Vulnerability management is a process that identifies and manages vulnerabilities in systems and processes. According to Rootshell Security, it’s used to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of those systems and processes. But what’s the best way to remediate vulnerabilities?
In this post, we’ll discuss how to conduct vulnerability assessments and how to remediate any issues found.
What is a Vulnerability Remediation?
The fact that software are written by people means that they will always have defects. This means there is a need to debug your organisation’s networks regularly. A vulnerability assessment can help strengthen your company’s cybersecurity design by identifying potential security gaps. So, what is vulnerability remediation?
Vulnerability remediation is a series of procedures that identify a system’s susceptibility to attack by malicious actors. The goal of vulnerability remediation is to detect a system’s weak points at a specific point in time to prevent it from being exploited by cybercriminals.
Steps of a Vulnerability Remediation Process
1. Asset Discovery
First, you need to figure out what you’re scanning for. This isn’t always as easy as it appears. Here is the methodology to stick to:
- Learn the location(s) of the files that contain your most sensitive information.
- Locate hidden repositories of information.
- Determine which servers execute the most important apps for the organisation.
- Decide the computer systems and network resources you’ll evaluate.
The purpose of assets discovery/ planning the scope of testing is to help simplify and speed up the entire process.
2. Prioritization
Following a thorough inventory, you should determine whether or not you have the financial resources necessary to do a thorough risk assessment of everything you own. A vulnerability assessment should be carried out consistently across all your systems in an ideal scenario. If a company’s budget does not allow vulnerability assessment to be carried all over its assets, prioritisation may be helpful. This is because many service providers charge per asset.
On your list of priorities, some of the things you should put first include:
- Internet-specific dedicated servers.
- Apps that are accessible to the public
- Databases containing confidential or private information
3. Vulnerability Identification
Next, perform a scan of the system or network, and compile a comprehensive list of the underlying security concerns. You must do both an automated vulnerability scan and a manual penetration test for this phase. Performing these two simultaneously allows you to verify the findings and filter out false positives.
4. Analysis
From the vulnerability scan, you will get a list of all the vulnerabilities of your IT infrastructure. Your next step should be analysing the vulnerabilities, their causes, potential impacts, and methods to remediate them.
You should then rate each security vulnerability based on how risky it is, how much data it may potentially compromise, and how much harm it may potentially create if the susceptible system is compromised.
5. Remediation
Vulnerabilities assessments must be accompanied by a strategy for fixing any discovered issues. Administrators should prioritise patching critical issues based on the vulnerability rankings acquired during the analysis step.
Some of the common vulnerability issues are:
- SQL Injection
- Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR)
- Unpatched operating system
- Weak account credentials
- Device misconfigurations
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
The amount of time it takes to remedy a vulnerability depends on the severity of the problem and the procedures taken to fix it. Patches might create downtime or have unanticipated consequences. Therefore, organisations must carefully plan their remediation process for longer downtime. If they need extra time to fix the vulnerability, they can provide a temporary patch as a workaround.
6. Monitor
Maintain a vigilant eye at all times for potential areas of weakness and weaknesses that need to be strengthened. The vast majority of products on the market for vulnerability management give customers the option to view and export their data in a number of different file types. When it comes to detecting potential risks, security teams typically rely on real-time alert systems and the collection of logs to carry out in-depth manual investigations.
It’s possible that monitoring will lead to retesting, in which case the team will run another set of scans on that particular system. For the sake of being compliant with HIPPA, the development team can produce reports detailing the patching procedure as well as demonstrating continuous compliance.
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