Benefits of outsourcing your vulnerability management
By Callum Nixon
28 December 2022All software has vulnerabilities, from misconfiguration to software defects, and for this reason organisations need to have continuous visibility of these weaknesses on their system. Why? On average, every 6 minutes an internet facing system is scanned by outsiders who could be carrying out reconnaissance and testing networks for vulnerabilities (Tenable Security).
According the NCSC the greatest cause of security incidents is the exploitation of vulnerabilities, and this why it is so important for organisations to have a vulnerability management process in place. But, this essential element of an organisation’s cyber security posture can be difficult to manage in-house for a number of reasons. In this blog we’ll take a look at the benefits that can come from outsourcing your vulnerability management to a security partner.
What is vulnerability management?
Vulnerability management is the process of acquiring, assessing and taking action on new security information in order to identify vulnerabilities, remediate them, and minimise the window of opportunity for attackers.
There are 4 high-level processes that incorporate vulnerability management:
- Discovery
- Reporting
- Prioritisation
- Response
You can’t fix what you can’t see, therefore, organisations need up to date information on all assets and software on their system. Creating an inventory of these assets allows an organisation to then report on any vulnerabilities that require patching. However, not all vulnerabilities are equal or pose the same amount of risk. It’s important that the reported vulnerabilities are categorised into a prioritisation matrix that feeds into the vulnerability management processes – allowing businesses to respond to the most critical vulnerabilities first.
Vulnerability management should be a continuous process as the source data is only as good as the last time it was updated or refreshed.
What are the benefits of vulnerability management?
In case you hadn’t picked up already, vulnerability management improves an organisation’s cyber security posture. If you imagine your business is a house, constantly checking to see if your windows and doors are locked will improve security and make it harder for criminals to gain access. Continuous vulnerability management can mitigate the risks posed by vulnerabilities on your network.
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