Shifting from operational to risk-based response to vulnerabilities and exposures

Exploited vulnerabilities and zero-day exploits continue to increase in frequency and are expected to accelerate further. This paper evaluates the increase in exploited vulnerabilities and outlines the five most common challenges organisations encounter when remediating vulnerabilities quickly. By understanding the challenges organisations face, the paper identifies solutions and discusses improvements to help increase responsiveness and reduce exposure time. Some of the challenges are organisational and political. Others are more process and technical oriented. The proposed solutions include a combination of people, process and technology to improve organisations’ ability to respond to exploited or high-risk vulnerabilities in faster and more targeted ways, as opposed to trying to resolve all vulnerabilities. The paper proposes effective solutions organisations can use to improve their vulnerability remediation process and their ability to respond to exposures quickly, effectively and with measurable progress.