What is Vulnerability Assessment?

What is Vulnerability Assessment?

A vulnerability assessment evaluates security risks in applications, operating systems, and network devices to reduce the probability of threats. The ultimate goal of a vulnerability assessment methodology is to make information systems more secure by identifying security vulnerabilities and reporting them to those responsible for managing them. 

Why do Vulnerability Assessments?

• A vulnerability assessment framework is an essential first vulnerability assessment step among the major security programs and can be used to identify potential risks early on. 
• It can also help you close any gaps in your security program and protect sensitive systems and information from malicious attacks. 
• The vulnerability assessment helps you meet cybersecurity compliance and regulatory needs for areas like ISO, PCI DSS, HIPAA etc. 
• It can help you protect against data breaches and other unauthorised access by helping you identify vulnerabilities in your network, software, and hardware that hackers or cybercriminals could exploit.

Five types of vulnerability assessments

1. Network Assessment

Network assessments can be used to describe a variety of things within the network device context. It is an offensive assessment to identify security vulnerabilities in the network. Testing will expose real-world opportunities for intruders to be able to compromise systems and networks in such a way that allows for unauthorized access to sensitive data or even take over systems for malicious purposes. 

2. Mobile Application Assessment

Mobile Application Assessment is the process of reviewing mobile applications to determine if they are safe from possible threats. This allows you to identify your apps’ potential vulnerabilities and risk exposure, such as session management, password storage, or Man-in-the-middle attacks.

3. Web Application Assessment

Web Application Assessment is used to identify security flaws using front-end automated scans. It also performs dynamic and static analyses of code. This is essential for cloud-based and online applications. Network Vulnerability Scans web servers and their operating systems. Web Application Scanners examine the application’s executing code.

4. API Assessment

API Vulnerability Assessment lets users view vulnerabilities in assets (Endpoint and Workload), increase security visibility, prioritize proactive security patching of critical systems, and more. This API summarizes vulnerabilities that can be filtered by the organization, device, or vulnerability CVE ID. Users can use the API to view a prioritized list of vulnerabilities based on severity, exploitability, and current activity.

5. IoT Assessment

Today, the internet enables users to connect to, communicate with, and remotely manage multiple devices via the internet. Hackers have many opportunities to intercept and manipulate data due to the increase in interconnected devices. We give you details about current implementations and the various exploitative options that attackers can use to abuse IoT ecosystems. Our knowledge can help you identify and fix critical security issues in IoT environments.

Frequency of Vulnerability Assessments

After major infrastructure, system, or application changes, vulnerability scans should be performed. You may also need to scan for vulnerabilities monthly, quarterly, and annually to comply with different regulations.

According to the industry, it is a good practice to scan for vulnerabilities at least once a quarter. Although quarterly vulnerability scans are the best way to identify any security gaps that need to be addressed, it is possible to perform scans every other month or weekly, depending on your organization’s needs. It is important to understand your security system and the threats you face to determine how often vulnerability scanning frequency should be done.

Benefits of Vulnerability Assessments

• Security weaknesses can be detected before attackers exploit them.
• A complete inventory of all devices in your network with their intended purpose.
• A list of vulnerabilities for each device.
• Prepare for future upgrades.
• For future assessments, established security records.
• A defined risk assessment for your entire network.
• Plan for the risks and benefits of optimizing security investments.

Vulnerability Assessments Methodologies to follow

We follow standard security frameworks for an accurate vulnerability assessment framework, such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, NIST SP 800-30, and others. These checklists help us analyze important business areas for vulnerabilities that may put sensitive information or systems at risk.

1. Black box network vulnerability testing: This is a method where your security team attempts infiltration from the outside to penetrate your cyber defenses just like a hacker would. With this goal in mind, the team attempts to exploit public IP addresses, firewalls, and other locations in your demilitarized area (DMZ).

2. White box vulnerability testing: This is the other side of the coin. Our team will be given all authorized users’ rights to perform a comprehensive analysis of the entire network, including files, servers, and databases. We will scan the entire environment for potential vulnerabilities and then use tools to evaluate the security of stored information and machine configuration. Grey box vulnerability assessments. It combines some of the white- and black-box methods. This is when security team specialists receive information about a network, such as a user login details, but not the whole environment.

Expertise Required to do Vulnerability Assessments

Every assessment is different and requires a unique set of skills and knowledge. That’s why our team of security professionals at SharkStriker specializes in several areas, including application security, network security, system administration, reverse engineering, penetration testing, and forensics. Together we possess all the expertise required to conduct a comprehensive vulnerability assessment that will keep your IT infrastructure secure.

SharkStriker Vulnerability Assessment Offerings

We will provide a vulnerability assessment checklist based on your organization’s needs and requirements. This will cover different types of vulnerabilities as well as provide information to help you understand how to address these issues. 

Our tools are deployed across cyber security teams, technology vendors, managed service providers (MSPs), cloud service providers (CSPs), and global enterprises to protect thousands of data centers and servers.

Make sure you’re utilizing our expertise to protect your data from being misused and threatening your business’s survival. Our team of professionals will ensure you’re not having any red flags in your data security. Feel free to get in touch with us.