Why Vulnerability Assessments Are Important

Protecting your IT infrastructure and business data against a potential breach is vital for your business. You can’t stop what you don’t know is coming but you can identify and evaluate the gravity of weaknesses in your company’s IT infrastructure.  How does a business do this? 

On a regular basis, businesses should access their vulnerability to being a victim of an attack.  This is known as a Vulnerability Assessment or Vulnerability testing.  Vulnerability Assessment is the practice of identifying, classifying, remediating, and mitigating vulnerabilities within an organization’s network. Once the vulnerabilities are discovered you can correct them and lower your risk of becoming a victim of a cybersecurity attack.  

A vulnerability assessment will discover common security weaknesses such as: 

• Operating systems and applications that are not current with the latest security updates or patches. 
• Unsecure legacy operating systems that are no longer supported by manufacturers.  

• Open ports on perimeter defenses and other devices that allow malicious attackers to easily gain access to your private computer network.  
• All Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) that exist on the computer network. 

Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) is a database of publicly disclosed information security issues. The mission of the CVE® Program is to identify, define, and catalog publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. There is one CVE Record for each vulnerability in the catalog. Information technology and cybersecurity professionals use CVE Records to ensure they are discussing the same issue, and to coordinate their efforts to prioritize and address the vulnerabilities. 

It is important to conduct vulnerability assessments regularly, at least every quarter if not more frequently. Typically, a vulnerability assessment can be completed in a day or two.  

There are benefits to performing regular vulnerability assessments that include:  

• Identify known security exposures before attackers find them. 
• Create an inventory of all the devices on the network, including purpose and system information. This also includes vulnerabilities associated with a specific device. 
• Create an inventory of all devices in the enterprise to help with the planning of upgrades and future assessments. 
• Define the level of risk that exists on the network. 
• Establish a business risk/benefit curve and optimize security investments. 

The results of a vulnerability assessment are documented and provided to the business with recommendations around remediating any weaknesses found. Your reports often need the interpretation and insight of a security veteran. Working with an IT Managed Services Provider, like us, who know which fixes will be most effective in bringing your business databases, servers and other IT assets back to good health.