How do you manage the expectations and responsibilities of vulnerability assessment clients or partners?

Manage expectations of clients and partners about vulnerability assessments: >Define the scope and realistic timeline for trust building. >Establish status updates and feedback loops. >Provide actionable insights on most critical vulnerabilities by providing remediation steps. >Follow-up assessment schedule for verification of remediation. >Teach the clients the concept of vulnerability management and best practices using workshops and training sessions. >Respond to the client's environment and requirements sensitively. >Anticipate potential problems and minimize them.

Not just the objectives, also set expectations. Usually the team that performs the vulnerability scan is not the same that performs the remediation. This might get confused and you become the owner, so make sure you also have the team who applies the patches or make configuration changes (called remediation owner) onboarded and accountable to actually implement those changes. Only when they do their work, you can show progress. Also, do not make any commitments that you are not directly responsible for.

Defining the scope and objectives is a critical first step in any vulnerability assessment. It’s not just about avoiding misunderstandings but about building a foundation of trust with your client. When both sides are clear on expectations and outcomes, you’re setting yourself up for a smooth, transparent process. Beyond legalities, this clarity allows you to focus on delivering results that truly matter, without any surprises along the way.

First, never scan anything that is not within your organizations boundaries. You can respond criminally to this type of activity. Then, as you are within an organization, you should also consider the fact that you are there to assure business continuity, so making availaility tests (a.k.a. DDoS or Distributed Denial of Service attacks) is not the best thing to do. Try to test the environment during least used times (usually overnight) as you don't want to be held accountable for any availability issues

One simple advise is to not just share automated reports with system owners, indicate the ones that are most risky (like sensitive to business or storing/processing sensitive information and exposed to threats, like web applications/DMZ servers) compared with criticality of the vulnerability and exploit availability. As you start seeing progress, share the good news and keep your team motivated. A few metrics that helps to visualize progress: - Aging vulnerabilities (below 30 days, between 31 an 60 days, etc.) - New, recurrent and mitigated comparison - Number of critical and high severity

This is a continuous effort and a lifecycle that should be based on the following: - Detect/discover: Perform vulnerability and discovery scans. So you can keep up with weaknesses introduced into your environment not just via vulnerabilities but also with new assets or rogue assets; - Review and prioritize: identify vulnerabilities that should be remediated first. Use a risk based approach where you will look to the asset exposure to threats and risks to the business against exploitability - Remediate: based on your analysis, communicate with asset owners and provide support on this activity as it's the most challenging part of this program. - Report: review findings, check progress and let everyone know the good work the team is doing

To effectively manage expectations and responsibilities in vulnerability assessments, it is crucial to establish clear expectations from the outset, maintain regular communication, deliver actionable results, provide education and training, offer post-assessment support, and ensure quality assurance. Quality assurance should involve reliable tools, experienced testers, and thorough validation to minimize false positives and ensure practical recommendations.

Integrating vulnerability assessments with existing security frameworks like NIST or ISO 27001 enhances coherence and effectiveness. For a manufacturing client, I integrated our vulnerability assessment processes with their existing ISO 27001 compliance framework. This involved aligning our assessment criteria with the controls specified in ISO 27001, ensuring that our findings directly supported their compliance efforts. By doing so, we provided the client with a cohesive security strategy that met both operational and regulatory requirements. This integration facilitated smoother implementation of security measures and streamlined their compliance reporting processes.

An important tip I can give when we talk about implementation of any cyber security solutions/tools in general: There's no such plug-and-play solution that mitigate all your risks and solve your problems. If you install a solution and get 0 alerts, it may indicate that you have detective gaps due to false-negatives. So, prior to purchase a solution/tool follow these quick tips: - Proof of Concept before purchasing, testing all your requirements - Commitments, assumptions and deliverables clearly stated in the contract (so avoid intentional misinterpretation from your vendor) - Implement the solution that adapts to your organization (not other way around) - KPIs, test and continuously evaluate and improve any of your security solutions