What is the vulnerability management process?

Trendy enterprise networks are huge methods of distant and on-premises endpoints, domestically put in software program, cloud apps, and third-party companies. Each one in every of these belongings performs a significant position in enterprise operations—and any of them may include vulnerabilities that risk actors can use to sow chaos. Organizations depend on the vulnerability administration course of to go off these cyberthreats earlier than they strike.

The vulnerability administration course of is a steady course of for locating, prioritizing, and resolving safety vulnerabilities throughout a corporation’s IT infrastructure.

Safety vulnerabilities outlined

A safety vulnerability is any weak point or flaw within the construction, perform, or implementation of an IT asset or community that hackers or cybercriminals can exploit to trigger hurt. Coding errors—e.g., a bug in an internet app that lets risk actors inject the system with malware—are a standard sort of vulnerability. Misconfigurations, like a cloud storage bucket that exposes delicate information to the general public web, are additionally frequent.

Based on the IBM X-Drive Menace Intelligence Index, the exploitation of vulnerabilities like these is the second commonest cyberattack vector (technique of infiltrating the goal system or community).

A steady vulnerability administration course of helps cease cyberattacks—and soften the blow of those who succeed—by discovering and fixing flaws earlier than risk actors can weaponize them. Briefly, it permits the safety group to undertake a extra proactive safety posture, which is why vulnerability administration is a key element of enterprise threat administration methods at this time.

The vulnerability administration lifecycle  

Company networks will not be static. Each change—adopting a brand new app, updating an working system—can introduce new vulnerabilities. Plus, hackers are all the time attempting to find undiscovered flaws, and it solely takes them about 12 days to begin exploiting those they discover. 

To maintain up with these adversaries and reply to cyberthreats in a well timed method, safety groups deal with vulnerabilities in an ongoing course of referred to as the vulnerability administration lifecycle. Every cycle leads straight into the subsequent, and the intel collected in every cycle shapes how the subsequent one performs out.

Usually the vulnerability administration lifecycle consists of 5 phases, plus an occasional planning part.

Planning and prework  

Earlier than the lifecycle formally begins, the group establishes its total technique for addressing safety weaknesses. This consists of figuring out accountable stakeholders, earmarking assets, setting objectives, and defining key efficiency metrics.

Organizations undergo this stage as soon as earlier than implementing a proper vulnerability administration course of. Then, the general technique is revisited periodically and up to date as wanted.

1. Asset discovery and vulnerability evaluation

Each spherical of the vulnerability administration lifecycle begins with updating the stock of all of the {hardware}, software program, and different IT belongings energetic on the corporate community. Safety groups usually use assault floor administration platforms or different asset discovery instruments to automate this course of.   

Subsequent, the safety group conducts vulnerability scans to determine vulnerabilities in these belongings. The group might use a mix of vulnerability administration instruments and strategies to evaluate all belongings, together with automated vulnerability scanners, penetration exams, and logs from inner safety instruments.

2. Vulnerability prioritization

The safety group makes use of the outcomes of vulnerability assessments to type out false positives and prioritize found vulnerabilities by degree of criticality. Prioritization permits safety groups to deal with the most important safety dangers first.

Assets just like the Frequent Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), MITRE’s checklist of Frequent Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), and NIST’s Nationwide Vulnerability Database (NVD) will help safety groups get a baseline understanding of how vital their vulnerabilities are.

Cybersecurity groups then mix this exterior risk intelligence with company-specific information to grasp how identified vulnerabilities have an effect on their distinctive networks.

3. Vulnerability decision

The safety group works via the checklist of vulnerabilities, shifting from most crucial to least. Typically, they’ve three choices for resolving these flaws:

Remediation: Absolutely addressing a vulnerability so it could now not be exploited, akin to by patching software program vulnerabilities or fixing system misconfigurations.

Mitigation: Making a vulnerability harder to take advantage of and/or lessening the impression of exploitation with out eradicating the vulnerability fully. For instance, placing a firewall round a susceptible asset and coaching workers on social engineering assaults could be types of mitigation.

Acceptance: If a vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited or wouldn’t trigger a lot impression, the corporate might settle for it.

4. Reassessment and monitoring

To verify that mitigation and remediation efforts labored—and to make sure they don’t introduce any new issues—the safety group reassesses the belongings. The group additionally takes inventory of the general community and the overall cyberthreat panorama, as modifications in both one might require updates to safety controls or criticality rankings.

5. Reporting and enchancment

Vulnerability administration platforms sometimes present dashboards for reporting metrics like imply time to detect (MTTD), imply time to reply (MTTR), and vulnerability recurrences. The safety group can use these metrics to report again to stakeholders and audit the vulnerability administration program, in search of alternatives to enhance efficiency over time.

Study extra concerning the vulnerability administration lifecycle

Greatest practices for an efficient vulnerability administration program  

Correlate vulnerabilities

Safety groups can higher perceive every vulnerability’s criticality by contemplating how a flaw pertains to different vulnerabilities within the system. For instance, a non-critical flaw in a non-critical asset might not appear essential in isolation. If hackers can use that non-critical asset as a stepping stone to take advantage of a vulnerability in a extra vital system, it could tackle a better precedence. 

Correlating vulnerabilities also can assist discover and repair underlying points which will make the community extra inclined to cyberattacks. For instance, if vulnerability assessments hold turning up outdated belongings, it could be an indication the patch administration course of wants an overhaul. 

Curate info

Based on Gartner, one of the vital frequent vulnerability administration errors is when safety groups ship uncooked vulnerability scan outcomes to asset homeowners. These studies can include lots of or 1000’s of vulnerabilities, making it arduous for IT groups to find out the best remediation technique.   

Safety groups can use the prioritization stage to not solely rank vulnerabilities but in addition curate risk intelligence and different info into digestible studies. That method, different stakeholders in vulnerability administration will help transfer the method alongside as a substitute of getting slowed down within the particulars.

Strategically schedule scans

Some organizations use steady scanning instruments to flag vulnerabilities in actual time. People who don’t must be intentional about scheduling scans.  

Vulnerability assessments may be time- and resource-intensive, so safety groups might not wish to scan each asset throughout each evaluation. Typically, organizations group belongings on their networks in response to criticality degree. Extra vital asset teams are scanned extra usually, sometimes weekly or month-to-month. Much less vital belongings could also be scanned quarterly or much less.  

Scans also can have an effect on the efficiency of some belongings, so the group might schedule assessments for off-hours when the belongings aren’t getting used.

Automate wherever potential

Given the sheer variety of belongings within the common enterprise community, handbook vulnerability administration processes sometimes aren’t possible. As a substitute, safety groups usually use vulnerability administration methods to automate key workflows like asset discovery, vulnerability evaluation, prioritization, and patch administration.

Discover vulnerability administration options

Even with the suitable safety instruments in place, it may be arduous for safety groups to maintain up with all of the potential threats and dangers of their enterprise networks.

IBM X-Drive® Crimson will help streamline the vulnerability administration course of. The X-Drive® Crimson group affords complete vulnerability administration companies, working with organizations to determine vital belongings, uncover high-risk vulnerabilities, absolutely remediate weaknesses, and apply efficient countermeasures. X-Drive Crimson’s patented, hacker-developed rating engine robotically prioritizes vulnerabilities primarily based on weaponized exploits and key threat components. And concurrent remediation helps even small safety groups repair essentially the most vital vulnerabilities first, and quick. The consequence will help organizations reduce threat of compromise whereas saving time and assets.

Discover IBM X-Drive® Crimson vulnerability administration companies

IBM Safety® QRadar® Suite can additional assist resource-strained safety groups with a modernized risk detection and response answer. QRadar Suite integrates endpoint safety, log administration, SIEM and SOAR merchandise inside a standard person interface, and embeds enterprise automation and AI to assist safety analysts enhance productiveness and work extra successfully throughout applied sciences.

Discover IBM Safety QRadar Suite