Data exfiltration;
- And more.
Thus, vulnerability management deals with the mitigation of these weaknesses. The term refers to a set of security practices that are meant to proactively recognize, prevent, classify, and remediate liabilities within an organization’s IT infrastructure.
Why Should You Manage Vulnerabilities?
Now that we’ve established what vulnerability management is, you might be left wondering – why is it important? Why should you integrate this cybersecurity practice into your organization? The answer is simple. Because regardless of how well-protected you think your enterprise is, it most likely still has a few weak spots.
Security vulnerabilities are a prevalent threat in today’s digital landscape. According to Stack Watch’s 2021 Security Vulnerability Report,
- A total of7.097 security vulnerabilities (CVEs) have been published so far for 2021.
- A whopping17.023 CVEs were registered last year, in 2020.
- They're average severity was 7.1 out of 10.
In addition to this, a vast majority of security vulnerabilities appear in products that the modern office makes use of every day. As per the same report, the five vendors most affected by this issue in 2021 have been:
- Microsoft
- Oracle
- Fedora Project
- Cisco
The 5 Stages of Vulnerability Management
Implementing a vulnerability management cybersecurity strategy for your company has multiple phases. There are five key stages in the process, namely:
- Identification, which consists of discovering all the vulnerabilities in your company network.
- Classification, which entails separating vulnerabilities into groups according to their type.
- Prioritization, which involves ranking threats by their severity.
- Remediation, which means taking the appropriate measures to close gaps in security.
- Mitigation, which is the proactive step in the process meant to prevent further issues.
The first four stages deal with the retroactive and reactive handling of system vulnerabilities. They cover what you need to do to close the security gaps that already exist in your network. However, the most important step is the last one, as it deals with the central element of vulnerability management – prevention.
Vulnerability Management Technology
At this point in an article, you might be wondering – how does vulnerability management work towards the five stages described in the previous section? What does it look like from a mechanical standpoint? The technology behind it consists of three modules: software patches, IT assets, and policies.
Patch Management
Patches are an essential component of vulnerability management technology. The term patch refers to a piece of software code that improves an installed program. Imagine scraping your knee and putting a bandage over it – that’s exactly what patches do for compromised or outdated programs. There are three different types:- Feature patches, which add new capabilities to the software.
- Bugfix patches, which address software errors.
- Security patches, which cover vulnerabilities and thus enhance cybersecurity.
Therefore, the process of patch management consists of acquiring, reviewing, and deploying patches within an organization’s systems. Through it, your IT department can stay on track with new updates, as well as ensure whether they were correctly installed or not, check their status post-deployment, and create detailed reports on the procedure.
Asset Management
Managing your company’s IT asset is an important part of dealing with vulnerabilities. In business, an asset is defined as a resource that holds economic value and future benefit potential for an individual, corporation, or country.
Asset management consists of categorizing, monitoring, and supporting a company’s digital assets. It deals with both computers and mobile devices, as well as virtual resources such as software, licenses, or subscriptions. This is essential to preventing vulnerabilities, as it will let you know where they are and who is using them at all times.Policy Management
Patch and asset management wouldn’t be as efficient without dedicated policies, which is why policy management technology is part and parcel of how you deal with vulnerabilities in your infrastructure. In IT, the term policy denotes specific guidelines put into place to dictate how various matters are handled.
In the case of vulnerability management, policies ensure the automation of the process. They outline when and how patches go out, minimizing disruptions and maximizing productivity. In addition to this, guidelines can also ensure that no malicious applications are allowed to execute themselves within your systems.
Wrapping Up…
Vulnerability management is a straightforward process that consists of software patching, IT asset management, and policy deployment. By their powers combined, these three technologies close the gaps in your company’s security and protect it against advanced cyber threats. However, you shouldn’t wait until it happens to you to implement this practice. As always, prevention is the best medicine, so make sure you have the right tools under your belt.Lisbon Times Guest Post, Author Bio
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