How do you balance vulnerability management with business continuity and performance?

1 Assess your assets and prioritize your risks

The first step in balancing vulnerability management with business continuity and performance is to assess your assets and prioritize your risks. Not all assets are equally critical or vulnerable, so you need to determine which ones are most important for your business operations, and which ones are most exposed to threats. You can use a risk matrix, a vulnerability scoring system, or a business impact analysis to rank your assets and risks, and allocate your resources accordingly.

2 Plan and schedule your vulnerability scans

The second step in balancing vulnerability management with business continuity and performance is to plan and schedule your vulnerability scans. Vulnerability scans are essential for detecting and reporting the weaknesses in your systems and networks, but they can also consume bandwidth, CPU, memory, and disk space, and affect the availability and responsiveness of your services. Therefore, you need to plan and schedule your scans carefully, to avoid peak hours, business-critical periods, and conflicts with other tasks. You can also use scan templates, scan profiles, scan zones, and scan throttling to optimize your scan settings and reduce the impact on your performance.

3 Implement a patch management policy

The third step in balancing vulnerability management with business continuity and performance is to implement a patch management policy. Patch management is the process of applying updates, fixes, or enhancements to your software and hardware, to address the vulnerabilities and bugs that may compromise your security or functionality. However, patch management can also introduce new issues, such as compatibility problems, configuration errors, or unexpected side effects. Therefore, you need to implement a patch management policy, that defines the roles, responsibilities, procedures, and standards for applying patches, and ensures that they are tested, verified, and documented before deployment.

4 Monitor and measure your vulnerability management performance

The fourth step in balancing vulnerability management with business continuity and performance is to monitor and measure your vulnerability management performance. Monitoring and measuring your vulnerability management performance helps you to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your process, and identify the areas for improvement or adjustment. You can use metrics, such as scan frequency, scan coverage, patch compliance, patch latency, vulnerability remediation rate, vulnerability exposure time, or mean time to resolve, to track and analyze your vulnerability management performance, and compare it with your business goals and benchmarks.

5 Communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders

The fifth step in balancing vulnerability management with business continuity and performance is to communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders. Stakeholders are the people or groups that are affected by or involved in your vulnerability management process, such as business owners, managers, users, customers, vendors, auditors, or regulators. Communicating and collaborating with your stakeholders helps you to align your vulnerability management objectives and expectations with your business needs and priorities, and to gain their support and feedback. You can use tools, such as dashboards, reports, alerts, or newsletters, to share your vulnerability management information and status with your stakeholders, and to solicit their input and suggestions.

6 Review and update your vulnerability management process

The sixth and final step in balancing vulnerability management with business continuity and performance is to review and update your vulnerability management process. Reviewing and updating your vulnerability management process helps you to ensure that your process is still relevant, effective, and efficient, and that it adapts to the changing threats, technologies, and regulations in your environment. You can use audits, reviews, surveys, or lessons learned sessions, to evaluate your vulnerability management process, and to identify the gaps, issues, or opportunities for improvement or innovation.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?