The Future Roadmap to Vulnerability Management Intelligence

 

As we venture into 2024, cybersecurity organizations face a familiar pressure to develop and mature their capabilities in response to global pressures, threats and regulations. Vulnerability management will no doubt continue to take center stage as a critical component in the safeguarding toolkit for organizations keen to protect themselves from an evolving threat landscape. In this blog, we will delve into four key predictions that shed light on the changing dynamics of vulnerability teams.

Increased Investment in Vulnerability Teams

In 2024, we anticipate a surge in investment in vulnerability teams as organizations grapple with a rapid increase in connected assets, a growing number of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), and longer time-to-resolution (MTTR). Traditionally, the security department has seen an internal imbalance in investment, with vulnerability teams often underserved while Security Operations Center (SOC)SOC teams are inundated with an average of 76 security tools per company. Recent trends indicate a growing interest in cybersecurity tools for vulnerability prioritization and remediation, and this trend is expected to gain further momentum. Data from Armis’ State of Cyberwarfare and trends report 2022-2023 revealed that over 70% of IT and security professionals anticipate their organizations investing in vulnerability management either immediately or within the next six months.

The traditional vulnerability management workflow, largely unchanged for the past 15 years, is no longer adequate. Vulnerability teams have heavily relied on basic scanning tools. The introduction of vulnerability prioritization and remediation promises to address the current landscape more effectively by enabling organizations to allocate resources efficiently, ultimately bolstering their security posture.

A Shift Toward Understanding Exploitability

A fundamental transformation in vulnerability management is the recognition of the need for a more comprehensive understanding of risk. Instead of haphazardly chasing and remediating CVEs without context, organizations now appreciate the importance of factoring asset characteristics and exploitability into decision-making. Questions such as “Is an asset supporting critical business applications?” and “Is the CVE actively weaponized?” are now central to the decision-making process and can only be answered by comprehending the context of each asset.

Previously, CVSS scores were the sole criterion for prioritization, but this limited approach failed to differentiate between the importance and urgency of vulnerabilities.

The Race for Unified Data Intelligence

As artificial intelligence gears up, companies are still racing to build the foundations needed to derive intelligence from data. Over the next 12 months, companies will look to unify their source of information in order to gain a foundation to automated orchestration and streamlined workflows, truly bring insights and drive business decision making.

Despite extensive discussions by Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) about data-driven decisions and intelligence, achieving this remains a challenge due to fragmented data and segmented views of the environment. With an influx of alerts, increasing threats, and a growing attack surface, data may be abundant, but intelligence remains elusive.

Bridging the IT and OT Divide in Critical Infrastructure

It is likely that over the next 12 months, there will be a concerted effort to integrate technology solutions that bridge the gap between IT and OT in critical infrastructure, ensuring the security of legacy OT technology intertwined with our most critical societal systems. Critical infrastructure sectors, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and utilities, have historically lacked adequate cybersecurity tools. Their complex environments, encompassing both operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT), present unique challenges, and vulnerabilities are a common occurrence. Bridging the divide between these two domains is essential.

Summary

As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, these predictions for vulnerability management and remediation in 2024 and beyond underscore the need for proactive adaptation. Organizations that embrace and invest in vulnerability prioritization and remediation, leveraging an asset-centric approach based on a foundational understanding of data, will be better equipped to navigate the ever-changing threat landscape. In this dynamic environment, staying ahead requires not only technological innovation but also a strategic shift in mindset toward a more intelligent approach to cybersecurity, specifically in the realm of vulnerability management.

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