While we live in the new modern world of cloud computing and global connections, the threat exists. Your system or networks may be exposed to various vulnerabilities. These can result in data loss and scammers and hackers weakening your security.
According to Anne Neuberger, US Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber, the yearly average cost of cybercrime is expected to exceed $23 trillion by 2027, up from $8.4 trillion in 2022.
This shows that proactive measures and vulnerability assessment services are necessary to be performed periodically, to improve your business’s security.
Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing play vital roles in cybersecurity measures. However, we cannot dive deep into both for now.
In this article, we will talk about vulnerability assessments in detail along with their types and how they fit your business needs.
What is a Vulnerability Assessment?
There is a universal rule: to overcome security challenges, you must analyze vulnerabilities. This analysis can help you fix the errors before they cause any damage.
As for the sake of defining vulnerability, it is a weakness in a system. It can be in security procedures, internal controls, or the implementation of security protection – it is possible to be subjected to a threat or damage.
Vulnerability assessment is the process of defining, identifying, and classifying such vulnerabilities specific to certain systems and infrastructures.
Key Features of a Vulnerability Assessment:
- Scanning
- Identifying Weaknesses
- No Exploitation
- Remediation Recommendations
Importance of Vulnerability Assessments
Organizations must detect these vulnerabilities before cybercriminals discover and use them in an attack.
As the threat landscape expands and gets more sophisticated, it is not uncommon for businesses to uncover hundreds, if not thousands, of vulnerabilities within their environment each year, any of which could lead to a breach or assault.
However, performing these scans manually would take an inordinate amount of time, making it practically difficult for teams to find and patch all vulnerabilities as they arise.
Different Types of Vulnerability Assessment
Knowing that your system can have vulnerabilities is one thing, but where can you find these loopholes? If you don’t know, you will not be able to address the weaknesses properly.
So, to ensure full security, there are various vulnerability assessment types, and we are here to walk you through the major ones.
Before you get vulnerability assessment services, make sure you know these types for a better approach toward security.
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Network-Based Vulnerability Assessment
A network-based vulnerability assessment finds weaknesses in network devices like routers, switches, firewalls, and other network infrastructure components. Its main purpose is to detect network weaknesses that attackers could use to gain unauthorized access, delete or modify data, or steal it. It can also attack your business in other ways.
This type of assessment is mostly about the special software tools and procedures for scanning the network for vulnerabilities. These programs can find vulnerabilities using a variety of approaches, including port scanning, vulnerability scanning, password cracking, and network mapping.
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Host-Based Assessment
This scan identifies and exploits vulnerabilities in servers, workstations, and other network hosts. It mainly looks at open ports and services and can provide information about the configuration settings and patch management of scanned computers. It helps you secure your host further and allows you to secure your systems from scratch.
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Wireless Assessment
Wireless assessments examine a variety of environmental, architectural, and configuration variables that directly impact the security and functionality of your existing wireless infrastructure. This includes inspecting all of your wireless access points and how they are distributed throughout your space.
Improving the systems and procedures would also entail examining the physical installations, such as the mounting and positioning of the access points. If you hire a professional, they can help you analyze the strength of wireless encryption schemes. It identifies known and unknown vulnerabilities, and you can set a proper change plan.
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Application-Based Vulnerability Assessment
The process of evaluating vulnerabilities in software applications such as websites, mobile apps, and APIs is known as application vulnerability assessment. It evaluates if the apps are vulnerable to known vulnerabilities and assigns severity/criticality levels to such vulnerabilities, advising remedy or mitigation as needed.
These evaluations usually include testing the application for common vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). Both automated and manual methods can be used to analyze applications’ susceptibility.
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Database Assessments
Database Security Assessment is a procedure for identifying vulnerabilities or errors in database systems such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL, MySQL, and Postgres. The first risk assessment factor is determining a database’s sensitivity to a set of known vulnerabilities and attack scenarios.
This vulnerability may result from a privilege management problem, such as public access to a confidential table, or a configuration error, such as the failure to set a database password policy, the wrong setup of compliance auditing trails, or any combination.
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Social Engineering Vulnerability Assessment
A social engineering vulnerability assessment (SEVA) evaluates your organization’s susceptibility to social engineering attacks, such as phishing attacks and other social engineering approaches.
This sort of vulnerability assessment often involves conducting simulated attacks such as phishing emails, pretexting calls, baiting, or physical security breaches to see how employees react, along with surveys, interviews, and tests to assess the level of awareness among the staff.
How Can I Tell if My Organization Requires a Vulnerability Assessment?
It is not a matter of how but of why. So, why do you still lack vulnerability assessment plans?
Start by performing vulnerability assessment best practices to ensure that security actions initiated in the Software Development Life Cycle are effective.
For example, an organization with the professional services of developers who are always working on securing the codes and system architectures is less likely to face an abundance of vulnerabilities.
However, if your organization lacks any technical expertise, you must hire professional services.
Bottom Line
Whether your firm creates apps or uses third-party applications to run a business, annual vulnerability testing is significant. A rock-solid security approach is crucial to keeping your systems safe.
So, reach out to Evad for quick action on the plan for vulnerability assessment services to secure your business from all threats.