Even as the global threat landscape gets more complex with the mass adoption of cloud technologies and, now, GenAI, one thing remains constant: the importance of quick vulnerability patching to prevent data breaches. There continues to be a glaring disconnect between the pace at which organizations deploy patches and the agility of cyber adversaries, with the latter moving astoundingly fast to exploit new vulnerabilities.
The recently released Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) 2024, in which researchers analyze 10,626 confirmed data breaches (among 30,000+ incidents), points to a substantial increase in vulnerability exploitation as the initial access vector in cyber incidents last year. Fourteen percent of all breaches, according to the report, started with vulnerability exploitation – up 180 percent compared to the previous year. One of the major contributors to the spike was the MOVEiT file transfer vulnerability which the DBIR authors recognized in 1,567 of the breach notifications they examined. Overall, threat actors became more adept at exploiting zero-days to carry out successful attacks. Slow and inadequate patch management practices, too, played a role. While organizations were taking an average of 55 days to patch just half of the critical vulnerabilities in their environments, threat actors were exploiting these vulnerabilities within five days of their publication, pointing to a dire need for stronger vulnerability management and proactive security.
Vulnerability and Patch Management: Cybersecurity 101
A risk-based, carefully thought-through vulnerability and patch management program is one of the most straightforward strategies to reduce the risk of a security breach. Here’s why:
Reducing your attack surface: Vulnerabilities are akin to open doors in your digital fortresses, inviting malicious actors to infiltrate your systems. By promptly identifying and remedying these weaknesses, you can significantly reduce your attack surface and make it much harder for adversaries to gain a foothold within your networks.
Compliance and regulatory requirements: In an increasingly regulated landscape, maintaining data privacy standards is critical. A robust vulnerability and patch management program not only helps organizations meet compliance obligations but also instills confidence among stakeholders regarding data protection practices.
Risk-based vulnerability management: Given that you can’t patch ALL the vulnerabilities in your extended computing environments at the same pace, you need to take risk-based approach to vulnerability management. Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all strategy, organizations must prioritize vulnerabilities based on their potential impact and exploitability. By focusing resources on mitigating high-risk vulnerabilities that pose the greatest threat to your organization, you can allocate your (often limited) defenses effectively, maximizing cyber resilience while optimizing resource utilization.
Patch Management Steps
Preparation: Create an IT asset inventory; scan systems for vulnerabilities; and conduct vulnerability assessments to prioritize patches based on risk levels. Collaborate with stakeholders to establish a patch schedule that minimizes disruption while maximizing protection. Verify patch authenticity and conduct thorough testing to ensure seamless deployment.
Deployment: Swiftly distribute and install patches across affected assets, leveraging automated tools where necessary. Address any post-deployment issues promptly to maintain operational continuity and minimize disruption.
Verification and Monitoring: Validate patch deployment through rigorous scanning and monitoring processes. Continuously monitor systems for drift and unintended modifications that may compromise patch effectiveness. By maintaining vigilant oversight, you can stay ahead of emerging threats.
Conclusion
Risk-based vulnerability management and quick patching of critical vulnerabilities are among the most effective ways to prevent data breaches. All cybersecurity best practice frameworks dedicate large sections to effective vulnerability management, which has constituted cybersecurity 101 since the inception of the industry. Yet, going by Verizon’s 2024 DBIR, most organizations are still too slow to patch critical vulnerabilities, giving threat actors a comfortable window to exploit security gaps. By adopting a proactive approach to cyber risk management, prioritizing vulnerabilities by impact and exploitation likelihood, and deploying critical patches at speed, IT and security teams can keep their networks and data safe from threats. To do this effectively, most organizations use vulnerability scanning and assessment tools for automating and speeding up the process.
How CYRISMA can help
CYRISMA combines multiple cyber risk scanning, assessment and mitigations tools in a single SaaS platform.
Vulnerability and Patch Management
- Discover all connected endpoints on your network
- Perform internal, external, agentless and agent-based vulnerability scans
- Use the root-cause analysis feature to dive deep into the vulnerabilities you find, identify affected targets, and see current status.
- Patch Windows-based third-party apps from within the CYRISMA platform
- Use the risk mitigation engine to assign tasks to team members and track remediation progress
- Generate assessment reports to share with stakeholders
CYRISMA’s wider feature-set
In addition to Vulnerability Scanning, CYRISMA includes features for Sensitive Data Discovery and Data Protection, OS Configuration Scanning, Cyber Risk Quantification in multiple currencies, Dark Web Monitoring, Security Scorecards, Active Directory Monitoring, Microsoft Copilot Readiness Assessment, Compliance Tracking and much more!
Request a demo to see the complete feature-set in action.