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 providers. Each one in every of these property performs an important function 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 move 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 spot or flaw within the construction, operate, 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 kind of vulnerability. Misconfigurations, like a cloud storage bucket that exposes delicate knowledge to the general public web, are additionally frequent.

Based on the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, the exploitation of vulnerabilities like these is the second most typical cyberattack vector (methodology of infiltrating the goal system or community).

A steady vulnerability administration course of helps cease cyberattacks—and soften the blow of people who succeed—by discovering and fixing flaws earlier than risk actors can weaponize them. In brief, it permits the safety staff to undertake a extra proactive safety posture, which is why vulnerability administration is a key part of enterprise risk management methods immediately.

The vulnerability administration lifecycle  

Company networks should not static. Each change—adopting a brand new app, updating an working system—can introduce new vulnerabilities. Plus, hackers are at all times attempting to find undiscovered flaws, and it solely takes them about 12 days to start exploiting the ones they find. 

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

Usually the vulnerability administration lifecycle consists of 5 levels, 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 sources, setting targets, 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 property lively on the corporate community. Safety groups typically use attack surface management platforms or different asset discovery instruments to automate this course of.   

Subsequent, the safety staff conducts vulnerability scans to establish vulnerabilities in these property. The staff might use a mix of vulnerability administration instruments and strategies to evaluate all property, together with automated vulnerability scanners, penetration tests, and logs from inside safety instruments.

2. Vulnerability prioritization

The safety staff makes use of the outcomes of vulnerability assessments to kind out false positives and prioritize found vulnerabilities by degree of criticality. Prioritization permits safety groups to concentrate on the largest safety dangers first.

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

Cybersecurity groups then mix this exterior risk intelligence with company-specific knowledge to know how recognized vulnerabilities have an effect on their distinctive networks.

3. Vulnerability decision

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

• Remediation: Totally addressing a vulnerability so it could actually not be exploited, reminiscent of by patching software program vulnerabilities or fixing gadget misconfigurations.
• Mitigation: Making a vulnerability harder to use and/or lessening the influence of exploitation with out eradicating the vulnerability fully. For instance, placing a firewall round a weak asset and coaching staff on social engineering assaults could be types of mitigation.
• Acceptance: If a vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited or wouldn’t trigger a lot influence, the corporate might settle for it.

4. Reassessment and monitoring

To substantiate that mitigation and remediation efforts labored—and to make sure they don’t introduce any new issues—the safety staff reassesses the property. The staff additionally takes inventory of the general community and the final 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 staff can use these metrics to report again to stakeholders and audit the vulnerability administration program, in search of alternatives to enhance efficiency over time.

Learn more about the vulnerability management 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 necessary in isolation. If hackers can use that non-critical asset as a stepping stone to use a vulnerability in a extra important system, it might tackle the next precedence. 

Correlating vulnerabilities can even assist discover and repair underlying points which will make the community extra prone to cyberattacks. For instance, if vulnerability assessments maintain turning up outdated property, it might be an indication the patch management course of wants an overhaul. 

Curate data

According to 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 a whole lot or hundreds of vulnerabilities, making it onerous 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 data into digestible studies. That approach, different stakeholders in vulnerability administration may also 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. Those who don’t should be intentional about scheduling scans.  

Vulnerability assessments might be time- and resource-intensive, so safety groups might not need to scan each asset throughout each evaluation. Usually, organizations group property on their networks in line with criticality degree. Extra important asset teams are scanned extra typically, sometimes weekly or month-to-month. Much less important property could also be scanned quarterly or much less.  

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

Automate wherever doable

Given the sheer variety of property within the common enterprise community, handbook vulnerability administration processes sometimes aren’t possible. As a substitute, safety groups typically 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 onerous for safety groups to maintain up with all of the potential threats and dangers of their enterprise networks.

IBM X-Pressure® Crimson may also help streamline the vulnerability administration course of. The X-Pressure® Crimson staff affords complete vulnerability management services, working with organizations to establish important property, uncover high-risk vulnerabilities, absolutely remediate weaknesses, and apply efficient countermeasures. X-Pressure Crimson’s patented, hacker-developed rating engine robotically prioritizes vulnerabilities primarily based on weaponized exploits and key danger components. And concurrent remediation helps even small safety groups repair probably the most important vulnerabilities first, and quick. The end result may also help organizations reduce danger of compromise whereas saving time and sources.

Explore IBM X-Force® Red vulnerability management services

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

Explore IBM Security QRadar Suite