Technology - Aug 25, 2020
The digital world of today is filled with escalating cyber threats. Almost every day, we hear cases of data breaches and identity thefts. Even IT giants like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft etc. have been victims of cybercrimes in the past few years. The financial loss has been severe and such incidents severely impair the organizational reputation in the eyes of customers and partners.
So how do companies across the world better manage their threat and vulnerabilities? Risk based vulnerability management has come up as a more pragmatic solution in recent years. In this blog, we will look at some of the features of risk-based vulnerability management, explore its benefits and look at the road ahead.
The premise of risk vulnerability management lies in the accepted notion that the usage of vulnerability scanners to identify unpatched software isn't enough. In order to keep devices, networks and digital assets safe, companies should include vulnerability assessment and safeguarding actions which cover the entire organizational ecosystem. This is the foundation of risk-based vulnerability management.
Risk based vulnerability management strategies
Risk based vulnerability management begins with prioritizing the vulnerabilities based on the most immediate risks. For e.g. old versions of software, siloed apps stacked into a modern network, unpatched operating systems etc. can expose your IT ecosystem to cyber-attacks and fixing these vulnerabilities is the first priority of a risk-based vulnerability management strategy.
A risk-based vulnerability management strategy consists of four key attributes:
1) A visibility into all assets, networks, applications and environments. This also includes the BYOD devices which users use for remote access.
2) Continuous monitoring across all range of attack vectors. This monitoring is not a uniform monitoring but a specialized one, focusing on each asset individually.
3) Context based result prioritization for each asset- This implies the know-how of asset value, associated vulnerabilities and then accessing the impact of these vulnerabilities against existing security measures.
4) A proper guidance documenting all necessary practices against specific threats.
Risk based vulnerability management and Cyber-resilience
Cyber-resilience one of the newest vulnerability management goal. It refers to the ability of an organization to continuously access its assets while managing vulnerability in order to deliver business outcomes in spite of adverse cyber threats. It can also be understood in terms of human immunity whereas a person with a better immune system can better cope with ever present pathogens. Cyber resilience enhances the immune of an organization.
Risk based vulnerability management addresses the security weakness associated with Infrastructure, network and applications. Hackers jump on these weaknesses to gain unauthorized access and cause considerable harm.
How does Risk based vulnerability management prioritize vulnerabilities?
A risk-based vulnerability management prioritize vulnerabilities by considering the below factors
a. Business risks: Every organizational asset has an associated business risk. We prioritize the risks associated with them by looking at the scale of impact that asset has on company's reputation/revenue. When we protect these assets from cyber risks, we reduce the volume of loss to the organization. Then we add more risks to the priority list and mitigate the overall loss
b. Exposure: By understanding the limit of exposure an asset has to outside networks, we can draft a priority strategy. The more the exposure, the more threat it presents.
c. Readiness level: The readiness level measures the level of our expertise against associated vulnerabilities. This implies whether we have proper solutions against all types of evolving security threats. We must add more security and compliance to protect our assets against the threats for which no resolution has been yet discovered. This will help us to ease the impact.
Risk based vulnerability management best practices
A "one size fits all" strategy can no longer protect you against modern day cyberthreats. You need a robust, real time security strategy to cope with the ever-changing nature of cyber threats. In the below pointers, you will see the best practices associated with a risk-based vulnerability approach.
1) Network visibility builds the 'eye ‘with which we see the security blind spots. These include the traffic which runs on the company's networks and also the Cloud ecosystem.
2) Not just the blind spots, a risk-based vulnerability management strategy also calls for having proper visibility across all digital assets and the associated risks.
3) Your vulnerability management should be a proactive, rather than a reactive program and it should cover your entire ecosystem (users, devices, data and networks).
4) A regular yet specialized scan (specific for each assets) should continuously look for risks and attack vectors.
5) Risk based vulnerability management should help you to prioritize the risks associated with every aspect of your organization. A risk prioritization can help you take better and smarter decisions in managing the security of your organization.
ISSQUARED’s Cybersecurity offerings
ISSQUARED Inc. is one of the fastest growing IT infrastructure, cybersecurity and managed services firm. ISSQUARED can build you a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy which is designed to safeguard your IT system against any potential breaches. ISSQUARED’s cybersecurity strategy embeds risk-based vulnerability management approach which enhances the security of your networks, data, infrastructure and applications against advancing threats. The approach evaluates the level of risks associated with each asset and then draws a comprehensive strategy to tackle such risks. ISSQUARED’s provides you a proactive security system which includes early threat detection and combative plans.
The set of cybersecurity offerings from ISSQUARED include:
• Network security
• Endpoint security
• Cloud security
• Data security
• Security Intelligence
• Vulnerability management
• Business continuity
The above listed cybersecurity solutions include domains such as identity management, virtualization and cloud security, end point protection and vulnerability testing. OT is a new cybersecurity domain and our experts guide you in every step of the way as we access the threats and build you a comprehensive solution. In addition, we offer round the clock support to answer and resolve any issues.
To explore the full suite of ISSQUARED’s cybersecurity offerings, please click on the link here. For any query, please reach out one of our experts. We would be delighted to showcase our services. You can reach out to us at info@issquaredinc.com or call us at +1 (805) 480-9300.
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