Came across the name OWASP many a time but do not know what is OWASP? Every 3-4 years, OWASP Top 10 Security Vulnerabilities release help businesses/web applications that are commonly exploited by hackers and offer recommendations for tackling these attacks.
As a security professional or a business owner, you would want to look into this list as it acts as an awareness document to better understand your current security approach and posture to become better equipped to determine and mitigate these security threats.
The latest edition of Top 10 Security Vulnerabilities by OWASP was released in 2017. Therefore, one can expect the new edition to be released sometime next year in 2021.
But what does the 2021 version hold? What security threats one can expect in the future for their web applications? Let’s discuss the top 10 security vulnerabilities of 2021.
What is OWASP? what does owasp stand for
(OWASP) The Open Web Application Security Project it’s a nonprofit organization that is in pursuit of a noble deed to protect web-related applications from cyber attacks. They have strong community support to facilitate such a tedious task. Through conferences, online newsletters, journals, etc. they are also educating people on how to keep people their business secure.
#1 Broken Authentication
Under OWASP’s Broken Authentication category, it focuses on default or weak passwords. This has always been a major problem for all types of web applications. It is believed that weak passwords are still going to be a significant security vulnerability in 2021.
Hackers have got their hands on advanced GPU technologies, which allows them to easily break weak passwords, even if the passwords use strong ciphers. They use brute-force attacks nowadays to break passwords.
It is also found that administrators aren’t really vigilant about teaching users password best practices. Many enterprises are following the worst policies and systems for password selection. They only focus on uppercase and lowercase, special characters, and numbers, and not on password length itself.
On the other hand, users are often forced to change their passwords frequently by the administrators, which causes them to use insecure passwords. All they do in the name of changing passwords is adding a predictable number or character at the end of the previous password.
So, it is extremely important to follow good password habits in order to secure web applications in an organization.
#2 Injection
Injection flaws are another great security vulnerability that might continue in 2021. They can lead to disastrous and undesirable results. Injection flaws may include file system injections, LDAP injections, SQL injections, and many more. Some of these flaws are so severe that they can even lead to remote code execution.
Injection flaws happen when web applications take in users-supplied data in the form of a search or field query and pass it onto the server or backend database without a thorough input validation check.
Thus, it becomes easy for the hackers to craft a string in an attempt to exploit the web application. The sad part is that without sufficient input sanitization, the query is executed on the server.
Organizations need to use tried and tested remediation techniques like using a combination of output escaping, stored procedures, parameterized queries, and whitelists for server-side input validation.
Another measure they can take is to use database controls like LIMIT for preventing mass disclosure in the event of a well-executed injection attack.
#3 XML External Entities (XXE)
XML External Entities is a type of attack that takes advantage of the XML parsers in a web application that might execute and process some payload like an external reference in the XML document.
It was a new type of attack that web applications experienced and surfaced 6-7 years back. According to OWASP, XXE replaced CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery), which was present in the 2010 and 2013 editions of the report.
Over the years, it has been observed that XXE vulnerability in XML processing is steadily increasing its traction. As a result, it has become more severe for web applications.
In case if a hacker modifies or adds these external entities in an XML file, pointing them to a malicious source, it can lead to an SSRF attack or a denial of service (DoS) attack. The worst part is that these flaws can scan internal systems, extract data, and run port scans, among other malicious activities.
#4 Sensitive Data Exposure
Sensitive Data Exposure is still going to be a big web application vulnerability in 2021. Sensitive data, such as user credentials, health records, and financial information, among other things, have never been safe. They are the primary target of hackers.
Thus, they should be kept hidden in visible as plaintext or should be encrypted. If not, attackers could easily gain access to confidential information by deploying man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks for stealing the data in transit.
In the last couple of years, exposure to sensitive data/information has become increasingly common. As a result, there has been a significant rise in data breaches. In the majority of cases, the information in these exposed databases was not encrypted.
This is a big worry for organizations because finding exposed databases is not a big deal for professional web application vulnerability scanners. According to security experts, one way to tackle this issue in the future is to enforce encryption and use standard algorithms and proper key management.
#5 Security Misconfiguration
This type of security vulnerability applies to all security risk factors that are not triggered by a programming error but a configuration error. Under Security Misconfiguration, there lies a wide range of potential security issues, such as outdated software and lack of operating system hardening. The worst part is that these issues extend to the webserver.
While security misconfigurations can be easily spotted using a web application vulnerability scanner, dealing with it can be a lot tougher. Using default configurations, neglecting to upgrade or patch systems, overlooking verbose error messages leaking confidential data, and misconfiguring security headers can all increase the risk of this vulnerability.
According to experts, security misconfiguration can also be a part of network security. So, it can pose a major threat to web applications in 2021 if overlooked. Thus, it is important that organizations update configurations, review all permissions, and install patches.
Also Read: How Much Does Penetration testing cost?
#6 Broken Access Control
Under OWASP’s Broken Access Control category, it covers situations leading to issues like insecure direct object references and forced browsing. The sad news is this type of vulnerability cannot be identified by any kind of automated tool. Therefore, this could be one of the biggest security vulnerabilities of 2021.
An automated tool can detect the lack of proper authorization; however, one cannot guess whether certain unauthorized functionality is made available to the user or whether the account of a specific user should have access to certain resources. This is because the vulnerabilities can only be judged by a human.
These vulnerabilities can go unnoticed until manual penetration tests are performed. Thus, organizations need to re-use and implement access control checks throughout their web applications.
#7 Insecure Deserialization
Insecure Deserialization was only added to OWASP Top Security Vulnerabilities in the 2017 edition. So, this is relatively a new type of security threat that organizations are still getting accustomed to.
Insecure deserialization occurs in specific cases and refers to the conversion of serialized information back into objects usable by the web application. It is a type of attack on web applications where the data objects are tampered with, causing serious consequences like a remote code execution or a denial of service (DoS).
The best way to prevent this issue is to stop accepting serialized objects from malicious or untrusted sources.
#8 Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Cross-Site Scripting or XSS is one of the most common vulnerabilities affecting web applications. It works in a way that the hacker injects a script into the page output of a web application. This tricks the web browser into believing that it is part of the page and ultimately runs the script.
The attacker executes this attack by sending an email to the user with a malicious link, making it seem like the email is coming from a trusted source. Once the user clicks to open the link, the script is executed in the user’s web browser. This way, the attacker can easily steal confidential data, including user credentials, session cookies, and even deliver malware.
The best way to counter this issue is by using frameworks like the latest Ruby on Rails that helps in filtering out XSS by design.
#9 Insufficient Logging and Monitoring
Organizations fail to log events that are of interest to them regarding their web applications. This leads to data breaches. Insufficient logging and monitoring is a security vulnerability because it gives hackers plenty of time to wreak havoc on your web applications.
For organizations, it is important that they ensure all suspicious activities like input validation failures, access control failures, failed logins, etc., are addressed and logged to determine malicious accounts.
#10 Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities
This is a type of vulnerability that OWASP defines as putting too much trust in 3rd-party codes. The libraries of that code can be rigged, causing serious issues in your web application.
Thus, organizations need to constantly scrutinize sources like CVE in the components. Also, it is important to monitor patches and version updates for both server and client-side components along with their dependencies.
Final Words
These vulnerabilities have always been there. It is up to the organization how they deal with such issues to protect their web applications. Knowing these flaws ahead can give you an opportunity to prevent any severe disaster.
Month: November 2020
11 Effective Mobile App Testing Strategies
Having a good strategy in testing an app is as important as having a good test plan. Effective mobile app testing strategies will make sure that maximum efficiency is maintained and the cost is kept at bay.
let’s have a look at effective mobile app testing strategies.
What and why we need a mobile app testing strategy?
A strategy is very important to achieve a goal. It lists out the things to do as part of testing to achieve the quality objective with maximum coverage in the available time.
Regarding mobile applications, the time to market is reducing with every passing day.
To beat the competition you need to launch your mobile app with excellent quality asap or at least before your competitor. This is where the importance of a testing strategy comes in.
A testing strategy aims to ensure good quality, high performance, and maximum test coverage in a limited time. Here are a few things that need to be covered as part of a mobile app testing strategy:
- Devices: There is an exhaustive list of mobile devices available in the market. This count is also increasing exponentially. This makes it close to impossible to test your application on all devices. The best option thus would be to design a strategy to select the devices based on the adoption in that particular market or based on the expected user base.
- Emulators/Simulators: Another more viable option would be to go in for emulators and simulators. This way you will be able to get more coverage of the devices with limited cost.
- Types of testing: One of the main objectives of designing the test strategy would be to list out the different types of testings needed for the mobile application. This would be based on the functionality of the mobile app, the markets it is launched in, the expected user base, and many more.
What’s the difference between a mobile app test plan and a test strategy?
Test strategy and plan are often used together and also interchangeably. But they are not the same. There are subtle differences between a mobile testing plan and mobile testing strategy. Let us look at some of these differences below:
| Mobile Test Plan | Mobile Test Strategy |
| A plan would include scope, objective, and the effort required to perform the mobile app testing. |
A strategy is essentially a guiding document that determines how mobile app testing should be done. |
| A mobile app test plan would include the details of the testing process like the requirements tested, entry, and exit criteria, the testing timelines, pre-requisites, etc. | A mobile app strategy document, on the other hand, would include the team organization structure, testing status communication structure, communication strategy, and other such details. |
| A mobile app test plan is prepared at a team level by the team lead for circular within the project and testing teams. | A mobile app strategy document is prepared by the test manager for presentations at the leadership level to understand the plan for testing. |
| A test plan is at a project level and specific to that project alone. It includes requirement mapping and can not be used for other projects. | A test strategy for mobile app testing would be a generic document that can be leveraged for other similar projects as well with some modifications. |
| A mobile test plan can easily be changed with concurrence from the respective stakeholders. | A strategy is a more rigid document that does not change after each iteration or project. It is ideally a directional or guiding document for the testing efforts. |
Know More: Wish to know how to test a mobile app?
What are the different types of effective mobile app testing strategies?
Here we look at the different types of testing strategies that must be part of your mobile app testing strategy document to achieve a good quality product.
Strategy no: 1 Cross-Platform Testing
There are different types of mobile OS available in the market. The main being android and iOS.
It is essential to plan to test the mobile application on all platforms to ensure the application works as expected on all platforms.
Most applications will have a separate code set for android and iOS, hence it is important to test the application cross-platform to find any issues.
Strategy no: 2 Functionality Testing
The main testing has to be related to the functionality of the application that we are developing.
The USP for any application is how well it performs the task it is intended to. So, it is very important to test to complete functionality in and out.
Every flow in the application needs to be tested to ensure there are no broken functionalities or flows.
Strategy no: 3 Type of application
There are mainly 3 types of mobile applications
- Native application – the ones developed specifically for the Android or iOS platform
- Mobile Web application – browser-based applications on the mobile phone and
- Hybrid – a mix of the above two
While planning for testing, good coverage is needed for all three types of applications to ensure stability and performance.
Strategy no: 4 UI and UX testing
The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are the next things that need to be planned well without fail.
The user interface is what the users see and how they interact with your mobile application.
The UI should be designed in a way that it is to understand and navigate through the app for all categories of users.
Similarly, for UX also the navigation between the pages and the time taken to generate the reports of output as per the application should be well within the pre-defined SLA.
With the numerous mobile apps available in the market today, your app may not get a second chance if the consumer or end-user does not like it.
Strategy no: 5 Backend Testing
Backend testing is done to ensure the data is getting stored in the right places and in the right format.
During the testing, we need to ensure that the data entered by the user is saved correctly, against the right profile, and also it should be easily retrievable.
Backend testing also involves checking the different places where the data is saved and reflected in the application and that it is done correctly.
Saving and retrieving the correct user profile would be another major use case for backend testing.
Strategy no: 6 Network compatibility Testing
Mobiel applications behave according to the variances in internet strength
In this case, network compatibility testing needs to be included in your test strategy as well.
This will include testing the application in different network configurations like with data and wifi.
Different signal strength, bandwidth, and then measuring the TPS (transactions per second) to see if is within the planned SLA.
Strategy no: 7 Storage Testing
Storage testing has become an important part of the mobile app testing strategy very recently.
With the growing number of apps being used and limited space available for use.
People tend to avoid apps that need too much space to download or more data to use.
Thus it is important to check and rectify these parameters for better acceptance from the end-users.
Strategy no: 8 Data flow testing
Most mobile applications are not stand-alone and need one or the other input from systems and servers outside the app.
It thus becomes an important part of the strategy to include the testing of the data flow from one system to the other.
Strategy no: 9 Localization Testing
While this may not be needed for all apps, if needed it would be good to have in your strategy.
Localization testing involves testing the application for location-based parameters like language, maps, and any other things related to the locations. These are sometimes legal requirements also for some locations.
Strategy no: 10 Device Testing:
There are a plethora of devices in existence now. To make sure that your app is working fine on all of them you need to check the app’s performance, functionality, and UI on real devices.
It’s a challenging as well as a daunting task. And there are thousands of devices with varied screen size out there. So in this situation depending on emulators has been seen as a common practice.
But it’s true that emulators are not an absolute solution. So the perfect solution here would be to test the app in screen size that’s commonly used and then for other options use emulators.
Mobile App Testing Strategy for Agile Projects
Agile is a relatively new buzzword. It translates to faster time to market, more flexibility in terms of features, frequent deliveries, and better results.
While everyone agrees on the importance of testing and quality, the testing window in Agile is usually very less.
Hence, in addition to what is already discussed in the previous section here are some pointers that need to be considered as part of the mobile app testing strategy.
- Early Testing
To start with, testing has to start as early as possible in the sprint. Even if the code can not be moved to a separate QA or stage environment, plan to test in lower environments to get the initial results that the team can work on.
- Establish an alignment between the dev and testing team
There is a dire need to set up a communication channel that can help team members be aware of the changes happening this includes the changes in development and testing.
Using tools for code check-ins and bug tracking is also helpful in keeping the team informed.
- Infrastructure Readiness
Mobile application testing is dependent on real devices and simulars.
Ensure these are made available in sufficient number with a buffer so we do not end up with damaged and non-functional devices which will eventually eat up the already crunched test window.
The availability of a stable test environment before the sign-off should also be part of the strategy.
- Exploratory Testing
Testers with expertise in mobile application testing would be able to pinpoint the problem areas in a mobile application based on their previous works.
Hence exploratory testing should be added to the strategy to ensure we can get maximum coverage in lesser time. This also helps to prioritize the areas of testing and channelizing the efforts in the right direction.
- Automation Testing
By automating the requirements and features from the first iteration itself will give you time to work on new and more business-critical features.
Thus the mobile app testing strategy should focus on implementing an automation framework that can be scaled-up and utilized over the different iterations and beyond.
Final Thoughts…
The strategy is what drives the team towards working on the common goal of best quality and performance by your mobile application. So, it is very important to have a well-thought-out and detailed mobile app testing strategy document with a futuristic view.
A mobile app testing strategy is like an anchor for a ship. It steers it in the right direction and helps the ship to reach its destination safely and happily.
What is a Vulnerability Assessment? A Detailed guide
The definition of the term vulnerability assessment from a security perspective is to deeply evaluate, define, classify and prioritize vulnerabilities so that They can be corrected. The process is carried out by vulnerability scanners such as Nikto2, Netsparker, OpenVAS, W3AF, etc.
To know in detail, we have incorporated all the necessary details that you need to know about vulnerability assessment, along with its implementation. So you won’t put your company’s IT system at risk.
Let’s get started!
What Is a Vulnerability Assessment?
An organization’s system consists of various components, such as end-points, applications, and network infrastructures.
All of these provide equal opportunities for hackers to enter into the IT system.
The role of vulnerability assessment here is to check all these elements for vulnerabilities that may be present at any level.
Hence, ensuring proper protection of the system against unauthorized accesses.
A few key points that also get covered under vulnerability assessment are:
- Defining the vulnerabilities
- Identifying the vulnerabilities
- Classification of vulnerabilities
- Prioritization of vulnerabilities
- Laying out knowledge about vulnerabilities
- Providing suitable solutions to the available threats and vulnerabilities
In simple terms, it can also be stated that vulnerability assessments are done in every organization to find and prioritize the available vulnerabilities. This way, the system’s loopholes can be fixed, and all the breaches can be avoided.
These vulnerabilities can be divided into two categories:
- Code Bugs: Sometimes, developers leave bugs/flaws in the code. It becomes a vulnerable point because confidential information can get leaked through it.
- Security Gaps: While all enterprises ensure their system’s complete security, they may leave a gap in their internal processes. It can provide space for intruders to enter their environment and get access to whichever information they want.
5 Crucial Steps in Vulnerability Assessment
- Identify the potential hazards
- Determine the risks
- Evaluate the defense system
- Record the findings
- Periodical review
Top 15 Vulnerability assessment tools
- Netsparker
- OpenVAS
- W3AF
- Arachni
- Acunetix
- Nmap
- OpenSCAP
- GoLismero
- Burp Suite
- Comodo HackerProof
- Intruder
- Retina CS Community
- Crashtest Security
- GamaScan
- Nexpose
Why Is Vulnerability Assessment Crucial?
Vulnerability assessment has now become a vital part of every organization.
It is essential because it provides the enterprises with proper knowledge and understanding of security weaknesses in their environment.
Moreover, the process offers awareness of accessing the present vulnerabilities and the risks associated with them.
Therefore, helping the organizations to avoid any security breaches that can put their business in jeopardy.
Other benefits of vulnerability assessment include:
Defining Risk Levels
Whether you believe it or not, your organization’s security is always under threat.
While this risk is inevitable, you can certainly identify the underlying vulnerabilities with proper assessment. It will help in resolving the dangers and make your system more secure.
Avoid Automated Attacks
Intruders have become smart nowadays. They don’t leave any chance of creating trouble for you. That is why they use automated attacks to check the availability of vulnerabilities in your system and take advantage of it.
Where this makes their work more convenient, it brings more significant risk for your organization. Under vulnerability assessment, experts use the same tools as these hackers. So they can avoid these automated attacks.
Also Read: Best vulnerability assessment tools used for security audit
Prioritizing Risks
Even if you are aware of all the available risks to your organization’s IT system, you may still end up making a mistake. Most people’s standard error here is that they focus more on unnecessary vulnerabilities while leaving behind the significant ones.
But this mistake won’t happen with the help of vulnerability assessment.
The process won’t only identify the threats, but it will also help prioritize them based on their severity.
Therefore, you can ensure that the more significant vulnerabilities get resolved first, and the less severe ones get assessed only after that.
Time And Money Savings
A data breach doesn’t only waste time and money on security restructuring. If your enterprise goes through an attack, you also have to deal with some legal formalities.
Moreover, you will have to invest effort and money in PR to maintain your company’s image.
On the other hand, a vulnerability assessment can easily help you avoid all this hassle by securing the system from known threats.
Hence, you will then be able to focus on more crucial tasks while remaining carefree about the security of your system.
What Are The Types Of Vulnerability Assessment?
Vulnerability assessment is further divided into various types, depending on the area of the IT environment that is being checked. Here are some of the common kinds:
- Network-Based: As the name suggests, this method is opted to find out the vulnerabilities in the organization’s wired and wireless networks.
- Host-Based: This includes a proper examination of network hosts through ports and services. It works on hosts like servers and workstations.
- Web Application: Web applications are an easy point for hackers to enter into the system. This method helps identify the loopholes in the app architecture that can lead to breaches.
- Database: Attacks like SQL injection can lead to severe data losses in an enterprise. Database methods include scanning the entire database for any available vulnerabilities to avoid these attacks.
Other kinds of end-point or network scan can be done to find the risk against any available threats to the organization’s IT system, such as phishing assessment and penetration testing.
Difference between vulnerability assessment and vulnerability management
| Vulnerability assessment | Vulnerability Management |
| Vulnerability assessment has a fixed time period for its occurrence | It’s an ongoing process |
| The process used to find the severity of vulnerabilities | Used to manage Vulnerability assessment or pen testing |
| Performed with the help of automation tools | It’s a collective process |
| Vulnerability assessment is just a part of the cybersecurity program | It’s a detailed process that can handle all the security-related issues |
Vulnerability Assessment vs Penetration testing. What’s the difference between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing
| Vulnerability Assessment | Penetration Testing |
| Used to assess vulnerabilities with the help of a tool that’s capable of doing the scan in an automated fashion | It’s a manual process where each module of software is tested for vulnerabilities individually |
| Usually done through automation | Performed by combining automated as well as the manual process |
| Performed often | Performed once in a year mostly |
| Comprehensive list of vulnerabilities which may include false positives | Serves as a call to action document about vulnerabilities that can be easily exploited |
| Can be performed by in-house security staff | Can only be performed by a third party company who has required resources at the disposal |
Also Read: How much will it cost for penetration testing?
The vulnerability assessment process differs for every enterprise due to its distinct infrastructures.
However, we can still build a basic 5-step procedure that works for most organizations. So it will provide you with an overview of how things get done in this process.
Step 1: Initial Planning
The first step includes proper analysis of the infrastructure to decide all the systems and networks to be checked.
You also need to identify the critical systems and data that have to be protected at any cost.
For example, the databases that hold essential information about your enterprise have to be scanned appropriately.
Remember that each of the professionals working on the process should expect the same output of vulnerability assessment.
It will help in proceeding further suitably. Plus, there should be proper communication throughout the planning so that any errors can be avoided.
Step 2: Scanning
Once you receive a complete list of systems and networks that have to be checked, the next step is to scan them.
Here, you will have to find all the available vulnerabilities in them. The information found on this step won’t be refined.
Therefore, you need not get overwhelmed with the long record of risks and vulnerabilities because several of them can be false positives.
Step 3: Analysis
It isn’t possible to resolve all the received vulnerabilities as some of them can be wrong.
That is why a proper analysis has to be done to find the underlying cause of these vulnerabilities.
Thus, they can get sorted based on their integrity. However, this isn’t the only objective covered in this step.
Along with the viability test, the associated risks, potential impact, and solutions of each vulnerability also get checked here.
After that, the threats are prioritized based on their severity. This helps resolve the more impactful vulnerabilities first and leave the rest for later assessment to cause no significant harm to the enterprise.
A report of the discovered vulnerabilities also gets prepared here, and it includes the following points:
- Vulnerability definition
- Scanning date
- A complete description of the vulnerability
- Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) Scores
- Systems and networks affected by the vulnerability, with their details.
- Available remediation techniques for the vulnerability
- Vulnerability PoC (Proof of Concept)
Step 4: Remediation
The ultimate aim of a vulnerability assessment is to eliminate all the available vulnerabilities and make the system secure against the risks.
So if you don’t resolve the found security gaps, there won’t be any use of the previously done steps.
That is why this step includes remediation of the vulnerability found in the earlier procedure.
It can involve a simple code update or a more thorough understanding of what is wrong in the system.
You may need to install new applications, implement the latest security patches, or use other tools for the purpose.
The resolving of vulnerabilities will begin with the high priority vulnerabilities, and then you will have to move to less significant ones.
Experts may recommend leaving some of the no-impact vulnerabilities that aren’t worth the time and effort required to resolve them.
Step 5: Repetition
Vulnerability assessment isn’t a one-time process. Rather, it is a regular activity that must be done under expert guidance to ensure that the organization’s system remains secure from any threat.
That is why the final step here is to create a cycle of this procedure according to your enterprise’s needs.
The importance of a vulnerability assessment increases when you have introduced a new prominent feature, application, or network into the infrastructure.
Therefore, you must make sure that the process gets repeated every once in a while, and the entire IT system remains secure.
And in these five steps, the entire process gets done. You can adjust the steps and include a more thorough study of the vulnerabilities in it based on your enterprise’s requirements.
In case you aren’t sure about something, you can also opt for a service provider.
As they deal with different organizations every day, they will be able to offer you the most reliable solution for your individual needs.
Using Tools For Vulnerability Assessment
Earlier, the process of vulnerability assessment was conducted by the security professionals who knew about the latest threats in the market.
So they conveniently checked the entire IT system against these risks and implemented the required security measures.
This was time-consuming and inefficient, as various unknown threats got left out from the inspection.
Then came the use of automated vulnerability assessment tools. These tools usually opt for the same methods that are used by professional intruders.
Hence, they are able to catch all the vulnerabilities that may give the system’s access to hackers.
The top vulnerability assessment tools include:
- Netsparker
- Intruder
- Aircrack
- OpenVAS
- Nikto
- Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
- Acunetix
- AppTrana
- SolarWinds Network Vulnerability Detection
- Nexpose Community
- Tripwire IP360
- Retina CS Community
- Wireshark
- Nessus Professional
- Secunia Personal Software Inspector
How To Choose The Vulnerability Assessment Tools?
Just like it is crucial to conduct a vulnerability assessment, it is also vital to pick the correct tool for the purpose.
Your choice should majorly depend on your enterprise’s requirements. The factors that you must consider before opting for a specific vulnerability assessment tool are:
Compatibility
The first aspect you need to check in your chosen tool is whether or not it is compatible with your organization’s systems and networks.
In case it misses out on even one of these components, it will be of no use for you.
Only a compatible tool will be able to provide you with accurate information on the available vulnerabilities, prioritization, and remediation.
Therefore, you must ensure that your selected product fulfills all the requirements.
Testing Repetition
The final step of a vulnerability assessment is to repeat the process in a pre-determined duration to make certain that the overall system remains secure at any point in time.
Now, the tool you pick for this purpose depends on the intervals you choose for vulnerability assessment.
Usually, this factor can be categorized into two types:
- Continuous: These tools work round the clock. Thus, you need not worry about the security aspect anytime, as the tool will take care of that. It is mostly preferred in places where the risks of data breaches are exceptionally high.
- Intermittent: Another category of tools are the ones that work on some intervals. While it ensures proper security, it won’t check the systems round the clock. Most organizations prefer this type of tool, as it provides them with the desired results without much hassle.
You can pick either of them based on how much your enterprise is under risk of security breaches.
Cloud Support
Clouds have become a crucial part of every organization because they are easy to maintain, provide access from any point, and don’t cost much.
Along with their extensive benefits, these cloud platforms can also become a bane for your enterprise if you don’t ensure its security.
That is why your chosen vulnerability assessment tool should support the scanning of cloud-based platforms.
Remember to opt for this feature even if you don’t use any clouds currently.
This way, you won’t have to worry about switching your vulnerability assessment tool whenever you decide to move to cloud platforms.
Update Quality and Speed
Quality and speed are the two most essential factors in the modern world. They make certain that the delivered product or service is reliable and efficient.
That is why they need to be checked in your vulnerability assessment tool as well.
The vendor must provide quality updates within the best possible time. For example, the time gap between a new threat being discovered and the vendor updating the tool for detecting the same should be as small as possible.
Prioritization
Prioritization is the most crucial step of the entire vulnerability assessment process.
This step alone makes sure that more significant threats get handled first so that no complication occurs later.
That is why you need to check the selected tool’s prioritization procedure.
Every vulnerability assessment tool uses an algorithm to prioritize the detected vulnerabilities.
Depending on the vendor, various factors may be incorporated into this algorithm to produce a more refined priority list of risks.
You have to go through these aspects and ensure they work properly according to your enterprise requirements.
Industry Standards
The tool selected by you must obey all the industry standards in which your enterprise works. For example, the pharma sector requires vulnerability checks for its supply chain and mobile workforce.
On the other hand, the banking industry needs to ensure that their systems are updated and secured. So whichever domain you work in, the tool should fulfill its basic requirements and standards.
By checking all these essential factors, you will make certain that your chosen vulnerability assessment tool doesn’t fall short in any aspect. Hence, it will provide you with the best results.
Conclusion
No matter how secure and protected you keep your enterprise’s environment, intruders always find a way to get through the layers.
You can still ensure that your system’s weak points don’t create a more severe problem. For this, you can opt for a vulnerability assessment.