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Any endpoint, cloud workload, or IT asset can have vulnerabilities. Security researchers are constantly working to identify these vulnerabilities and help organizations close them before threat actors can exploit them. This process must be performed continuously, new vulnerabilities may be discovered at any time.

The Relationship Between Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Risks

To understand the value of proactive vulnerability management, it’s important to distinguish between vulnerabilities, threats, and risks:

• Vulnerabilities refer to security weaknesses in assets or groups of assets. These weaknesses can be exploited by threats.
• Threats are activities, events, and circumstances that can negatively impact operations. They are typically carried out by threat actors—but not always.
• Risks refer to the outcome of the scenario where a threat exploits a vulnerability. It describes the damage that a threat can do in context.

These definitions are important because they impact the way security leaders and executives approach the vulnerability management process. It’s important to realize that threats can come from a variety of sources, including organized cybercrime groups, negligent employees, and malicious insiders.

The Vulnerability Management Process Explained:

Vulnerability management is not a one-time investment. It is a continuous process made up of five steps that form a cycle. Improving operational security and meeting strict compliance needs means committing resources to each step in the cycle:

1. Assess. Use a vulnerability scanner to map out your network assets and gather information on their security capabilities. Vulnerability scans must be properly configured to gather comprehensive data without impacting network usability.
2. Prioritize. This is where you analyze and rank discovered vulnerabilities according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Keep in mind that a static score doesn’t always offer the best insight into which vulnerability your organization should address first.
3. Act. Remediate vulnerabilities by patching them, deploying workarounds, or monitoring their development. Your choice will depend on the specific risk associated with each vulnerability and your organization’s time and budget constraints.
4. Verify. This is where you reassess your organization’s exposure to a vulnerability, taking into account your actions to reduce risk. You may conduct another vulnerability scan, observe activity manually, or invest in penetration testing to verify vulnerability remediation.
5. Improve. Document your vulnerability management processes extensively so that you can demonstrate continuous improvement and align your organization with industry-standard compliance regulations. Establish systems of accountability for ensuring successful and continuous vulnerability management.

What a Vulnerability Looks Like in Practice:

Security researchers typically log and categorize vulnerabilities using a standard format. Both the National Vulnerability Database and the MITRE CVE database use the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) format, which makes it a popular standard for security professionals around the world.

When a security researcher identifies a previously unknown vulnerability, they submit it to a CVE database. It will be analyzed and categorized based on its unique characteristics and given a severity score between one and ten. The easiest exploitations get the highest score.

Once reported, the previously unknown vulnerability becomes a known vulnerability. This means you should not assume that your systems and applications are secure just because you see no vulnerability records in a CVE database — they may exist and be known to threat actors while remaining unreported.

Challenges to Vulnerability Management for Modern Organizations

Carrying out the steps of the vulnerability management lifecycle is not an easy task for in-house security teams. Juggling proactive workflows like vulnerability scanning and remediation with reactive tasks like addressing security alerts requires time and resources most organizations don’t have.

In a cloud-enabled IT environment, these challenges multiply considerably. Security teams must detect and mitigate vulnerabilities on scalable, flexible infrastructure that can change configuration from one moment to another.

Cloud vulnerability profiles may change as a result of scaling up or down, adding or removing users, or updating applications with new features. Virtual machines, containers, and serverless functions must all be scanned for vulnerabilities in a quick and timely manner.

As more organizations migrate important workloads to the cloud, the need for fast, automated vulnerability management only grows. Your organization’s vulnerability management program framework will have to include solutions for comprehensively addressing these needs.

How to Improve Your Vulnerability Management Program

Maintaining an effective, compliant vulnerability management program is achievable for organizations of all sizes. When considering your organization’s investment in vulnerability management, keep the following tips in mind:

• Deploy automated workflows. Automation adds efficiency and consistency to the vulnerability management process.
• Expand the scope of vulnerability management. Bringing new systems and applications into the scope of your vulnerability management solution enhances its value across the organization.
• Invest in higher-quality data feeds. Drawing data from additional CVE databases or leveraging contextual insights helps make prioritization more effective.
• Outsource vulnerability scanning and assessment. Deploying vulnerability management as a managed service can simplify the process and make it more cost-effective.
• Don’t forget about human vulnerabilities. Not all vulnerabilities are technical in nature. Some result from improperly secured business workflows and insider risks.

Vulnerability Management vs. Attack Surface Management

Vulnerability management is closely associated with attack surface management, but the two are distinct. The main difference between vulnerability management and attack surface management is in its scope. Your organization’s attack surface can extend beyond its network perimeter.

For example, imagine a threat actor spoofs your company website and tries to trick users into entering their credentials on a fake login page. This deeply impacts your organization’s attack surface, but it is not part of the vulnerability management program lifecycle.

Vulnerability Management vs. Patch Management

Since remediating vulnerabilities often requires downloading patches, vulnerability management is often confused with patch management. The two are related, but distinct.

The main difference between vulnerability management and patch management is that one is part of the other. Good patch management is part of responsible vulnerability management — making sure patches are downloaded and installed on a timely basis is vital for preventing patch-related vulnerabilities.

Make Novawatch Your Vulnerability Management Partner

Conducting continuous vulnerability management can be difficult and time consuming. Novawatch provides organizations with an accessible vulnerability management service that enables IT leaders to proactively address risk without committing internal team members to the task.
We provide two types of vulnerability management services:

• Guided Vulnerability Management makes Novawatch your trusted partner for managing Rapid7 IVM, a comprehensive solution for vulnerability insight and management.
• Enhanced Vulnerability Management adds automated endpoint vulnerability patching with Automox. Keep all of your organization’s IT assets patched against the latest vulnerabilities with Novawatch configuration and expertise.

Talk to a specialist to learn more about how we can help you manage your organization’s vulnerabilities and demonstrate compliance.