Three Tools for Maturing Your Vulnerability Management Program

Cybersecurity has become an increasingly popular topic in day-to-day conversation, and the conclusion is always the same: organizations need to make cybersecurity a priority and work to create the best security strategy possible. However, there’s a big difference between understanding what you need versus knowing how to get it. Many organizations are still in the early stages of developing and growing their vulnerability management program, and it’s easy to get lost in the theoretical as people spend too much time on the importance of the end goal and not on what the path looks like to get there. In this blog, we’ll concentrate on the practical, focusing on three tools that can tangibly advance your vulnerability management program.

1. Continuously Monitor Your Environment with Vulnerability Management

These days, most devices, systems, and applications provide security logging data, but even small businesses have enough assets that security teams can end up drowning in data. Too much data is almost as effective as leaving a device unattended, and attackers can easily slip in without anyone noticing. Part of extending vulnerability management programs is creating sustainable processes. Ultimately, sifting through security logs on multiple consoles is not a viable practice.

Vulnerability management (VM) tools ensure organizations have the visibility needed to protect business critical assets by providing constant scanning, but also realistic threat prioritization. VM scans for cybersecurity weaknesses that attackers can exploit, delivers dynamic reporting that provides additional details about these vulnerabilities, and analyzes the actual threat priority based on the organization.  A VM solution should be flexible enough to change with the number of applications and network connections that are detected and provide accurate, prioritized threat reports before, during, and after testing to gauge remediation efforts.

2. Put Your Security to the Test with Penetration Testing

It’s not called a “vulnerability elimination program” for a reason—dealing with security weaknesses is an ongoing task that requires regular evaluation. IT environments are constantly growing and changing, whether it’s adding new devices or applications, onboarding new personnel, or transitioning to a remote workforce. Any change to an infrastructure may also unintentionally open new attack vector.

Penetration testing doesn’t simply elevate your vulnerability program by proactively identifying vulnerabilities before an attack occurs. These assessments enable organizations to truly understand the risk that these vulnerabilities pose by exploiting them using the same techniques as today’s cyber criminals.

There is a common misbelief that integrating pen testing is a huge endeavor and that it can take too much capital to take this step, as experts are in short supply. However, not every test requires an expert. Penetration testing tools like Core Impact have automated features that can be used by security team members with little to no pen testing experience. These tools can be used for tests that are easy to run, but provide the insights you need, like validating vulnerability scans or conducting phishing simulations.

3. Simulate Real World Attacks with Red Teaming

No matter how advanced your security posture, there is simply no maturity status that guarantees an impenetrable environment. Whether it’s an employee clicking on a malicious attachment or a third-party service that has its own breach, there is always the possibility that an attacker can permeate or bypass the barriers you have erected.

A true sign of maturity is instead having tools that shine a light on every part of an IT infrastructure to ensure active threats do not remain in the dark for long. Red Team software can help your team emulate the tactics of threat actors, creating a quiet, long-term attack.  Another aspect of a red team tool is the social engineering aspect, finding the human vulnerabilities within an organization.  Post exploitation reporting should be designed to help with blue team training after the fact.

Achieving Vulnerability Management Success

While it may seem that enhancing a vulnerability management program would take more work, these three solutions help to make it more efficient, which is actually a sign of a mature, effective program.

Bundled together, these three cybersecurity solutions are an excellent way to create a strong, layered offensive cybersecurity portfolio.

The current state of cybersecurity is constantly in flux, presenting new vulnerability management challenges no matter what level you may be at. Having tools that allow you to remain nimble and adaptable to whatever comes your way ensures that you’ll be able to continue to successfully grow or maintain maturity.