How to Evolve Your Vulnerability Management to Threat Exposure Management
One of the risks of only using vulnerability management is creating a false sense of security. For example, attackers can still exploit unpatched vulnerabilities if an organization only scans for vulnerabilities and does not patch them.
Additionally, vulnerability management is only one part of a comprehensive security program; Organizations should use it in conjunction with other security controls such as firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and access control measures.
Relying on only Vulnerability Management — Major Risks
Following are a few significant risks that organizations might face if they are merely relying on Vulnerability Management:
#1: Vulnerability Fatigue
Vulnerability fatigue results from constantly looking for new threats and vulnerabilities. It can lead to decreased productivity, decision-making, and even burnout.
There are a few ways to combat vulnerability fatigue:
- First, educate yourself and your team on the latest threats and vulnerabilities
- Stay up-to-date on the latest cybersecurity news
- Set realistic goals and expectations
If you feel overwhelmed by cybersecurity, it is essential to reach out for help. There are many resources available to help you better understand the risks and how to protect yourself.
#2: Lack of Visibility to track Vulnerabilities
The success or failure of any enterprise process is dependent on the service levels and KPIs associated with it. Unfortunately, Vulnerability Management processes are siloed within IT and Security and it is key to establish a streamlined process of collaboration between stakeholders. Stakeholders from IT and Security need to collaborate on a single platform for visibility and tracking from the time a vulnerability is identified till it is remediated. Organizations having change management, patch management and configuration management processes and workflows should be able to use bi-directional integration within a single platform of their vulnerability management and ITSM solutions. This enables organizations to standardize their processes and establish accountability on all stakeholders through service levels.
#3: Obliviousness toward arising Threats
The main problem with being oblivious about these vulnerabilities is that organizations may not be aware of the potential threats. This can lead to a lack of preparedness and response to these threats, ultimately leading to severe damage or even loss of life.
Additionally, if an organization is not aware of the vulnerabilities within its systems, it may be more challenging to identify and fix these vulnerabilities before they are exploited.
Threat Exposure Management — Explained
Threat Exposure Management is the proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of security risks and vulnerabilities within an organization. Threat Exposure Management aims to protect an organization’s information assets, systems, and networks from internal and external threats.
Threat Exposure Management includes four key components:
- Risk Identification: Proactively identifying risks and vulnerabilities through security assessments, threat intelligence, and other means.
- Risk Assessment: Determining the potential impact of identified risks and vulnerabilities.
- Risk Mitigation: Implementing controls and countermeasures to reduce risks and vulnerabilities’ likelihood and impact.
- Risk Monitoring: Continuously monitoring the environment for changes that could impact the organization’s security posture.
Extending Vulnerability Management into Threat Exposure Management
The most reliable way to extend vulnerability management into threat exposure management varies from organization to organization, depending on their specific needs. However, some tips on how to effectively accomplish this include:
- Conduct a risk assessment to identify which threats pose the most significant risks to your organization
- Develop policies and procedures for managing exposure to these threats
- Implement controls to mitigate the risks associated with these threats
- Monitor and review your exposure to these threats regularly
- Take action to address any new or increased risks
Organizations should also consider integrating threat exposure management into their overall security program. They can protect their assets more effectively and reduce their overall risk by doing so.
Moreover, we can extend and shift to threat exposure management by combining organizations’ Asset Management and Vulnerability Management with different tools like:
- External Attack Surface Management
- Breach and Attack Simulation
- Threat Intelligence
- Vulnerability Prioritization
- Threat Actor Correlation
- CVE to MITRE Mapping
Threat Management Evolution Tools
External Attack Surface Management
External attack surface management identifies and classifies external assets and vulnerabilities to prioritize and mitigate risks. The goal is to protect an organization’s data and systems from external threats by reducing the attack surface.
Many external attack surface management tools involve identifying all external assets and mapping them to specific business functions. For instance, external assets can include Internet-facing systems, websites, social media accounts, and email accounts. Once you identify all external assets, they can be classified based on their importance to the organization and susceptibility to attack.
Organizations should then prioritize their assets and vulnerabilities based on their risk. Finally, companies should give high-priority assets and vulnerabilities more attention and resources to mitigate risks.
Asset Management
Asset Management tools are used in cybersecurity to help organizations keep track of their assets and ensure they are adequately protected. By keeping track of assets, organizations can make sure that they are aware of all the potential risks to their network and data and take steps to mitigate those risks. Additionally, these tools can help organizations keep track of changes to their assets over time so they can identify any potential vulnerabilities that may have arisen.
Breach & Attack Simulation (BAS)
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) is a simulation used to test an organization’s ability to detect and respond to cyberattacks. This type of simulation can help organizations identify weaknesses in their systems and processes and develop and test response plans. BAS can also be helpful in training staff on how to handle a cyberattack.
Threat Intelligence Tools
Organizations can use threat Intelligence tools to collect, analyze, and act on information about potential cyber threats. Companies can use this information to improve an organization’s security posture and help defend against future attacks.
IT teams can use threat intelligence to track and monitor known threats and identify new and emerging threats. Organizations can also use it to assess their vulnerability to specific threats and develop and implement mitigation strategies.
Companies can use threat intelligence to inform their security decisions and priorities and allocate resources more effectively. Threat Intelligence can also help organizations respond quickly and effectively to incidents, minimizing the damage and disruption caused by cyberattacks.
Vulnerability Prioritization
Vulnerability prioritization is a process by which organizations identify and prioritize vulnerabilities based on the potential severity of an exploit, the likelihood of exploitation, and the availability of a remedy. By identifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities, organizations can first allocate resources to address the most critical risks.
Threat Actor Correlation
Threat Actor Correlation is a process of better identifying relationships between different threat actors to understand their motives, methods, and objectives. Institutions can then use this information to improve security posture and make more informed decisions about how to defend against future attacks.
CVE to MITRE Map
CVE is a resource that enables MITRE to map cyber security vulnerabilities to the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) naming standard. This mapping allows for greater consistency and interoperability in naming vulnerabilities and enables different security products and services to share information about these vulnerabilities.
Key Takeaways
- By identifying and remediating vulnerabilities, threat exposure management can help to lower the exposure of an attack.
- By deploying security controls, threat exposure management can help to reduce an attacker’s ability to exploit vulnerabilities.
- By continuously monitoring the environment for changes, threat exposure management can help to detect and respond to attacks quickly.
- By educating employees on security awareness, threat exposure management can help to reduce the risk of human error.
- By implementing strong security policies and procedures, threat exposure management can help to reduce the overall risk of an attack.
About HivePro Uni5
HivePro Uni5 focuses on Threat and Exposure Management by using vulnerability as a pivot to assist customers to reduce the attack surface and move away from trying to “fix everything” to fix “what matters”.
HivePro Uni5 provides a true risk score for every vulnerability based on 20+ parameters such as Threat Actor Landscape, Industry Vertical, Geolocation, wormability, exploitability to name a few. This enables enterprises to take decisions on what to Patch Now and what can be Scheduled to Patch Later. To know more about HivePro Uni5, feel free to reach out to us.
