What is Vulnerability Management?
The threat of vulnerabilities is well-known, and software manufacturers take steps to correct these issues as quickly as possible. However, these patches or updates are only useful if they are applied to fix the vulnerability.
Vulnerability management is the process of finding, triaging, fixing, and reporting vulnerabilities. Often, vulnerabilities are fixed by applying updates; however, this can be a complex process, and updates may not always be available. Managing vulnerabilities at scale across the organization requires a well-defined, scalable process.
The Need for Vulnerability Management
The number of errors in an application is often considered to be proportional to the number of lines of code. While DevSecOps practices can help with this, every application can be expected to have a certain error rate. This means that — as more and more software is created, and companies become more reliant on these programs — the number of potential vulnerabilities increases.
Not all vulnerabilities are exploitable by an attacker, and only a portion of exploitable vulnerabilities poses a real threat. However, each of these vulnerabilities in an organization’s systems and software poses a real risk to the organization until it is remediated.
Vulnerability management is essential because it provides companies with a scalable, effective strategy for managing this risk. If an organization doesn’t remediate vulnerabilities, it leaves itself open to attack. However, it’s equally vulnerable if it wastes its time and resources on fixing the wrong vulnerabilities.
Vulnerability Management Process
Managing vulnerabilities at scale requires a well-designed process. This process can be broken up into the following five steps.
#1. Identification
An organization can’t address vulnerabilities that it doesn’t know exists. The first step in the vulnerability management process is to identify vulnerabilities that might require attention.
Vulnerabilities can be discovered in various ways. Automated vulnerability scanning may turn up some vulnerabilities. An in-depth penetration test or red team engagement may identify others. After performing any cybersecurity assessment, an organization should have a list of potential vulnerabilities to manage.
#2. Triage
Vulnerability management can be resource intensive. When fixing a vulnerability via patching, a security team needs to find the patch, test it, apply it at scale, and verify that the patch worked and did not introduce additional issues. Often, the number of vulnerabilities in an organization’s environment exceeds its ability to remediate them. Also, in some cases, the cost of remediation may outweigh the potential risks that they pose and the benefits of doing so.
As a result, the second step of the vulnerability management process is triage. The security team should review the list of unresolved vulnerabilities and prioritize them based on risk, impact, and cost of remediation. This allows them to allocate their resources to maximize risk reduction and return on investment.
#3. Resolution
For each vulnerability that it discovered, it needs to perform some form of resolution. Depending on the situation, the organization may choose one of several approaches, including:
- Remediation: Remediation involves completely closing a vulnerability. For example, a vendor-provided update may fix a programming error in its products if applied.
- Mitigation: Mitigation reduces the exploitability or impact of a vulnerability. For example, an organization may use firewalls and network segmentation to make it more difficult for an attacker to reach the vulnerable software.
- Acceptance: For low-impact vulnerabilities that the organization cannot or will not address, acceptance is the only option. Depending on the vulnerability, this may increase the organization’s risk and vulnerability to attack.
#4. Reassessment
The security team’s attempts to correct a vulnerability may not be effective or may introduce new security risks. After resolving a vulnerability, the team should run another vulnerability scan or security assessment to ensure that it is actually closed.
#5. Reporting and Improvement
Tracking vulnerabilities and management efforts is important for various reasons. For example, a mitigated or accepted vulnerability may still be vulnerable to attack. Also, vulnerability tracking and reporting demonstrate a clear ROI for cybersecurity investments.
During the retrospective and reporting process, the security team should also look to extract lessons learned. This may help to identify opportunities to improve security controls, processes, or monitoring to protect against similar vulnerabilities in the future.
Vulnerability Management with Check Point
Vulnerability management is essential to corporate endpoint security. If unpatched vulnerabilities exist on an organization’s systems, they may be vulnerable to attack. However, many companies that offer vulnerability management only provide identification and sometimes triage, leaving remediation to the consumer.
Check Point Harmony Endpoint — a market-leading, prevention-first, endpoint detection and response solution — provides strong protection against a wide array of potential threats. Now, it also offers a unique endpoint security posture management feature by integrating with IT management and security software provider Ivanti. This integration automatically discovers, manages, and automatically patched vulnerabilities, enabling the security team to rapidly identify vulnerabilities and address them, enterprise-wide, with a single click.
You’re welcome to check out this buyer’s guide to better understand what you should be looking for in an endpoint security solution. Then, see Harmony Endpoint’s capabilities for yourself with a free demo.
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