This is the first in a three-part blog series by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) discussing how vulnerability management can be expanded and simplified by using a cybersecurity asset management solution. Part one of the series focuses on defining the cybersecurity asset management solutions category and includes a summary definition of vulnerability management.
Security and compliance vendors are always looking to solve problems — sometimes, problems an organization didn’t even know it had. Occasionally, there are problems complicated enough that even when an organization discovers the problem, there isn’t a reasonable solution for it. One of these types of problems is asset management. How can an organization gain and maintain a true accounting of every technology asset in its infrastructure?
Various manual office productivity tools have existed for some time. For example, glorified spreadsheets have been used to catalog devices and user assets — with marginal success. However, these methods have always been inaccurate, laborious, and prone to human error. Further, these methods don’t allow asset owners and business decision-makers to understand the potential cybersecurity impacts associated with any specific asset, let alone see the interconnections between assets and the downstream risks of a system vulnerability.
The emergence of cybersecurity asset management solutions elevates the process of identifying and tracking technology assets from an additional column on a bookkeeper’s spreadsheet to a core security function. Such solutions allow businesses to discover, catalog, and map technology-related asset data (with a primary focus on devices, cloud instances, and users), correlate it with vulnerability information, and surface problems or potential problems related to cyber risk. Cybersecurity asset management solutions often complement the following use cases:
Using a cybersecurity asset management tool to understand the assets in an enterprise environment is one of the first steps in vulnerability and risk management processes. Vulnerability management, which is the process of finding, assessing, remediating, and mitigating security weaknesses for known assets, gives enterprises the ability to assess the status and risk of unknown devices. Vulnerability assessment, the process of identifying vulnerabilities in assets, is often used interchangeably with vulnerability management. However, assessments are just tools that inform vulnerability management which, in turn, is an input to enterprise risk management.
As a main component of cybersecurity asset management, vulnerability management is essential. Yet, vulnerability management is a struggle for most enterprises for three primary reasons:
Fortunately for the enterprise, tools exist that can help make sense of the myriad vulnerabilities, simplifying vulnerability management and making it more actionable.
The real-time, comprehensive catalog of assets (and associated data) that cybersecurity asset management tools provide allows enterprises to enhance their vulnerability management approach in multiple ways.
Interested in learning how Axonius can help you discover, track, prioritize, remediate, and report on all vulnerabilities across all devices in your environment? Start your free 30-day trial now.
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