The IT infrastructure of a business is crucial for every process. While tools like remote infrastructure monitoring services and management solutions are essential for getting the maximum benefits from the infrastructure, it is also necessary to protect it. Therefore, businesses need to consider vulnerability assessment.

Why is Vulnerability Assessment Necessary to Protect IT Infrastructure?

Almost every business invests in the services of the best cyber security services companies to protect all products and infrastructure. However, vulnerabilities can remain. Therefore, a separate vulnerability assessment is necessary. Such an assessment will determine the security services’ condition and help businesses understand if any modifications are required.

A vulnerability assessment will reveal issues within the underlying hardware, infrastructure, and related mission-critical processes. Therefore, it is crucial for the hassle-free functioning of the business. A successful vulnerability assessment will provide maximum benefits and enable the company to implement impactful security services that will make a difference.

Vulnerability Assessment for Maximum Business Impact

The IT infrastructure is critical to every business, and therefore, it must be protected. Companies often invest in IT infrastructure managed services and other solutions for monitoring and management purposes but overlook the need for added security. This is where vulnerability assessment comes in. Operations teams can implement it in just ten steps.

Step 1: Assuming an Active Role in Determining Security Concerns

Before starting the vulnerability assessment, it is essential to check the condition of the existing security measures. This inspection will reveal the security concerns involved. To ensure that this preparatory phase is free of error, businesses can invest in screening all existing and potential vendors. A company can also hire security consultants to get a fair idea of what needs to be improved to make the business grow more.

Step 2: Understanding All Business Processes

Vulnerability assessment of business processes is essential to protect the infrastructure. Now, not all operations will be as critical to the business as some. This step, therefore, needs to focus on determining which are the sensitive and crucial processes. These will usually be related to compliance, competitive position, and customer privacy. Every process involved in the business needs to be thoroughly analyzed and documented so that it becomes easy to understand, which is prone to vulnerabilities or anomalies.

Step 3: Identifying Critical Applications and Data

Mission-critical processes often depend upon several applications and relevant data. So, one needs to identify those applications and how they impact the business. This step is a collaborative approach between IT and other departments within the company. The main reason for that is the fact that applications and data sources are available and instrumental in various aspects of the business.

Step 4: Seeking Data Sources That Are Hidden

Sensitive data can be available everywhere, and they do not need to be on specific storage devices. Therefore, one needs to consider relevant data that is available on personal computers, mobile phones, and other such devices. While these data sources are not exactly hidden, one may overlook them at the time of vulnerability assessment. However, they might contain sensitive data and therefore need to be inspected.

Step 5: Understanding the Hardware

Security is crucial in mission-critical applications. Therefore, the hardware needs to be understood. There may be numerous servers, databases, application middleware, and storage devices. These can all contain sensitive data that needs to be protected.

Step 6: Mapping the Connection Between Hardware and Network Infrastructure

A secure performance does not only depend on the network or software applications. It also depends on the hardware, like the routers and other network devices. Therefore, it is essential to check if particular subnets contain sensitive assets and how data is stored or transferred.

Step 7: Identifying Existing Security Measures

Every business will have specific security measures in place. While preparing for a vulnerability assessment, it is necessary to check these measures. There will be specific technical controls like firewalls, virtual private networks, intrusion detection, data loss prevention, prevention systems, and encryption. These security solutions are usually on particular services of storage systems. Before vulnerability assessment, one needs to understand the function of the controls and what vulnerabilities they help to prevent. Therefore, if the assessment shows one of those vulnerabilities, then it will be evident which control needs to be modified.

Step 8: Scanning for Vulnerability

Vulnerability scans can begin once the underlying hardware, network infrastructure, data flows, and existing protections have been inspected and understood. The scans need to happen across platforms, and every aspect needs to be checked. While the results of the scans will cover every minor and major vulnerability, there should be enough objectivity. This is essential because it will help determine which vulnerabilities are critical to the business.

Step 9: Analyzing Scanner Results in Terms of Business and Technology

The scanner results need to be thoroughly checked and even categorized to an extent. The results may show the hosts and some other vulnerabilities and severity ratings. But it is crucial to understand which of these have the maximum impact on the business and related technologies. Vulnerability data is usually complex, and therefore, it is difficult to analyze. However, once segregated, analysts can obtain actionable metrics that reveal what business risks are present and how to eliminate them.

Step 10: Penetration Testing

This is the final step after vulnerability assessment. Once the assessment is successful, it will provide essential insights that will help to improve the security measures. However, this is when it is vital to introduce a new system that will constantly check or test for anomalies and vulnerabilities that may arise after the assessment. This is known as penetration testing. Penetration testing will determine if the firewalls and other security measures are adequate. Penetration testing can also reveal the access points that malicious third-party entities can exploit.

Conclusion

Vulnerabilities will not cease to exist once the assessment is complete and new security measures are in place. Threats to cyber security will continue, and therefore, multiple assessments, at regular intervals, are necessary. It is essential to add context to get the most out of vulnerability assessments and their metrics. Once this is done, then operations teams can resolve the issues related to critical business processes and services.