Tips for Effective Vulnerability Management

New innovations in technology arrive every day, but they typically bring new vulnerabilities with them. New products often come with weaknesses in the code, and when software companies supply updates, hackers are waiting to exploit them. The developers will then address the vulnerabilities with a security patch. This cycle invariably repeats itself with each new software or hardware update.

About 93% of corporate networks are susceptible to hacker penetration according to a study by Positive Technologies. Assessing and managing these network weaknesses isn’t always a priority for organizations. Many suffer breaches because of poor vulnerability management.

61% of security vulnerabilities in corporate networks are over 5 years old.

Hackers take advantage of unpatched vulnerabilities in software code, which is commonly known as ‘zero-day'. This includes ransomware attacks, account takeovers, and other common cyberattacks.

If you see the term ‘exploit’ when reading about a data breach, that signifies an exploitation of a vulnerability. Hackers constantly look for vulnerabilities, then write malicious code to take advantage of them. That code can allow them to control the administration that can elevate privileges, or to run system commands or perform other dangerous network intrusions.

One way to effectively reduce your risk is by putting together an effective vulnerability management process. It doesn’t have to be complicated - just follow the steps outlined below to get started.

Building a Vulnerability Management Process

The first step is to recognize the difference between a Vulnerability Assessment and Vulnerability Management.

According to Microsoft Security:
A Vulnerability Assessment determines the risk profile of each vulnerability.
Vulnerability Management is an ongoing process of identifying, evaluating, treating, and reporting vulnerabilities as they occur.

Step 1: Identify all Assets

Identify all the devices and software that you will need to assess. Your In-house IT support department or outsourced Managed Services Provider (MSP) should be able to generate this list. You will want to include all devices that connect to your network, both remote and in-office, including:

Computers

Smartphones

Tablets

IoT devices

Servers

Cloud services

Vulnerabilities can lurk in many nooks and crannies, such as within the code for an operating system, a cloud platform, software, or firmware.  This is why you need a full inventory of all systems and endpoints in your network.

Without this important first step, you will be flying blind, so nail down what you need to include in the scope of your assessment.

Step 2: The Vulnerability Assessment

Once you have taken stock of your network assets, perform a vulnerability assessment. This is usually done by a trusted IT services professional using assessment software. A smart move is to include penetration testing.

Performing the assessment involves a non-invasive scan of your systems for any known vulnerabilities. The assessment tool matches any found software versions against vulnerability databases.

One example of this: a database may note that a version of Microsoft Exchange has a vulnerability. If it detects that you have a server running that same version, it will note it as a found weakness in your security.

Step 3: Prioritize Vulnerabilities by Threat Level

What you need is a roadmap and a ‘call to action’ for mitigating network vulnerabilities - the assessment results should provide that - if you know how to analyze them – your IT service will certainly know what to make of them. There will usually be several ‘red flags’, and not all are as severe as others. You will next need to rank which ones to address first.

Many vulnerability assessment tools will use the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), which categorizes vulnerabilities with a rating score from low to critical severity.

It is also wise to rank vulnerabilities by your own business needs. If a software is only used occasionally on one device, you may consider it a lower priority to address, but a vulnerability in software used on all employee devices should be ranked as a high priority.

Step 4: Remediate Vulnerabilities

Now that you have identified and ranked the vulnerabilities, it’s time to fix them. Refer to the prioritized list and remediate vulnerabilities accordingly. Don’t pick the low-hanging fruit first – start with the most dangerous and work down to the least. Redressing these vulnerabilities often means applying issued updates or security patches, but it may also mean upgrading hardware that may be too old for you to update.

Another form of remediation may be ringfencing or ‘walling off’ an application or device from others in the network. A company may choose this option if a scan turns up a vulnerability for which a patch does not yet exist.

You should increase the advanced threat protection settings in your network, and once you’ve remediated the weaknesses, you need to confirm the fixes.

Step 5: Document the Process

It is critically important to document the vulnerability assessment and management process. This is vital both for Cybersecurity needs and compliance.

Document when you performed the last vulnerability assessment and all the steps taken to remediate each vulnerability. In the event of a future breach, having these logs for reference will be crucial. They also can inform the next vulnerability assessment.

Step 6: Schedule Your Next Vulnerability Assessment Scan

Vulnerability assessment and ensuing mitigation are not one-time tasks. Vulnerability management is an ongoing process. Here at ITFIRM.COM, we like to say that battling cybercriminals and vulnerabilities is like a never-ending game of ‘Whack-a-Mole.’ Whack one and a new one appears.

There were more than 26,000 new vulnerabilities documented in 2023. Developers continuously update their software, and each new update can introduce new vulnerabilities into your network.

Setting a schedule for regular vulnerability assessments is your best practice. The cycle of assessment, prioritization, mitigation, and documentation should be ongoing. This fortifies your network against cyberattacks as it removes one of the main enablers of hackers.