Enterprises frequently face security threats like viruses, ransomware, malware, spam, and phishing attacks, often because of vulnerabilities in their software or firmware.
These vulnerabilities can stem from various sources, including coding errors that allow attackers to gain unauthorized access or flawed updates that inadvertently introduce new security risks. For this reason, modern enterprises implement vulnerability management tools to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities in their information systems.
There are various types of vulnerability management tools available that can help detect vulnerabilities across all enterprise systems, each offering distinct features, functions, pros and cons.
It is profitable for IT professionals to have a firm grasp on categorizing common types of tools, managing specific vulnerabilities, and identifying solutions that best fit their enterprise, such as planning, code analysis tools, and build and deployment tools.
Understanding the Difference
Planning tools perform security analysis and create plans outlining where, how, and when security testing will occur. They also track and manage security issues, risks, and requirements throughout the web development lifecycle.
Source code analysis tools scan your code for vulnerabilities, flaws, or bugs. These include static application testing (SAST) tools, which analyze code before execution; dynamic application testing (DAST) tools, which analyze code during runtime; and software composition analysis (SCA) tools, which analyze code dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
Build and deployment tools streamline security testing and verification throughout the application development lifecycle. This includes CI/CD tools that automate the building, testing, and deployment of code; container security tools that scan for vulnerabilities and enforce security policies; and configuration management tools that automate the application of security settings and patches to your web stack.
Vulnerability Management Best Practices
If you’re considering the best practices for implementing a vulnerability management program, consider these key guidelines:
Continuous asset discovery and inventory
The crucial first step in vulnerability management is to compile a thorough inventory of all devices on the network, both authorized and unauthorized, along with all installed software.
This inventory should include devices and software owned and managed by the organization, as well as those belonging to third-party vendors. However, asset-based scans alone do not provide a complete picture.
While a comprehensive inventory allows organizations to identify the highest-risk assets and prioritize vulnerability scanning, it is also essential to perform a full IP discovery scan to ensure comprehensive visibility of vulnerabilities. Your vulnerability management tool should provide broad protection, constantly finding new devices and giving you a full view of potential weak points.
Classify assets and assign responsibilities
Following the inventory of assets, it is crucial to categorize and prioritize them according to their actual and inherent risk to the organization.
This risk classification helps in determining how often vulnerability scanning should occur and which remediation efforts should be prioritized.
It is important then to designate asset ownership to system owners like who will be accountable for managing the risks and liabilities associated with those assets if they are compromised.
Configure policies
To effectively meet both internal and external policy requirements, organizations should implement vulnerability management solutions that offer highly customizable security policy options. These tools should allow for policies that address the various business requirements, security measures, and compliance complexities that may come up.
Default policy configurations often fail to address the unique needs of a business, region, or industry. Therefore, vulnerability management policies must be configured according to an organization’s specific security challenges and requirements while adhering to industry benchmarks.
Conducting vulnerability assessment
Vulnerability management tools are helpful for conducting vulnerability assessment (VA). Both freeware utilities like Nmap and paid utilities can help identify vulnerabilities within a network.
But while freeware utilities can be effective, inexperienced users may unintentionally cause harm to the network. Therefore, it’s important to obtain permission from change control before running vulnerability assessments and avoid running scans during periods of heavy network usage.
Vulnerability management tools can be integrated with intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) to get more detailed alerts and reduce false positives. These detailed alerts can help clarify the severity of vulnerabilities and aid in developing a better response plan.
Automated vulnerability scanning
New vulnerabilities are discovered daily and exploited by threat actors within days or even hours, so scanning only on a monthly basis may leave your organization exposed to risk for the remaining days of the month. As part of ongoing vulnerability management, organizations should adopt a continuous scanning approach across all systems on the network, including their entire technology stack.
Vulnerability scanning tools must be reliable, scalable, and highly accurate. The frequency of scanning should align with the framework your organization follows, potentially requiring weekly or even daily scans to ensure strong protection.
Reporting and remediation tracking
Vulnerability management solutions help prioritize threats, making it easier for security teams to manage vulnerabilities. Threat levels should be visually and/or numerically represented for easy comprehension.
After conducting vulnerability assessments or scans, organizations should be able to review the vulnerabilities identified in reports and prioritize remediation based on the risk rating.
It is also important to generate detailed reports for stakeholders to track progress and identify areas for improvement. By having visibility into vulnerabilities at the business unit level, organizations can quickly identify where bottlenecks exist in remediating vulnerabilities.
Visibility also helps to speed up penetration testing for the enterprise, which can confirm whether the vulnerabilities are serious and detect the presence of disputed vulnerabilities.
Penetration testing
Ensuring that vulnerabilities are quickly and efficiently addressed is crucial. The numerous vulnerabilities discovered by malicious actors every day can disrupt the proactive process of keeping enterprise systems patched and updated. So by identifying and addressing weaknesses in IT systems before they can be exploited, organizations can significantly reduce their susceptibility to attacks.
Penetration testing is a best practice in vulnerability management. It simulates real-world attacks, allowing security engineers to identify vulnerabilities that automated scans may overlook. Regularly conducting manual penetration tests is highly recommended, especially after significant system or software changes.
Looking Ahead with Offensive Security
Vulnerability management practices are essential for establishing a strong security posture.
A strong vulnerability management solution also helps ensure business continuity by preventing disruptions and minimizing downtime in critical systems. Most importantly, it should be able to scale and adapt as your organization grows and evolves.
Look for a solution that can scale and adapt to the changing needs of your organization. Consider Siemba, a cutting-edge PTaaS (Penetration Testing as a Service) platform, to gain insights into the vulnerabilities of your customer-facing applications. It involves penetration testing by security researchers who simulate real attacks to assess the likelihood of attackers exploiting any unknown vulnerability in your systems, as well as the potential damage that could result from a successful attack.
Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) platforms are often procured to supplement vulnerability management tools and expedite the assessment of each vulnerability, including determining the severity and risk associated with each security issue. By simulating real-world attacks, they evaluate the likelihood of exploitation and the potential damage of successful attacks. In this way, PTaaS serves as a critical buffer between organizations and the constantly evolving threat landscape.