Vulnerability management is the process of identifying and preventing potential threats to systems, interfaces, and data. The process involves setting policy, environment, priorities, taking action, and being vigilant. Policymaking, security assessment, prioritizing vulnerabilities, and continuous monitoring are essential to effective vulnerability management. Ongoing evaluation is necessary to ensure alignment with organizational needs and mission.
In information technology, the term vulnerability management describes the process of identifying and preventing potential threats due to vulnerabilities, which compromise the integrity of systems, interfaces and data. Various organizations divide the management process into different steps and the identified process components can vary. Regardless of that variation, however, those steps typically include the following: setting policy, setting environment, setting priorities, taking action, and being vigilant. By following the embodiment of each stage, information technology managers and security analysts have a basic methodology that can effectively identify threats and vulnerabilities, while defining actions to mitigate potential damage. Objectively, the management process is to understand these potential threats before they can exploit vulnerabilities both in the systems and in the processes involved in accessing these systems or the data contained in them.
Policymaking refers to establishing the necessary levels of security regarding systems and data throughout the organization. Having established these levels of security, the organization will then need to determine the levels of access and control of both systems and data, carefully mapping those levels based on organizational needs and hierarchy. Next, a thorough assessment of the security environment based on established policies is critical to effective vulnerability management. This involves verifying the state of security, evaluating it accurately, and identifying and monitoring instances of policy violations.
Once vulnerabilities and threats are identified, the vulnerability management process must prioritize compromising actions and security states. Involved in the process is the assignment of risk factors for each identified vulnerability. Prioritizing these factors based on each risk posed to the IT environment and to the organization is essential to preventing disaster. Once prioritized, the organization shall take action against identified vulnerabilities whether associated with the removal of code, modification of established policies, enforcement of those policies, software upgrades, or installation of security patches .
Continuous monitoring and ongoing management of vulnerabilities are essential to organizational security, especially for organizations that rely heavily on information technology. New vulnerabilities are presented almost daily with threats from a variety of both internal and external sources seeking to exploit computer systems to gain unauthorized access to data or even launch an attack. Therefore, ongoing maintenance and monitoring of the vulnerability management process is essential to mitigate the potential damages resulting from such threats and vulnerabilities. Both security policies and requirements need to evolve to reflect organizational needs as well, and this will require ongoing evaluation to ensure both are aligned with organizational needs and the organization’s mission.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
