Within your application development process, is it clear what vulnerability management is? The answer to this question should go far beyond “yes” and “no”, because there are several layers to consider on the subject. In your company, how is the matter discussed? And your strategy of vulnerability management does it really work?

“But is there a way it doesn’t work?”

There are several, that’s the truth. This is because, before understanding what vulnerability management is, you need to understand the concept behind these vulnerabilities.

Also, just identifying these vulnerabilities is enough? Creating an immense list of errors pointed to developers, indicating a thousand and one disorderly resolutions solves the problem? Of course i’m not.

Executions of this kind go far beyond the good practices of the subject. Understanding what vulnerability management is is the first step, for example, to implement an assertive strategy and tools for its operation.

And then, prepared to dive into the subject and understand the contours of what vulnerability management is? Keep reading!

Learn more about the concept of vulnerabilities

No for nothing we call the term “vulnerabilities”, in the plural. There are a multitude of different types, with distinct origins and varied impacts.

It is a pathology in the application that does not simply make it susceptible to attacks, but consists of a flaw relevant enough to allow some malicious file to explore the application in its various layers.

In the end, it is a failure that can generate an impact or a sequence of them, causing consequences in the application and, by table, to the user and his company.

Okay, but are these vulnerabilities really that devastating?

According to one American study, 75% of the vulnerabilities that can be attacked and cause of damage found in research in recent years came from applications.

That is, failures in applications, at its most varied levels.

What is Vulnerability Management and how does it work?

And now, what is vulnerability management? Well, the first step is to understand that this is not a static practice. It’s not the same for all companies.

In fact, in a very dynamic way, vulnerability management deals with the method of identification, analysis, classification and treatment of failures.

Its focus, although not only digital, has a much more focused look at the application architecture in its different layers — as source codedesign, functions, etc.

The objective is very clear: to act proactively in the search for vulnerabilities that may compromise the security mechanisms of the application.

The purpose is to shield the application so that it is not the gateway to cyber threats, files and other malicious actions in the digital environment of the user and the company.

Its operation is cyclical, aiming at the constant improvement of development processes.

As mentioned, this is not a mere compilation of vulnerabilities in the list. In fact, when understanding what vulnerability management is, this point is essential because the strategy aims to classify threats, creating a hierarchy of problem resolution.

With this detailed list in hand, it is possible to organize executions and deadlines for the success of the project in a super assertive way and aligned with the level of modern demand.

How to perform Vulnerability Management in your project

The accurate implementation of vulnerability management depends on a few factors.

A dedicated platform, such as a Static Application Security Testing (SAST), capable of analyzing source code at any stage of development for vulnerabilities, is one of these factors.

The other is your application in the routine. That is, a set of good practices that is frequently inserted into all projects —from an early age in development, as the concept of “shift left” preaches.

Among the steps, we highlight:

The Search for Vulnerabilities

Constant network scans, pentest, firewall logs — or simply the vulnerabilities scan of the tool used.

Identification of Vulnerabilities

Analysis of vulnerabilities, trying to classify them (anomalies that enable various attacks, such as malware, etc.).

Vulnerability Scan

In the verification stage, the real impact of vulnerabilities is analyzed, on which layers they act and the risk they present to the application and other environments, networks and systems.

Vulnerability Mitigation

A process of analysis and thought that consists of figuring out how to prevent these vulnerabilities from reappearing. This is essential information in creating patches.

Improvement Patches

Basically, the process of applying improvement patches —whether it’s those developed by your team or those of manufacturers of other programs you use.

What are the benefits of vulnerability management?

A study of an IBM Institute found that the sooner you implement test measures, vulnerability analysis, and good security practices in the development process, the cheaper the project becomes.

If this view is implemented already in the design stage, with vulnerability scan for example, the savings are up to 6 times greater than doing so only in one step later, as in the implementation.

In addition, we highlight:

Increased security

By understanding what vulnerability management is and implementing the strategy in your company, the risk of suffering from failures is virtually mitigated. This reinforces your organization’s security guidelines, protecting your development process end-to-end.

Reducing unnecessary costs

With vulnerability management methods, your team acts assertively on top of errors. That is, a constant economy that does not let excesses be committed.

The security culture that vulnerability management promotes also has direct impacts on rework expenses, which gives a lightness to the company’s pocket.

Increased productive efficiency

With a correct management of vulnerabilities, your development and operations team has tools and conditions to perform better deliveries.

That is, mitigating errors that previously bothered even after the completion of an application—and that were significant breaches for the security of user information.

With a good vulnerability management strategy, your company comes out ahead of the competition, cutting the development process continuously.

So in a short time, you can embark on projects with maximum efficiency and a high level of security —protecting your data and your customers!

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It is an SAST platform and IAST, New Year auditing the source code of your applications. It is the most complete and versatile solution on the market: multilingual, on site or cloud.

Currently, there are more than 5600 software quality and security rules in more than 35 programming languages. In addition, this solution is able to analyze millions of lines per hour with very low consumption of technological resources.

Do you want to learn more about the bugScout solution and how it can optimize your company’s application development security? Contact us and ask for a free demo.