Inventory All Devices
The first requirement of a successful vulnerability management program is to inventory all devices connected to the network. This involves maintaining a comprehensive inventory of all hardware and software assets across the enterprise. As Why is an Asset Inventory Important for Security? explains, “The importance of an asset inventory comes in helping maintain control of what devices are on your network, as a foundational element.”
To build an effective inventory, organizations need to regularly scan their environments to identify all devices on the network. This includes servers, workstations, mobile devices, IoT devices, network infrastructure, and cloud assets. The inventory should catalog details like operating systems, versions, applications, services, owners, locations, and other relevant metadata.
Since new assets are frequently added to networks, the inventory must be continuously updated. Regular scanning will detect new devices that should be added to the inventory. Maintaining an accurate, up-to-date inventory is crucial for visibility into the attack surface and effectively managing vulnerabilities.
Continuously Monitor for Vulnerabilities
A key part of any vulnerability management program is to continuously scan devices and systems for vulnerabilities on a regular basis. The frequency of scanning should be determined based on the criticality and risk level of assets, with highly sensitive systems scanned more frequently. According to Pentest People, “Based on the importance of a particular network or application you can scan daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly.”
When conducting scans, new and existing vulnerabilities should be identified and prioritized based on severity levels. Critical vulnerabilities that pose a high level of risk should be slated for patching immediately. Scanning tools should also be optimized to detect vulnerabilities that commonly lead to exploitation, such as remote code execution. Using multiple scanning tools can improve coverage as they may leverage different techniques for discovering flaws.
Overall, continuous vulnerability scanning is essential to stay on top of new threats and effectively prioritize patching based on risk. As stated in the guide from Genie AI, organizations should “Determine which scanning tools give you the best coverage and implement regular scans to pick up the latest critical vulnerabilities.”
Prioritize Remediation Efforts
One of the most important aspects of a vulnerability management program is properly prioritizing remediation efforts. With new vulnerabilities constantly being discovered, it’s impossible for organizations to address every vulnerability at once. Proper prioritization ensures the most critical and high severity vulnerabilities are addressed first.
Organizations should focus on vulnerabilities that pose the greatest overall risk if exploited. This involves considering factors like the likelihood of exploit, business impact, and exploit complexity (Picus Security, 2023). Critical and high severity vulnerabilities that are likely to be exploited and could greatly impact operations should be prioritized first.
After assessing risk levels, organizations need to create a remediation plan and timeline. This roadmap outlines which vulnerabilities will be addressed and in what order based on risk scoring. Realistic remediation deadlines should be set for each vulnerability or group. The plan should also outline any temporary workarounds or mitigating controls that can be implemented for lower priority vulnerabilities.
Finally, remediation tasks need to be assigned to the appropriate IT and security team members. Teams should coordinate to ensure coverage of all known vulnerabilities based on the roadmap. Ongoing monitoring and monthly reviews of remediation progress are key for ensuring the plan stays on track.
Validate Remediation
An important requirement of a vulnerability management program is to validate that vulnerabilities have actually been remediated after patching or other remediation efforts. Simply applying a patch and marking a vulnerability as fixed in your tracking system is not sufficient. Rescanning devices after patching is necessary to validate that the vulnerability is truly remediated.
Validation can reveal false positives where a vulnerability was not actually present on an asset. It also confirms that the patch or configuration change fully resolved the vulnerability without side effects. Marking a vulnerability as remediated should only occur after the validation process verifies the fix.
According to Vulnera, “Remediation validation takes vulnerability management one step further and focuses on proving vulnerabilities are actually fixed.”https://vulnera.com/2021/12/28/what-is-remediation-validation/
Proper validation is key to having an accurate view of your organization’s security posture. It also builds stakeholder confidence that remediation efforts are truly effective.
Establish Ongoing Program Governance
Setting clear policies and procedures is crucial for establishing effective governance for a vulnerability management program. Policies outline roles, responsibilities, processes, and timelines for key activities like asset discovery, vulnerability scanning, prioritization, and remediation [1]. A formal policy provides a framework to ensure consistency and accountability across the program.
Key elements to include in a vulnerability management policy include categorization criteria, severity ratings, remediation timeframes based on risk levels, and procedures for exceptions or delays [2]. The policy should designate owners responsible for assets, systems, and applications within scope.
To track program effectiveness, metrics and dashboards should be established to monitor progress. Key performance indicators may include percentage of known vulnerabilities remediated within policy timeframes, mean time to remediate critical flaws, and number of exceptions approved. Reports provide visibility into how well vulnerability management processes are being followed.
As the program matures, policies and procedures should be continuously refined based on learnings, new technologies, and changing risk landscapes. Conducting periodic audits and reviews ensures governance remains relevant and impactful over time.
Use Asset Management
Asset management is a critical component of an effective vulnerability management program because it allows organizations to link vulnerabilities to business critical assets and systems. By having an accurate inventory of assets, IT teams can prioritize vulnerabilities based on the criticality of the affected assets.
According to sources, asset management provides the visibility required to focus remediation efforts on vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk. For example, a vulnerability on a mission-critical server or application should be prioritized and patched more urgently than a vulnerability on an endpoint device not critical for business operations.
With robust asset management capabilities that integrate with vulnerability scanners and patch management tools, vulnerabilities can automatically be prioritized based on asset criticality. This level of automation ensures that patching activities align with business needs.
Overall, asset management is a key requirement for vulnerability management programs because it enables security and IT teams to make data-driven decisions about patching priorities. By linking vulnerabilities to critical business assets, organizations can manage vulnerabilities more effectively and efficiently.
Sources:
https://www.rankedright.com/post/why-asset-management-and-vulnerability-management-go-hand-in-hand
https://acuityrm.com/applications/vulnerability-and-asset-management/
Perform Risk Assessments
Once you have identified vulnerabilities through scanning, the next step is to perform risk assessments on the vulnerabilities to determine their potential impact. This involves analyzing the risks associated with each vulnerability by factoring in threat intelligence on current attacks and exploits. The goal is to understand the likelihood of the vulnerability being exploited and the potential impact it could have on your organization.
For example, a critical remote code execution vulnerability would likely be high risk since it could allow an attacker to gain full control of a system. On the other hand, an information disclosure bug may be lower risk. You can leverage frameworks like CVSS to help quantify and score risk levels.
Risk assessments allow you to adjust the prioritization of vulnerabilities beyond just severity level. A vulnerability deemed high severity may actually be low risk if it is not commonly targeted by attackers or if it only resides on systems containing non-sensitive data. Understanding risk ensures your teams are focused on remediating the vulnerabilities that matter most.
Continuously gathering updated threat intelligence from threat feeds, reports, and news sites allows you to account for emerging threats in your risk models. This ensures your priorities evolve to address the risks that are currently active. Risk assessments are an essential part of intelligent vulnerability management.
Sources:
5-Step Security Risk Assessment Process | HackerOne
How to use a risk assessment vs. a vulnerability assessment | SoftwareONE
Create Remediation Roadmap
A critical part of any vulnerability management program is creating a detailed remediation roadmap to address vulnerabilities across the organization’s assets and systems. This roadmap should outline clear timelines for patching critical vulnerabilities, assign accountability to teams or individuals, and provide regular progress reporting to leadership.
To develop an effective roadmap, security teams need to work closely with IT operations to prioritize vulnerabilities based on severity levels and asset criticality. More dangerous vulnerabilities affecting business-critical systems should be patched first. The roadmap should designate aggressive yet achievable timelines for remediation, such as patching critical vulnerabilities within 15 days.
Owners should be assigned to specific vulnerabilities or assets and held accountable for meeting patching timelines. Security leaders need to work cross-functionally and secure buy-in from other departments. Regular dashboard reporting to executives and board members enables transparency and ensures vulnerability management remains a priority across the organization.
With a detailed roadmap, clear assignments, and leadership oversight, organizations can take control of vulnerabilities and minimize risk exposure.
Leverage Automation
Automating key steps in vulnerability management can greatly increase efficiency and effectiveness. According to sources like https://www.balbix.com/insights/automating-vulnerability-management/ and https://purplesec.us/learn/vulnerability-management-automation/, automating tasks like vulnerability scanning, data analysis, ticketing, and reporting eliminates repetitive manual work and allows security teams to focus their efforts on the most critical activities like prioritization and remediation.
Automated scanning tools can continuously monitor the environment and detect vulnerabilities in real-time. Automated data analysis then takes this raw data and converts it into actionable insights that inform remediation. Automated ticketing can log vulnerabilities and automatically notify the appropriate teams. Automated reporting provides leadership and stakeholders with updates on program health.
By leveraging automation, organizations can speed up vulnerability detection and response times. Instead of getting bogged down in paperwork, security teams can take swift action to patch vulnerabilities before they are exploited. This increases resilience and reduces risk across the environment.
Regularly Tune and Optimize
A robust vulnerability management program requires continuous improvement to stay effective. Organizations should regularly tune and optimize their programs to keep pace with new threats and technologies.
It’s important to learn from past performance to identify areas for improvement. Look at metrics like mean time to remediate, percentage of assets scanned, and number of critical vulnerabilities to understand program effectiveness. Analyze trends over time to pinpoint problems.
Consider conducting an annual review of the program. Examine processes and tools to see if any updates are needed based on technology shifts, new attack methods, and evolving regulations. Engage stakeholders across IT, security, and business teams to get broad input.
Continuous improvement applies to all aspects of vulnerability management. Keep asset inventories current, expand the use of automation, optimize scanning frequencies, and refine prioritization standards. The threat landscape will continue to evolve, so vulnerability management programs must evolve as well.