Vulnerability Management: Being Vulnerable is Powerful, But Not in IT
What is vulnerability management and how to approach it from the IT asset management point of view.
Vulnerability management focuses on identifying and addressing weaknesses in IT systems before they can be exploited.
In this guide, we will take you through the key concepts of vulnerability management and explain the topic from an IT asset management point of view.
We will also highlight how an approach powered by Alloy Software’s IT asset management solutions can help you safeguard your IT assets against vulnerabilities.
What is a vulnerability in the cybersecurity realm?
First of all, let’s discuss the concept of vulnerability. This one might be easier to grasp when presented along some related cybersecurity concepts, such as a threat, a risk, an exploit, and a breach.
Vulnerabilities—weaknesses or flaws in a system, application, or process that can be exploited by threats.
Threats—potential events or actions that could exploit a vulnerability, leading to harm or damage.
Risks—the potential for loss or damage when a threat exploits a vulnerability.
Breaches—actual incidents where a threat successfully exploits a vulnerability, resulting in unauthorized access to data, systems, or networks.
Exploits—pieces of software, code, or methods that take advantage of a vulnerability or weakness in a system.
Let’s break down a recent cybersecurity incident to illustrate how these things are related.
Back in February 2024, the Ivanti team and external CS researchers found numerous vulnerabilities in its software. These vulnerabilities comprised a bug in the software that could permit unauthorized access, and an outdated OS version used in one of Ivanti’s services. Both of them were weaknesses that were considered threats because the researchers saw a high risk of them being exploited. Another vulnerability discovered by a third-party security firm had actually been exploited by attackers.
| Definition | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Vulnerabilities | Weaknesses or flaws in a system, application, or process that can be exploited by threats. | Software bugs, misconfigurations, outdated software, or lack of security measures (like weak passwords). |
| Threats | Potential events or actions that could exploit a vulnerability, leading to harm or damage. | Cybercriminals, malware, insider threats, natural disasters, or human error. |
| Risks | The potential for loss or damage when a threat exploits a vulnerability. It considers the likelihood of the threat occurring and the impact it would have. | The risk of data theft due to an unpatched vulnerability in software, where the likelihood is determined by the prevalence of the threat and the potential damage is assessed based on the value of the data. |
| Breaches | Actual incidents where a threat successfully exploits a vulnerability, resulting in unauthorized access to data, systems, or networks. | A successful cyberattack that results in the theft of customer data, a ransomware attack that locks access to critical systems, or the accidental exposure of sensitive information. |
There is a dilemma around publishing information about known vulnerabilities, often referred to as “full disclosure” debate. As soon as a vulnerability is brought to the public, hackers might exploit it using the published details. On the other hand, if a vulnerability remains unknown to the broad audience, those organizations having no info about the risk are exposed to cyber attacks.
What is vulnerability management?
Within the broad field of cybersecurity, vulnerability management focuses specifically on identifying and addressing weaknesses within your systems that cyber criminals could potentially exploit.
It is important to understand that a vulnerability does not need to be exploited before it’s identified as a vulnerability. In fact, vulnerabilities are typically recognized before they are exploited, as they are essentially potential weaknesses in a system that could be targeted.
A vulnerability in your personal cybersecurity system is the repeated use of the same password for multiple cloud services. If a cyber-criminal obtains that password (e.g., through a data breach or guessing), they could potentially gain access to all the accounts where you used that password, enabling them to hack several of your services at once. However, you don’t care much about it – primarily because you think that your data in those services is not that valuable.
At the same time, for a business organization, especially one working with customer data, a data breach can be deadly disruptive. According to IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024, known and unpatched vulnerabilities together with unknown zero-day vulnerabilities become the attack surface for around 17% of all data breaches these days.
Vulnerability management is then an organized, formal approach to identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities.
Here are the main types of vulnerabilities that VM teams deal with:
- Outdated software and hardware. In other words, software and hardware that doesn’t receive security updates. Those “Update your Microsoft to the newest version” notifications are for a reason. Microsoft wants you to use newer versions, because it will prevent you from vulnerabilities discovered after the older version was released.
- Weak authentication: unsecure password policies, or poorly implemented multifactor authentication mechanisms. If a password of an account with expanded access permissions is compromised, expect a large data leakage. To avoid this, all sensitive data must be under strict protection.
- Zero-day vulnerabilities: these are security flaws that are unknown to the vendor and for which no patch or fix is available.
- And much more.
The vulnerability management lifecycle
A comprehensive vulnerability management program consists of several critical phases:
1. Asset discovery
The foundation of any vulnerability management program is complete visibility into your IT environment. Without knowing what assets you have, it’s impossible to protect them. Asset discovery involves identifying all hardware, software, and network devices within your infrastructure.
Read our blog article on infrastructure visibility ->
AlloyScan, the new in-cloud solution from Alloy Software for network inventory and audit, can play a vital role in effective vulnerability management. It provides a comprehensive IT asset inventory, including detailed software information. By automatically discovering and cataloging all IT assets within your organization—servers, workstations, remote employees’ laptops, switches, printers, and other network devices—AlloyScan offers a real-time, detailed view of your IT environment.
Here’s what AlloyScan looks like ⬇
2. Vulnerability scanning
Once you have a clear view of your assets, the next step is to identify potential vulnerabilities. This is typically done using automated vulnerability scanners that, well, scan systems for security weaknesses. These scanners compare asset data against known security vulnerabilities in databases like the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list contains data about known vulnerabilities, evaluated according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS.)
Connect your centralized IT asset inventory—such as one created in AlloyScan—to your vulnerability scanner software via API. This integration facilitates real-time updates, ensuring that the scanner always has access to the most current asset information. As new devices are added or existing ones modified, the scanner can automatically initiate assessments based on the latest inventory data.
Even if you don’t have a dedicated vulnerability scanner, or a dedicated security team, you can rely on AlloyScan to get some data about vulnerabilities, especially those related to outdated software and hardware.
In addition to the default set of reports, the open reporting system allows you to create any report that meets your stakeholders’ needs. For example, you can easily craft a “Devices to Upgrade” report that compares the collected hardware and software data against the specified thresholds you define, listing the assets that need upgrades or replacements to mitigate vulnerabilities.
3. Vulnerability assessment and risk management
Not all vulnerabilities are created equal. Some pose a higher risk based on the asset’s criticality, exposure, and the likelihood of exploitation. That’s where risk-based prioritization comes into play. Don’t confuse risk-based prioritization with severity-based prioritization.
If your team deals with a huge number of new vulnerabilities due to the nature of your business, then automated risk calculation and vulnerability prioritization is something you should look at. It’s relevant for enterprise companies, for companies managing large numbers of IT assets, for organizations in highly regulated industries, and for businesses routinely working with sensitive customer data.
4. Vulnerability remediation
Once vulnerabilities have been prioritized, the next step is remediation. Depending on the vulnerability, this might involve patch management, changing configurations, or even isolating or retiring outdated systems.
Alloy Navigator, our comprehensive ITSM product, has several mechanisms to manage proposed remediation methods, united into the Change Management Process:
- Define granularly who can and cannot propose new changes,
- Create a group of experts that votes for the change,
- Choose from a menu of different voting methods and procedures. Our ready-to-use options include–single vote approval, majority decision, required percentage, and single-vote approvals,
- Alloy approval engine automatically forwards submitted approval requests to the right people based on their role in the process. Based on the decision, approval requests move to the next stages of their lifecycle.
5. Continuous monitoring and reporting
Vulnerability management isn’t a one-time task. Continuous vulnerability monitoring is essential to ensure that weaknesses are detected and resolved promptly.
Common challenges in vulnerability management
Like most preventative measures, vulnerability management is easy to push aside in favor of more immediate threats. It’s kind of like buying a new bottle of medicine before you run out—who actually does that? Most of us end up rushing to the pharmacy last minute, hoping it’s still open.
The proactive nature of vulnerability management as a process is just one challenge. Then again, even if you got a genius discovery tool, limited resources of the IT personnel might hinder you from addressing all the vulnerabilities on time.
Here are some common pain points:
- Lack of visibility: Many organizations struggle to maintain an accurate and up-to-date view of their IT assets, making it difficult to manage vulnerabilities effectively.
- Difficulty in prioritizing vulnerabilities: With thousands of potential vulnerabilities, prioritizing which ones to address first can be overwhelming.
- Resource constraints in remediation: IT teams often lack the resources to quickly remediate all identified vulnerabilities.
- Compliance and reporting requirements: Organizations must often comply with industry regulations and standards.
Key features to look for in a vulnerability management tool
When evaluating vulnerability management solutions, it’s important to look for tools that offer the following features:
- Integration with IT Asset Management or a strong proprietary ITAM module: Seamless integration between IT asset management and vulnerability management is essential for gaining full visibility into your IT environment.
- Automation and workflow management: Automation reduces the manual effort required to address vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to automated risk-based prioritization.
- Compliance Reporting: Detailed, customizable reports that help you stay compliant with industry standards and regulations.
Alloy Software’s approach to vulnerability management
Alloy Software offers a comprehensive solution providing organizations with the tools they need to stay ahead of cyber threats. Here’s why Alloy Software will be valuable for you for managing vulnerabilities:
- With our cloud ITAM solution AlloyScan, get a complete and accurate view of your IT assets at all times, ensuring that vulnerable spots are detected as soon as they occur.
- This level of visibility enables you to efficiently monitor changes in your IT infrastructure, ensuring that any changes to IT assets are accurately recorded.
- Generate detailed reports to meet compliance requirements and gain insights into your organization’s security posture.
- Moreover, AlloyScan features a robust API that supports seamless integration with external software, such as vulnerability monitors and risk assessment systems. This integration ensures efficient data exchange, and action automation.
Conclusion
Vulnerability management is a critical component of any organization’s IT security strategy. With Alloy Software’s integrated IT asset management solutions, you can stay ahead of the curve, ensuring that your organization is protected from emerging threats.
Ready to take control of your vulnerabilities? Contact us today for a free trial of Alloy Software and see how our solutions can help you protect your IT environment.
