The COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous stress on information security professionals. A threat landscape that was already growing more complex by the minute now presents an even more fearsome challenge, as cybersecurity budgets are strained, and millions of workers have shifted to telecommuting on a full- or part-time basis.
From the get-go, too many organizations have an outdated idea of what vulnerability management entails. It’s not simply about scanning your networks for threats.
A holistic approach to vulnerability management includes identifying, reporting, assessing and prioritizing exposures. Crucially, it also involves risk context. Instead of merely scanning for security gaps, a comprehensive approach to vulnerability management shows you how those gaps could be exploited and the consequences that could occur.
An inability to properly rank exposures is one of the most damaging problems that organizations currently face within the context of vulnerability management. Too many organizations identify security gaps via scanning, then proceed directly to the remediation phase. On some level, that kind of urgency is understandable. Ultimately, however, it is short-sighted and creates more risk.
Smart organizations dedicate plenty of focus to the prioritization and reporting phases of vulnerability management. Failing to prioritize effectively can lead to wasted time and resources, as teams race to address exposures that pose no real risk to business-critical assets.
Another challenge is insufficient funding for information security programs which is a common problem for small-to mid-size businesses. It’s no surprise that executives’ misunderstanding of how essential cybersecurity is for their business continuity often leads to catastrophic results. These people usually ask for a confirmable ROI for security programs to take things seriously enough and make room for it in the business overall culture.
In short, challenges are an essential part of every security program. Security professionals are able to vanquish most of them as long as they are backed up by management. The latter should be more mature about cybersecurity and accept the fact that it’s now an essential ingredient for every organization. This understanding should reflect how hackers will have no mercy on organizations that shortchange their digital security.
We present to you, “Top 10 Vulnerability Management Solutions Providers – 2022.”
