The Secrets Of Vulnerability Management Tools

Organizations are complex entities with numerous interdependent functions. In any system, there will always be entry points (read vulnerabilities) that an attacker can access to steal sensitive information, cause damage to the image of the organization and whatnot!

As a result, in today’s cyber world, it is about how quickly you identify the threat and take corrective action to mitigate its impact on your business and your customers. So, enterprises need an efficient tool. One that’s like a surgeon for these tumor-like vulnerabilities to check their presence and eliminate them.

The mention of a surgeon reminds us of one of the most awesome fictional characters – Meredith Grey (from Grey’s Anatomy), who believes that surgeons take the miracles where they find them. They reach across the gap and sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, they touch. To our surprise, Vulnerability Management Tools are somewhat like a surgeon to your organization as these tools detect and repair vulnerabilities before they grow into something serious. These tools make sure your computer is healthy by checking for the presence of security flaws where they find them, reaching across the gaps and fixing the vulnerabilities. Want to read more about these tools? The following section says it all!

Decoding The Concept Of Vulnerability Management Tools

Before we hop on straight to the concept, let’s analyze the terms “vulnerability” and “vulnerability risks.”

International Organization of Standardization (ISO 27002) defines vulnerabilities as a weakness of an asset or group of assets that can be exploited by one or more threats. On the other hand, vulnerability risk is what happens when a threat exploits a vulnerability. These risks include broken access control, misconfigurations, weakness in the firewall and so on. Sounds nightmarish, right?


Hocus-pocus and chill as Vulnerability Management Tools are here! Vulnerability Management Tools scan enterprise networks for weaknesses that can be exploited by would-be intruders. In case the scan finds a weakness, these tools suggest or initiate remediation action.

Remember, in Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith Grey is not a general practitioner who can diagnose and treat any normal disease. She specializes in treating different organs and body parts, with each one having its own set of procedures, methods and protocols. Similarly, Vulnerability Management Tools are also specialized for specific tasks. There are several commercial and free vulnerability scanners available. However, not all of them cater to your specific needs. Depending on the security needs of your organization, you need to pick the right tool for the job as only the right tool will help you manage vulnerabilities in your network effectively without wasting time or resources. Interesting, isn’t it?

Well, the evolution of these tools is no less interesting than its concept.  

Demystifying The Evolution Of Vulnerability Management Tools

The evolution of Vulnerability Management Tools traces back to the 90s and 2000s. It was a golden era of the 2000s when a thousand (1020, to be precise) published vulnerabilities were detected in the newly created Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) System. This system was launched in 1999 as a federally funded research and development center, operated by MITRE Corporation. The number of vulnerabilities was small, still, there was a need for manual detection and remediation on a large scale. Initially, the system provided the report which was later checked by the IT department of the organization.

Later, with time the rate of discovery and disclosure of vulnerabilities multiplied and the traditional (read manual) reporting and remediation process became challenging. Do you know, by the end of 2005, CVEs were being published at the rate of 400 a month, resulting in 40,000 published vulnerabilities by the end of the decade! By 2010 and 2016 this figure reached 4652 and 6447 vulnerabilities every month. This #EraOfChallenges was enough to emphasize a need for a revolution!

As Meredith believed, “Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds...” It seems like time answered the queries of enterprises in the form of Vulnerability Management Tools. With time companies developed Vulnerability Management Tools and started offering these tools to their existing channel of security service providers. Soon, these tools were made available to enterprises on a commercial level and the rest is history.

After this brief glimpse of the evolution of these tools, let’s take a look at how they work.  

Dissecting The Functioning Of Vulnerability Management Tools

Those who have watched Grey’s Anatomy must be aware that Meredith always surrounded herself with people who supported and challenged her at the same time. Meredith taught us what to look for in true friendship and associate ourselves with people who care for us. Well, Vulnerability Management Tools also alert us to steer clear of threats with the help of its process. #OurBestFriendForever

 

• Step 1: Identification Of Vulnerabilities

  The first step in any successful surgery requires the identification of the issue. The same goes for vulnerability management. These tools identify issues in various systems running on a network, such as laptops and desktops, virtual and physical servers, databases, firewalls, switches, printers, etc. Further, identified systems are investigated for different attributes – operating systems, user accounts, file system structure and so on!

• Step 2: Evaluation Of Vulnerabilities

  Even Meredith would agree that evaluating the intensity of the issue is essential and it’s something that decides the success rate or risk involved with the surgery. Similarly, once vulnerabilities are identified, these tools evaluate their risk. Vulnerability Management Tools help you get the ratings and scores for vulnerabilities, namely Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scores. These scores help you with evaluating the impact of vulnerabilities.

• Step 3: Treatment Of Vulnerabilities

  Now comes the most crucial part – treating vulnerabilities. Once Vulnerability Management Tools evaluate the vulnerabilities and risks associated with those vulnerabilities, these tools start acting on them. This could be in the form of a bandage or a plaster, we mean either fully fixing it or patching the vulnerabilities.

• Step 4: Reporting Of Vulnerabilities

  Vulnerability Management Tools opt for different methods for exporting and visualizing vulnerabilities, such as customizable reports and dashboards. These reports and dashboards eventually help IT teams understand which remediation method of fixing vulnerabilities will save time and help them fix most vulnerabilities by monitoring vulnerabilities trends.

After this quite exciting overview of the procedure of Vulnerability Management Tools, let’s head on to the next section and figure out how these tools are benefiting the organizations.
 

Unboxing The Benefits Of Vulnerability Management Software!

Here comes the most interesting part of the article – the benefits! Are you ready? 
 

• Robust Security

  Security loopholes are no less than invitations for hackers to hijack your computing network. Vulnerability Management Tools identify these weaknesses and secure your assets and data. What’s even more remarkable is that IT teams can address such issues without being present on the spot. 

• A Quick Fix Solution To Vulnerabilities

  No organization is alien to cybersecurity flaws that require patching applications, operations systems and reconfiguring network security settings. These issues demand instant solutions to keep attackers at bay. There are some Vulnerability Management Tools that offer real-time integrated patch remediation solutions. 

• Automated Scanning

  Vulnerability Management Tools conduct the on-demand and scheduled scanning for IT assets. These tools continue the scanning procedure without interrupting the end-user performance. So, you can keep the process going without breaking a sweat! #BusinessContinuityComesFirst

The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain when it finally reveals itself. The future is never the way we imagined it. Now that’s one philosophical advice by Meredith. However, we don’t know the fears and hope but the future of Vulnerability Management Tools is way too awesome and the next section says it all. Dive in! 

Unwrapping The Bright Future Of Vulnerability Management Tools

Evolving development ecosystems eventually accompany the rising security vulnerabilities and thus there is a need for new approaches to vulnerability identification. Automation is all set to take over this process. Automating the process of vulnerability identification will equip the security teams with a consolidated and centralized view of the company’s stock of vulnerabilities, regardless of the practices and solutions implemented for vulnerability detection. Besides, dedicated automatic tools will be the savior for organizations that want to cope with threats and vulnerabilities. These tools will cover the open-source vulnerabilities that are often missed by the existing SAST (Static Application Security Testing) tools and DAST (Dynamic Analysis Security Testing) tools.

Another breakthrough is the Web 3.0 model which will open gates for rethinking and redesigning security models to minimize risks and vulnerabilities associated with the enterprises. Also, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (the popular twins!) will sharpen human perception and reaction to detect cyber-threats. Long story short, advanced Vulnerability Management Tools will enable teams to work together to ensure that security threats are met quickly under vulnerability prioritization.

It’s A Wrap!

 
Today’s enterprises must contend with a growing array of cyber threats. As such, security teams need to optimize their visibility and detection capabilities, while also reducing the overhead required to manage and monitor these tools. Security professionals are adopting multiple tools to meet this challenge. These tools provide the ability to monitor, detect, and remediate cyber risks across a variety of attack vectors identified as “threat actors” or “threat agents.”

These agent-based threat management solutions are known as Vulnerability Management (VM) Tools. They operate by identifying security gaps in your organization’s digital infrastructure and provide guidance on how to close those gaps in an efficient way. This article by #TechDogs served everything you need to know about Vulnerability Management Tools.