Vulnerability Assessment

Glossary

What is a Vulnerability Assessment?

Vulnerability assessment is a technique that allows organisations to assess and study their systems for potential security vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

It conducts a vulnerability analysis process to determine whether an organisation is at risk of known flaws, provides a severity level to those bugs, and suggests whether a threat should be mitigated or remediated.

Vulnerability testing allows firms to determine whether their systems and software have insecure default settings. It also examines the susceptibility to code injection attacks such as SQL injection (SQLi) and XSS and the potential of user privilege escalation or faulty authentication mechanisms.

Types of Vulnerability Assessments

Some of the most popular forms of vulnerability assessments that businesses use globally include:

  1. Network-based scan: This type identifies susceptible systems on an organisation’s wired and wireless networks that threat actors could exploit to execute security attacks.
  2. Application scan: Assess an organisation’s website for known software vulnerabilities and insecure setups in online apps or networks.
  3. Database scan: Detect flaws in databases and large data systems, such as misconfigurations, rogue databases, or insecure development environments, to safeguard companies from potential hostile assaults.
  4. Host-based scans: this form identifies potential vulnerabilities in hosts that connect to an organisation’s network, such as crucial servers and workstations. This vulnerability evaluation also provides information about configuration settings and the system’s patch history.
  5. Wireless scan: This typically evaluates an organisation’s Wi-Fi connections to identify malicious APs and ensure the network is established safely.

Vulnerability Assessments Execution

Organisations that run vulnerability assessments will go through a four-step process.

However, it is critical to note that a vulnerability assessment is not a one-take event organisations disregard after its conclusion.

It must be repeated regularly and operationalised by adopting strong collaboration among development, security, and operations teams.

  1. Vulnerability Identification: The initial stage is to compile a complete inventory of vulnerabilities in an organisation’s applications, servers, and systems. This can be accomplished by scanning them with specific internet vulnerability assessment tools or manually testing them. Vulnerability analysts can also employ vulnerability databases, vendor announcements, threat intelligence feeds, and asset management systems to detect potential vulnerabilities. This initial step in the process also assists businesses in understanding the full scope of the operation.
  2. Vulnerability Analysis: The second stage seeks to identify the source and cause of the vulnerabilities discovered in the first step. The analysis stage also finds both the system components and the fundamental cause of each flaw.
  3. Remediation: The final stage in the vulnerability assessment process is to address any security weaknesses. This is usually a collaborative effort between the collaboration team, outlining the most effective strategy to mitigate or repair each vulnerability detected.
  4. Reporting: After completing the procedure, businesses must create a vulnerability assessment report. This report should contain advice on addressing and reducing vulnerabilities, risk mitigation measures, and any gaps between the assessment’s findings and the organisation’s system baseline.

Vulnerability Assessment Tools

Specific vulnerability assessment technologies can help organisations identify both new and old vulnerabilities. They should schedule regular and automatic scans of their essential IT systems and ensure the scan results are included in their ongoing vulnerability assessment process.

Protocol Scanners can also be used to identify vulnerabilities. These are specifically designed to detect flawed network services, ports, and cybersecurity protocols. A network scanner, which can visualise organisations’ networks, is another popular tool for vulnerability assessment. It can also spot warning indications of vulnerabilities, such as unsecured Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and faked or suspicious packet traffic.

Lastly, organisations can also consider employing vulnerability assessment platform plugins, such as scans of common and popular ports, firewalls, and content management systems.

How can iZOOlogic help my Company or Organisation?

Find out how iZOOlogic can provide similar services through our Third-Party Vulnerability Assessment through our offered solutions.

To find out more about how iZOOlogic can help protect your company’s cyber security, schedule a demo.