Top Tips for Optimal Vulnerability Management

Protecting valuable data, customer information, critical network assets and intellectual property are no longer left to the discretion of businesses. Today, these are made mandatory by a set of government regulations, in order to ensure safety and security in the business environment. 

Constant threats to enterprise networks by way of sophisticated intrusions further reinforce the need for an efficient vulnerability management solution. While there is no such thing as being too safe, with new vulnerabilities emerging every day, even those enterprises which consider their systems and assets as being completely secure are not truly so. Therefore the need of the hour is a solution that can beat network weakness and overcome lapses. It should:

• determine all your assets across networks and identify the corresponding host information
• prioritize your enterprise assets by grouping them according to their innate business-centric critical values
• establish and identify potential risks automatically and report them to the aforementioned assets
• find remedies for any vulnerabilities or risks
• follow-up on any threats constantly through regular audits

How to get the best vulnerability management solution?

Most organizations worry for the It security compliance of their assets. Therefore managing these assets assumes immense importance in any enterprise. However, a proactive solution can assist enterprises by reducing misuse of assets and can effectively manage vulnerabilities while also aiding in efficient vendor management. Here’s a checklist you can follow while choosing your vulnerability management solution:

• Is it an integrated solution that can manage not just all the functions but also data and tasks associated with your enterprise assets and its related vulnerabilities?
• Does it inherently posses a It compliance management feature which can automatically and continuously scan for identifying potential susceptibilities in your enterprise’s network infrastructure?
• Can it scan and integrate compliance related information from diverse sources like databases, file systems, vulnerability scanners etc? Also, can it further match this against compliance signatures?
• Does it provide you with accurate asset discovery?
• Can it automatically gather data from both technology and non-technology sources like people and mapping data to regulations and standards?
• Can it link assets to various controls?
• Is it able to provide an exhaustive audit trail to enable compliance related actions?
• Is it capable of providing management dashboards for compliance status with the added ability to enable drilling down irrespective of departments and geographies?

It can never be stressed enough that vulnerability management is a significant component of any enterprise’s security solution because it is perhaps the only way to ensure hands-on detection of susceptibilities in your network infrastructure. So follow the checklist above, and choose wisely while opting for a vulnerability management solution that best suits your business needs.