60% of Cyber Attacks Exploit Known Vulnerabilities

Awe-inspiring zero-day attacks might steal the headlines and make for great summer blockbusters, but it’s the decidedly less cinematic exploitation of known, yet unpatched, vulnerabilities that make up nearly 60% of security compromises.

The reality is that even though they are equipped (or even overwhelmed) with a multitude of tools and methods, many vulnerability management teams still find it challenging to carry out fundamental cybersecurity tasks efficiently - like implementing patches.

So why, despite years of technological progression and innovation, are so many organizations still vulnerable to threats they know about and should be capable of neutralizing?

The Challenge of Vulnerability Management: More Tools, More Problems

The fault isn’t in the tools, or in the team. The success of a remediation strategy is ultimately determined by how efficiently all these components are integrated into consistent processes.

The Root of the Problem: Data Alone is not Enough

There has never in human history been such an information explosion. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum, by 2025 it’s estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally. That’s the equivalent of 212,765,957 DVDs per day. In just one year, that would look like six stacks of DVD’s that stretched from the Earth to the moon!

The push to digitize businesses and make choices based on data has required organizations to gather more intel and insights than they ever have in the past.

To flourish and remain relevant, organizations have to excel at predicting future trends, and respond almost instantaneously.

But with so many inputs and alerts and signals vying for your attention, how do you know which to address first? With limited resources, security teams can't address every vulnerability simultaneously. It usually falls to deciding which ones pose the greatest threat and acting on them quickly.

Sounds simple enough, but this process is often bogged down by:

• Inefficient workflows
• False alarms making it to late stage remediation efforts
• Miscommunication between teams
• Lack of universal accessibility and visibility into the overall remediation process.

This all leads to delays, and in worst-case scenarios, leaves critical vulnerabilities unpatched for extended periods.

The Solution: Integrating Process Intelligence into Vulnerability Management

To overcome these challenges, context is King. Organizations need to incorporate a layer of process intelligence into their vulnerability management strategies.

Process intelligence refers to the use of data-driven insights to streamline and optimize workflows. By applying this concept, organizations can improve their ability to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities efficiently.

Here’s why adding process intelligence works:

• Enhanced Prioritization: Process intelligence helps teams cut through the noise by identifying which issues present the highest risk to the organization. Instead of being overwhelmed by a flood of data, teams can focus on the most critical threats.
• Streamlined Workflow: By analyzing the steps involved in the remediation process, process intelligence can pinpoint bottlenecks and inefficiencies. This enables teams to address these issues and deploy patches faster.
• Improved Accountability: Process intelligence provides visibility into the entire vulnerability management process, allowing organizations to track the progress of remediation efforts. This ensures that tasks aren’t falling through the cracks and that all teams are held accountable for their roles in the process.

Real-World Case Studies

• Faster Time-to-Remediation: A large financial institution integrated process intelligence into its vulnerability management program. By doing so, they reduced the time taken to remediate critical vulnerabilities by 35%, ensuring that their systems remained secure against known threats.
• Increased Team Efficiency: A global healthcare provider utilized process intelligence to streamline their vulnerability management workflow. This resulted in a 25% boost in team efficiency, as they could concentrate on the most urgent matters without getting overwhelmed by less important tasks.
• Better Risk Management: An international tech company leveraged process intelligence to improve their risk prioritization. They were able to concentrate on the vulnerabilities that presented the most significant risk to their operations, enhancing their overall security posture.

Existing Security Investments + Process Intelligence = Faster Remediation

Traditional vulnerability management strategies are no longer sufficient. Incorporating process intelligence into vulnerability management operations lets organizations detect threats, then prioritize and patch them more efficiently than they currently can.

The result is a more secure environment, where known vulnerabilities are remediated before they can be exploited.

Learn more:

[Article] Transform Vulnerability Management with Process Intelligence

[Article] Drive Vulnerability Management Success with MTTR and MTTD Tracking

[eBook] Beyond Detection: Mastering Vulnerability Management with Process Mining