Vulnerability assessment is an evaluation method that enables organizations to review their systems for potential security weaknesses. It performs a vulnerability analysis process that aims to discover whether the organization is at risk of known vulnerabilities, assigns a level of severity to those vulnerabilities, and recommends whether a threat should be mitigated or remediated.
Vulnerability testing helps organizations discover whether their systems and software have active default settings that are insecure, which can include easily guessable admin passwords. It also assesses vulnerability to code injection attacks, such as Structured Query Language injection (SQLi) and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, and checks for a potential escalation of user privileges or incorrect authentication mechanisms.
Types Of Vulnerability Assessments
The most common types of vulnerability assessments that organizations deploy are:
- Network-based scan: Identifies vulnerable systems on organizations’ wired and wireless networks, which could be used to launch security attacks against an organization’s networks.
- Host-based scan: Identifies potential vulnerabilities in hosts connecting to an organization’s network, such as critical servers and workstations. This vulnerability assessment also provides further visibility into configuration settings and the system’s patch history.
- Wireless scan: Typically assesses an organization’s Wi-Fi connections to search for potential rogue access points (APs) and validate whether the network is configured securely.
- Application scan: Tests an organization’s websites to search for known software vulnerabilities and weak configurations in web applications or networks.
- Database scan: Identifies weaknesses in databases and big data systems, such as misconfigurations, rogue databases, or insecure development environments, to protect organizations against potential malicious attacks.
How Vulnerability Assessments Conducted: Steps And Processes
Organizations that undergo a vulnerability assessment will follow a four-step process.
However, it is important to remember that a vulnerability assessment is not a one-off activity that organizations forget about when it has been completed. It must be repeated regularly and operationalized by encouraging development, security, and operations teams to cooperate closely with each other—a process called DevSecOps.
Vulnerability identification
The first step is to create a comprehensive list of vulnerabilities in an organization’s applications, servers, and systems. This is done by either scanning them using specific internet vulnerability assessment tools or by testing them manually. Vulnerability analysts can also use vulnerability databases, vendor announcements, threat intelligence feeds, and asset management systems to identify potential weaknesses.
This first step of the process helps organizations understand the full details. This includes elements like risk appetite and tolerance level, business impact analysis, mitigation practices and policies, countermeasures for devices and services, and residual risk treatment.
Exposures (CVE) database. It also needs to include a detailed description of vulnerabilities, systems affected, processes required to correct vulnerabilities, and a proof of concept of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability analysis
The second step aims to discover the source and initial cause of the vulnerabilities identified in the first step. The analysis stage identifies the system components responsible for each vulnerability as well as its root cause.
Remediation
The final step in the vulnerability assessment process is to close any security gaps. This is usually a joint effort between the DevSecOps team, which sets out the most effective way to mitigate or remediate each vulnerability discovered. The remediation process includes introducing new cybersecurity measures, procedures, or tools; updating configuration and operational changes; and developing or implementing patches for identified vulnerabilities.
With the process completed, it is also vital for organizations to create a vulnerability assessment report. This needs to include recommendations on how to correct and mitigate vulnerabilities, risk mitigation techniques, and any gaps the assessment uncovers between the results and the organization’s system baseline.
The report needs to include the name of the vulnerabilities, the date they were discovered, and the score attributed based on the Common Vulnerabilities.
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