Experts analyze computer systems to find weaknesses during a vulnerability assessment. They do this to identify problems before hackers can exploit them. People make mistakes, and because people write software, mistakes are made. Some mistakes are harmless, but others create vulnerabilities that hackers can use to attack the system.
Experts conduct vulnerability assessments to find these problems. They identify vulnerabilities like SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS) before hackers can exploit them. By doing this, experts help organizations protect their systems.
Next, experts use this information to fix the weaknesses. They work to ensure the system is secure. Regular assessments are done to keep the system safe.
Asset Discovery
When checking for vulnerabilities, the first step is to decide what to scan. However, this can be tricky. Many organizations struggle to keep track of their devices and systems. This is because devices like smartphones and laptops are constantly connecting and disconnecting from different locations. IoT devices are connected to mobile networks and are not always visible. Cloud services make it easy to create new servers without IT knowing.
As a result, it is hard to keep track of everything. This lack of visibility makes it difficult to secure systems. Fortunately, technology can help. Special tools can automatically discover devices and systems, even cloud-based ones. These tools can help identify what needs to be scanned.
Additionally, some tools can connect directly to cloud providers to find cloud-based systems. This makes it easier to keep track of everything
Prioritization
Once you know what you have, the next step is to see if you can afford to check all of it for vulnerabilities. Ideally, you would check all your systems regularly, but vendors often charge per asset. So, you need to prioritize if your budget is tight.
Here are some examples of what to prioritize:
- Servers that face the internet
- Applications that customers use
- Databases with sensitive information
So, if you can not afford to check everything, at least cover these areas, in this order.
Vulnerability scanning
Vulnerability scanners find and point out security flaws in software and devices. They rely on publicly available information about known weaknesses. Using this data, they scan an organization’s systems to spot vulnerabilities and offer advice on how to fix them.
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