Over the last several years, the number and magnitude of cyber security breaches has steadily increased. To date, numerous institutions, big and small, both private and public, have disclosed that databases containing customer identities and other private information have been exposed and compromised.
Yet, there is hope for organizations and their employees alike, in the form of sophisticated cyber defense tools and security safeguards and solutions. There are numerous strategies and tools currently available that can create friction for hackers and discourage those who would attempt to breach security.
Frost & Sullivan's latest article, “Leveraging Vulnerability Management for Enhanced Security,” discusses how security is becoming more complex, requiring sophisticated processes and approaches such as Vulnerability Management (VM). The article reveals that North America accounted for the most VM sales, 76.8 percent, in 2016. By 2021, that share will increase to 77.8 percent.
"The importance of vulnerability assessment scanning cannot be overstated. The best cyber security posture is not threat incident detection and response, nor is it other threat mitigation techniques." noted Frost & Sullivan Network Security Industry Analyst Christopher Kissel. "The best threat response is prevention.”
There are many challenges related to the accuracy of data and measurement in dynamic network environments. Accuracy is very important with VM and the sharing of data obtained. One particular challenge involves scan to scan host correlation.
To start, there are many different scanning technologies to choose from. Often, organizations will use a technique known as network unauthenticated scanning, where scanning is remote to the devices, then sends out internet messaging, based upon device responses. This technique allows for the scanning of devices and open ports and can highlight configuration issues and other vulnerabilities.
"VM tools must be easy and intuitive to use and in the case of smaller and mid-sized companies, there has to be a mechanism where VM tools can be integrated into every day IT workflow," continued Kissel. "For example, the fundamental strength of Digital Defense, Inc.'s VM solution is that it accurately tracks the host controls in a network, and as such, the host environment is understood, and the chance for the false positives from scan data from endpoints is greatly diminished."