This is the 3rd part of a blog post series.
Part 2 of this blog post series discussed how organizations can close security gaps by focusing on vulnerabilities that have real-world impact, identifying often-overlooked gaps in their security strategies.
For enterprises in highly regulated sectors with rigid standard requirements, vulnerability management with continuous scanning, identification, and remediation is not just an option.
In addition to meeting regulatory and compliance audits, many organizations are now requiring Software Bill of Material (SBOM) for all software it is utilizing, which extends to cloud and cloud services, and how the organization is managing vulnerabilities, dependencies, and software and security bugs in open source software and third party code libraries in use within the organization and in software applications provided to business partners and customers.
Reporting to regulators the vulnerabilities within a given organization is becoming more commonplace, placing more demand on timely and thorough remediation.
New regulations and standards are significantly impacting vulnerability management, especially in highly regulated industries like healthcare and defense. These regulations, including HIPAA, NIST, DFARS, and CMMC, are placing increased emphasis on proactive vulnerability identification, risk-based prioritization, and timely remediation.
Organizations are now required to implement more robust vulnerability management processes, conduct regular assessments, and demonstrate compliance through detailed documentation.
This regulatory landscape is driving the adoption of advanced technologies like AI and machine learning for more accurate threat detection and automated vulnerability management.
The focus has shifted from simply identifying vulnerabilities to prioritizing them based on their potential real-world impact and aligning with specific industry compliance requirements. As a result, vulnerability management has become a critical component of overall cybersecurity strategy, directly tied to regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, and maintaining business continuity in these sectors.
New regulations and standards significantly influence vulnerability management, especially in highly regulated industries. Frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) mandate continuous risk monitoring and proactive security measures.
These requirements compel organizations to adopt more rigorous vulnerability management practices to ensure compliance and protect sensitive data.
In response, vulnerability management tools are evolving to offer tailored capabilities that align with sector-specific guidance. For instance, the healthcare and finance sectors require stricter compliance measures, prompting the development of solutions that address their unique security needs.
Additionally, the automation of compliance reporting is becoming more prevalent. Modern vulnerability management platforms now include pre-configured templates designed for audit readiness, streamlining the reporting process and reducing the administrative burden on organizations.
Evolving regulations are transforming vulnerability management by increasing accountability and actively involving stakeholders in security processes.
Organizations must now meet higher standards for data protection, shifting from periodic assessments to continuous monitoring of controls.
Compliance requires the ability to monitor and demonstrate adherence at any time, supported by documented justifications for gaps, approved security exceptions, and evidence of regular security assessments and remediation efforts.
Stakeholders, including senior management, are becoming integral to processes such as risk assessments and incident management. This makes it critical to simplify workflows and provide real-time access to vulnerability and risk data.
Compliance is no longer just a legal requirement but a key factor in maintaining customer trust and avoiding substantial penalties.
Regulation and standards are gradually increasing the bar and effectively demand the following:
The KPIs to measure success will differ among organizations; each needs to define its metrics and targets based on its unique risk exposure, security maturity, and business priorities.
This is equally true within specific organizational business units. For example, there may be a need to limit critical (i.e., exploitable) vulnerabilities against specific SLAs, which may differ depending upon the functionality and importance of a given asset.
The importance of metrics should not only measure vulnerability detection but also drive remediation efforts and risk reduction. Key metrics we recommend include:
Several key metrics should be considered when evaluating the effectiveness of an exposure management program. By regularly monitoring these metrics, organizations can gain valuable insights into their programs' performance and identify areas for improvement.
Mean Time to Remediation (MTTR) measures the average duration taken to resolve identified vulnerabilities, indicating the efficiency of the remediation process.
Exploitability Rates assess the percentage of vulnerabilities with active exploits in the wild, helping prioritize remediation efforts based on real-world threat landscapes.
Coverage Metrics evaluate the proportion of assets that have been scanned and remediated, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessments across the organization's infrastructure.
Attack Surface Reduction involves tracking changes in publicly exposed services to monitor and minimize potential entry points for attackers.
Compliance scores measure alignment with regulatory and internal standards, ensuring that the organization's security posture meets required compliance benchmarks.
Organizations should monitor the following metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of their exposure management programs:
When evaluating metrics, organizations should consider the following:
Understanding the attack surface is fundamental and non-negotiable, but the most important and impactful aspect of this visibility is what you then do with it.
The ability to act on attack surface visibility comes through enriching telemetry with better context to support prioritization and provide guidance/clarity to teams looking to make meaningful progress in reducing operational risk.
One of the most interesting emerging trends in this regard is the intersection of exposure management platforms and continuous validation and security controls assessment.
As organizations look to their security platform providers to provide more context and better insights, layering in continuous and automated exposure validation capabilities and enabling teams to proactively test and validate the findings they’re receiving from their toolsets will have a massive impact on program efficiency and overall risk reduction.
In the coming decade, several emerging threats and technologies are poised to impact exposure management significantly.
AI-driven attacks are expected to become more prevalent, with adversaries leveraging artificial intelligence to identify and exploit vulnerabilities more rapidly. Despite these challenges, AI also offers potent tools for cyber defenders.
By automating vulnerability identification, enrichment, and remediation, AI can address the scaling issues inherent in traditional vulnerability management programs.
The advancement of Quantum Computing presents potential risks, as it may render current cryptographic methods obsolete, necessitating the development of new security protocols.
Additionally, the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) Devices expands the attack surface, introducing numerous entry points for potential exploitation.
Looking ahead, emerging threats and technologies are set to reshape exposure management in the coming decade:
With the rise in geopolitical tensions and cyber warfare associated with global conflicts, I believe we will be experiencing far more sophisticated attacks that have the following characteristics:
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