Vulnerability analysis, also known as vulnerability assessment, is a process that defines, identifies, and classifies the security holes (vulnerabilities) in a computer, network, or communications infrastructure. In addition, vulnerability analysis can forecast the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures and evaluate their actual effectiveness after they are put into use.
1. Identifying Vulnerabilities
The goal of this stage is to create a complete list of vulnerabilities in an application. Security analysts scan applications, servers, and other systems with automated tools or manually test and evaluate them to determine their security health. Vulnerability databases, vendor vulnerability notifications, asset management systems, and threat intelligence feeds are also used by analysts to identify security flaws.
2. Vulnerability Appraisal
The goal of this stage is to determine the source and root cause of the vulnerabilities discovered in the previous step.
It entails determining which system components are responsible for each vulnerability, as well as the vulnerability’s fundamental cause. An obsolete version of an open source library, for example, could be the source of a vulnerability. This creates a clear path for remediation – library upgrades.
3. Risk Evaluation
The goal of this phase is to rank vulnerabilities in order of importance. It entails security experts awarding each vulnerability a rank or severity score based on parameters such as:
4. Clean-up
The goal of this step is to eliminate security flaws. It’s usually a collaborative endeavour between security, development, and operations teams to establish the most effective method for each vulnerability’s remedy or mitigation.
The following are examples of possible remedial steps:
A periodic and proactive security Vulnerability Assessment is required to protect your organization’s resources from both within and outside threats. Security vulnerability testing has a number of advantages, including but not limited to:
1. Detection of security flaws before they are exploited by attackers. Early detection allows companies to rectify vulnerabilities before they are exploited by adversaries, resulting in a significant loss of assets and reputation.
2. Providing an updated company network map as well as a current inventory of company network devices.
3. An evaluation of your firm’s security posture.
4. A multi-layered assessment of your infrastructure to identify dangers from both internal and external sources.
5. Ensured adherence to industry regulations, reducing the risk of large penalties for noncompliance.
6. Vulnerability scans, which show the quantity of exposures linked with specific systems over time.
