When talking about mature Vulnerability Management, there are many metrics to take into account. However, two of them stand out above the others: Business System Risks and Process Integrity Risks. Today we will talk about Process Integrity Risks and how it affects our management. But first: What is Process Integrity Risk?
Process Integrity Risks
It’s the exposure that your organization faces due to poor vulnerability management. Most organizations today seek to improve their Vulnerability Management using network-enabled technologies. Proper hardware and software integration is essential to mitigate associated risks. These risks apply to each aspect of a system; and understanding process integrity risk can help you answer questions like:
- What critical processes should you improve?
- What new processes or directives should you undertake?
- How do your processes compare to others in your industry?
- Are you optimizing your evaluation efforts appropriately?
Reducing process integrity risks involves understanding the effectiveness of your risk remediation. It also implies knowing the maturity of the evaluation of your processes. It is a single metric that quantifies and compares how secure your organization is. All this while you continue evaluating your environment for vulnerabilities.
What does a “mature” evaluation approach mean?
A mature assessment approach means paying special attention to vulnerability management. Some vulnerability management software even uses a system known as Maturity Rating. The assessment maturity rating provides metrics to test process integrity risks. Thus, it allows putting in place better policies and process improvements in each system.
It also helps to respond to cyber exposure, providing recommended actions and optimizations. Besides, it provides data on the extent of evaluations and the coverage of authentication plug-ins. In addition, it identifies the differences within your organization and against your peers in the industry.
Failures in vulnerability assessment increase Process Integrity Risks
Unfortunately, many organizations do not take a mature approach to process integrity risks. In a report on Cyber Defense Strategies, Tenable Research discovered alarming numbers in these regards. First, only 43% of organizations have a low to medium maturity level in the assessment. Furthermore, only 5% follow a style with high evaluation frequencies. Comprehensive coverage of assets and specific and personalized evaluations is nil.
The report revealed 4 styles in which companies that carry out vulnerability assessments compete. These styles are: Diligent, Investigative, Topographic and Minimalist.
- Diligent, representing the highest maturity. However, it makes up only the mentioned 5% of all companies in the dataset.
- Investigative, it represents a medium to high maturity, with 43%.
- Topographic style, with a representation of 19%. This corresponds to a medium maturity approach.
- Minimalists, where companies with the lowest maturity fit. It is made up of 33% of all companies.
Some industries do give weight to Process Integrity Risks
Worth noting is the effort of companies for managing their Process Integrity Risks. Specifically, the Hospitality, Transport, Telecommunications, Electronics and Banking industries. These were the ones that had the highest proportion of the Diligent style. Public services, Health, Education and Entertainment, followed in line.
What you should understand is that vulnerability assessment is not an extra step; it is a need for your safety. If your processes lack frequency and integrity, you open the door to serious security breaches. Taking a more diligent approach is the smartest option.
Five steps to the success of your cybersecurity
Effective risk-based vulnerability management requires a diligent process. We recommend following these 5 phases to ensure secure vulnerability management:
- Discovery: The first step in your vulnerability management program is to take an inventory of your assets. These are not limited only to hardware, but also to software on every possible attack surface. You must identify all assets before you can properly protect them. You can also group assets by type, geography, and other criteria defined by you.
- Assessment: Assessing assets for vulnerabilities and incorrect configurations are challenging. Different types of assets require different technologies and should be compatible with them. Be sure to correct vulnerabilities and incorrect settings as appropriate. Additionally, send all incorrect configuration information to your team to enrich event data.
Critical Stages
- Prioritize: Understand vulnerabilities in the context of Process Integrity Risks. Afterward, use that data to prioritize team efforts. With a risk-based approach, your security team can focus on the most important assets. This way, you can address your organization’s true business risk instead of wasting valuable time.
- Remedy: Fixing priority vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and other weaknesses require more than installing patches. Therefore, remediation activities require your IT staff to have clear expectations and instructions. A closed-loop vulnerability management process ensures that you achieve event correction as expected. Correction scans validate whether your vulnerability correction actions on objectives are successful.
- Measurement: Calculate, communicate and compare key metrics. Track your cyber exposure score (CES). Add importance to evaluations and time to remediation, and compare those metrics. Communicate these results with your team and stakeholders to build confidence in your program.
SecurityCenter CV offers a stable management platform
As we have mentioned, vulnerability management tools are vital for process integrity risks. SecurityCenter products offer the only integrated management platform for vulnerabilities, threats and compliance. In addition, SecurityCenter CV (Continuous View) offers a continuous monitoring platform, standard in the market. This not only eliminates risks, it also reduces the research gap and identifies failures in security processes.
If you are interested to know more about SecrityCenter CV, contact us. The experts at GB Advisors will provide you with all the information you require about this or other excellent cybersecurity tools on the market. Our team is here to advise you and provide you with a more efficient IT environment.
