What Is Vulnerability Management?

Vulnerability management is the process of identifying, evaluating and treating any possible vulnerability in an organization`s systems or software. This implemented alongside with other security tactics help prioritize potential threats while minimizing their attack surface which can be vital for organizations to keep them safe from hackers penetrating critical areas like data storage facilities.

The vulnerability management process:

Discover
The first process involves taking an inventory of all assets across the environment, identifying details including operating system, services, applications, and configurations to identify vulnerabilities.

Prioritize
Second, discovered assets need to be categorized into groups and assigned a risk-based prioritization based on criticality to the organization.

Assess
Third is establishing a risk baseline for your point of reference as vulnerabilities are remediated and risk is eliminated. Assessments provide an ongoing baseline over time.

Remediate
Fourth, based on risk prioritization, vulnerabilities should be fixed (whether via patching or reconfiguration). Controls should be in place so that that remediation is completed successfully, and progress can be documented.

Verify
Validation of remediation is accomplished through additional scans and/or IT reporting.

Report
IT needs tactical reporting on vulnerabilities identified and remediated (by comparing the most recent scan with the previous one), executives need a summary of the current state of vulnerability (think red/yellow/green type reporting), and the C-suite needs something high-level like simple risk scores across parts of the business.

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