Vulnerability assessment life cycle
When defending a network, the inevitable questions come to mind: “What is on the network that is vulnerable?” and “How do I defend it?” If a system for evaluating the network and its systems is not in place, as a defender you are blind to where you are at and where you need to be. Fortunately, putting a security program in place to evaluate the situation and strengthen the overall security posture is not difficult; it just takes some time and planning. It starts with adopting an assessment life cycle, choosing your tools, and executing the process. Let’s look at what the vulnerability assessment life cycle looks like:
- Creating a baseline: The baseline is just the establishment of what the organization has in place. This could be considered a pre-assessment phase as it encompasses the collection of assets and resources to be evaluated. This collection can include hardware, software, operating systems, subnets...